Black Lives Matter …
Black lives matter … because all lives matter … and only because all lives matter. Every single one of us has been created in the image and likeness of our creator. As a result, we all have a fundamental dignity that can never be reduced or taken away. (Without this fundamental dignity no lives would ultimately matter … black, white, brown, etc., none.) This fundamental dignity is the most important thing about us. It is what binds us all together as human beings. And it is why all forms of racism are wrong.
To attribute characteristics to a person based on their skin color is a form of racism, regardless of who is making the attribution and who is being targeted by the attribution. Skin color is not a set of values or behaviors. No one is ever “too black”, or “too white”, or “too brown”. No one is “authentically” black, or white, or brown. And we never have to give up or reduce our “blackness”, or “whiteness”, or “brownness”.
My skin color is a matter of fact, but it is not a measure of who I am. I am defined on the one hand by my inherent dignity as a human being and on the other by the content of my character as an individual. Martin Luther King Jr. agreed with this, he even said so. Most Americans would agree too (except the ones trying to divide us so they can gain power over us).