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Comment by mullingitover | Hacker News Reader

> There are a lot of people that think this came out of the blue and interpret the chants as an impending pogrom putting some people's lives above others, but that is a distortion that is furthest from the truth.

Indeed. There's a lot of knee-jerk reaction against Black Lives Matter, and an eagerness to establish who the leaders are so it and everyone involved can be discredited. However, it's not an organization, it's a movement. Do you think the lives of black people matter? Then you're part of Black Lives Matter.

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And, it is important to note, saying "black lives matter" emphatically does NOT mean that you think that non-black lives don't matter. But the sad fact of the matter is that historically black lives have often not mattered as much as non-black lives, and sometimes (perhaps even often) still don't even today. That's the reason for the emphasis being placed where it is.

In the US*.

And the rest of the world, where colonialist policies have left a historical legacy of disenfranchisement among less-favored groups, often along color lines.

Not just in the US:

https://www.creosotemaps.com/blm2020/

Palestinian lives also matter.

> Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada,

From their website: https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/

Just because someone registers a website, doesn't mean they own the movement.

Ok, there is an organization (several actually, including at least one huge scam https://mobile.twitter.com/bri_sacks/status/1272624867905425... ). But they are not the most interesting part of the movement.

> Do you think the lives of black people matter? Then you're part of Black Lives Matter.

Do you think it's okay to be white? Then you are a white nationalist, too [0].

Basically you are insisting that we should interpret the movement at the face-value of its name, and that's it. Are you willing to apply the same standards to other movements? Do "All Lives Matter"? Do "Blue Lives Matter"?

[0] https://www.thefire.org/ohio-universities-involve-fbi-in-inv...

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