Yes, “Lives Matter.” We shouldn’t have to qualify or modify this factual phrase with adjectives such as black or blue or all. And why not all? It could work, of course, and it should work. But given the political-cultural context in which the word modifies the phrase “Lives Matter,” all is used in opposition to black or blue, causing it to carry implied, unspoken modifiers such as even or especially: “All Lives Matter . . . even black lives . . . especially blue lives.” The implied even indicates a concession rather than affirmation, and the implied especially points to some sort of privilege.

And yet it’s important that we remember black lives because of all the violence done to them. Done to them in the deep past. Done to them now. (I think the same about “red” lives, but I’ll deal with that another time.) And those who would try to minimize or mitigate the importance of an idea like Black Lives Matter do not understand the devastation wrought upon Africans and Black Americans throughout history and pervasively in the present. In order to achieve the equality implied by the slogan “all lives matter,” we must understand that all lives don’t come to that state of equality from the same starting point and across the same distance.

In a discussion of dehumanization, Brené Brown, in her book Braving the Wilderness, provides a succinct explanation of why, if all lives matter, special attention must be paid to black lives.

. . . if our faith asks us to find the face of God in everyone we meet, that should include the politicians, media, and strangers we meet on Twitter with whom we most violently disagree. When we desecrate their divinity, we desecrate our own, and we betray our faith.

Challenging ourselves to live by higher standards requires constant diligence and awareness. . . . Dehumanizing works because people who speak out against what are often sophisticated enemy image campaigns–or people who fight to make sure that all of us are morally included and extended basic human rights–often face harsh consequences.

An important example is the debate around Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, and All Lives Matter. Can you believe that black lives matter and also care deeply about the well-being of police officers? Of course. Can you care about the well-being of police officers and at the same time be concerned about abuses of power and systemic racism in law enforcement and the criminal justice system? Yes. . . .

But then, if it’s the case that we can care about citizens and the police, shouldn’t the rallying cry just be All Lives Matter? No. Because the humanity wasn’t stripped from all lives the way it was stripped from the lives of black citizens. In order for slavery to work, in order for us to buy, sell, beat, and trade people like animals, Americans had to completely dehumanize slaves. And whether we directly participated in that or were simply a member of a culture that at one time normalized that behavior, it shaped us. We can’t undo that level of dehumanizing in one or two generations. I believe Black Lives Matter is a movement to rehumanize black citizens. All lives matter, but not all lives need to be pulled back into moral inclusion. Not all people were subjected to the psychological process of demonizing and being made less than human so we could justify the inhumane practice of slavery. (76, 77; emphasis added)

Brené Brown. Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone. New York: Random House, 2017.