White Lives Matter has officially been declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC, an organization that looks for extremist groups across America.
This new declaration can strike anger or pride because while Black Lives Matter is supported in the media, it’s also ripped apart by groups such as White Lives Matter who fully believe reverse racism exists.
Reverse racism is the theory that there is discrimination against a dominant racial group.
“The impulse behind the reverse racism argument seems to be a desire to prove that people of color don’t have it that bad, they’re not the only ones that are put at a disadvantage or targeted because of their race,” according to an article in The Huffington Post.
Of course, groups such as Black Lives Matter and other support organizations for people of color have more than enough to counter this lackluster argument.
Just this year, the police have killed at least 136 black people, according to an ongoing project by The Guardian.
The names of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and Eric Garner for example ring alarming bells of injustice for the black community.
White Lives Matter started out as social media meme that grew to the full-fledged organization it is today. This same group also has a video link on their website to a documentary about a misunderstood Hitler.
In response to the SPLC decision, a YouTube channel named “White Lives Matter,” uploaded a video of a white man outside a gas station putting “Black on White crime” fliers into the free coupon box, according to the Washington Post.
The rise of Donald Trump has also added to the ignorant hatred of black people from other white supremacist groups.
“Trump has given these people hope they didn’t have before that they could influence politics or that they would at least be listened to,” SPLC director of the Intelligence Project in Montgomery, Alabama, Heidi Beirich said.
As a white person living in America, White Lives Matter even existing is an embarrassment because this country is meant to be one that welcomes all cultures and races of people, not discriminate against them for being different.
Black Lives Matter wants justice and equality for all of the hardships and downfalls that they’ve faced due to the color of their skin.
They are not looking to oppress. They want to only stop being oppressed.
Having the SPLC announce White Lives Matter as a hate group is just the first of many steps we have to take in this country to show that such hateful, ignorant acts won’t be tolerated, and shouldn’t be.
All people of color deserve to feel safe and respected in America, but instead they’re afraid of wearing their hood up in public.
America has a long way to go before Black Lives Matter isn’t needed anymore, but at least we’re heading in the right direction.
Email Shania Savastio at shania.savastio@cardinalpointsonline.com
