Thoughts of a Doubting Christian ✓

Triggered Liberals. . .Triggered Conservatives?

One of the things that I tire of the most is hearing conservatives call liberal people "triggered" in any form. Whether it's "Those damn triggered liberals!" or "triggered libtards" (God, that is one of the worst insults in existence) or "wow, libs are so easily triggered over everything," it is one of the most common insults lobbed at people on the liberal side of the political spectrum. And the irony of it is that many of the conservatives who use this insult are just as "easily triggered," if not more so, than their liberal counterparts!

Please don't protest yet— just think about it and hear me out. (And if you feel the need to protest immediately, I suggest you think about why your negative response is so immediate!)

#BlackLivesMatter

Black Lives Matter was created by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi as a response to police violence against unarmed black men like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner ("I can't breathe"). It is the new civil rights movement, working to show the world that black people matter and that their lives should be treated with the same respect as people of other races. The saying "Black Lives Matter" doesn't mean that "other lives don't matter"; it means that "black lives matter, TOO."

But, of course, conservatives misinterpret the message, especially white conservatives. Hence the rise of the hashtag "All Lives Matter," which completely misses the point of the Black Lives Matter movement. Why does the assertion that black lives do, in fact, matter bother people so much? Can you imagine being so triggered by somebody saying that black people's lives matter that you have to immediately interject, "Well, actually, all lives matter"?

Not to mention that, instead of listening to what BLM activists have to say, conservatives feel the need to interject things like, "Actually, more white people are shot by police than black people," or, "Black cops shoot black people, too." First of all, more white people are shot by the police precisely because there are over five times as many white people in the US than black people! That doesn't tell you anything other than sheer population demographics. BUT, even though black people only make up about 13% of the US population, they account for 22% of deaths by police from January 2017 to May 2018.

Let that sink in. 13% of the population, but 22% of fatal encounters with police. Meanwhile, white people make up 60% of the US population, but only 39% of deaths by police. That means that black people are three times as likely to be killed by the police than white people!

Second of all, yes, black cops shoot black people, too. Regardless of the race of the cop, cops are more likely to kill black people than white people. (Fun fact: cops are disproportionately white— 75% compared to 60% of the US population.) But regardless the race of the cop, racially-charged encounters with law enforcement is a police problem, not a white police problem. This is a case where many factors, including institutional racism and implicit biases, come together to create a law enforcement system that disproportionately targets black people over lighter-skinned people. That's a problem, and that's why BLM exists and continues to this day.

Before you protest that "all lives matter" or "blue lives matter," think about why you are so opposed to the statement that black lives DO matter, and why you are so opposed to the idea that there could possibly be injustices in the law enforcement system.

#MeToo

The Me Too movement was created over a decade ago by Tarana Burke, but it wasn't until the Harvey Weinstein accusations in 2017 that it really went viral. The movement is dedicated to helping survivors of sexual violence find other survivors, heal from their trauma, and advocate for the end of systems that perpetuate sexual violence. Using the hashtag #MeToo, survivors of sexual violence all over the world can make their voices heard, along with the accompanying #TimesUp, which is a different but interrelated movement.