Black lives matter. Those three words have been at the center of heated public debate over the recent police shootings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota, and also of the peaceful protest turned police ambush which took place in Dallas, Texas. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of those three words -- Black Lives Matter -- is how they serve to function as a modern day Rorschach test to the listener. Some people hear those three words and think "you're right, black lives should matter too; there's evidence to suggest that they are not treated equally by law enforcement and we should do something about that." Other people, like former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, hear those three words and
say this:
“If you want to deal with this on the black side, you’ve got to teach your children to be respectful to the police, and you’ve got to teach your children that the real danger to them is not the police,” Giuliani said.
“The real danger to them — 99 out of 100 times — is other black kids who are going to kill them,” the Republican ex-mayor added, citing a fake statistic.
“When you say ‘black lives matter,’ that’s inherently racist,” the ex-mayor said. “Black lives matter, white lives matter, Asian lives matter, Hispanic lives matter. That’s anti-American and it’s racist.”
