All Lives Matter... Or Do They?

Welcome to BETHEA'S BYTE: FREE BYTE.  I'm gonna start with a line and I want you all to pay careful attention to this before I begin.


This has been the rallying cry whenever protests of Black Lives Matter come out against injustice, wrongful shootings of unarmed black men and accusations of blacks when they have done nothing wrong.  So All Lives Matter right?

Do All Lives Matter after a young man is shot and killed by a so-called Neighborhood Watch leader when the young man is there to watch the NBA All-Star game with his father?
Do All Lives Matter after a police officer chokes out a "suspect" for selling loose cigarettes?
Do All Lives Matter when a veteran of the United States Air Force suffering from PTSD is shot and killed while those who were there to help him were waiting for medical personnel?
Do All Lives Matter when an officer "mistakes" his service TASER with his personal Smith & Wesson .357 revolver, and shoots a suspect in the back, fatally, while on the ground?
Do All Lives Matter when during a supposedly "routine" traffic stop ends in the death of the driver after he alerts the officer that he had a weapon, and was going to pull something
    necessary to the stop?
Do All Lives Matter when a police officer, supposedly coming off duty goes back to an apartment she believes is hers, ends up shooting a black man in his apartment?

If the answers to the above situations are "NO", then tell me this: When does ALL LIVES MATTER apply?

When I think All Lives Matter, I think of equality and I think of equity.  I think that no matter the race or situation, there should be one law, one standard of justice and fairness to ALL.  Not Blacks treated one way, whites another, Latinos another way and Asians totally different.  That is ALL LIVES MATTER.

As I type this, I look again at the way I wrote the words...


Why would I need to add an asterisk beside a statement like this if it's true?  Then I think over the last few years and the situations that lead to these protests... and yes to Colin Kaepernick and other NFL Players kneeling during the national anthem.  And before you get on my case about that, I will say it again for those flag huggers who so easily offended.

These protests (kneeling) is not about...

-- Disrespecting the flag.
-- Disrespecting the military
-- Disrespecting the country
-- Disrespecting the National Anthem.

In fact, there was a poem that was released and I'm going to post it here not only because I agree with it, but it hits all of it home.

Andrew Freborg wrote:I stand to honor the promise the flag represents.
You kneel because that promise has been broken.

I stand to affirm my belief that all are created equal, and to fight alongside you for that promise.
You kneel because too few stand with you.

I stand because we can be better.
You kneel to remind us to be better.

I stand to honor all that have fought and died so that we may be free.
You kneel because not all of us are.

I stand because I can.
You kneel for those who can't.

I stand to defend your right to kneel.
You kneel to defend my right to stand.

I stand because I love this country.
You kneel because you love it too.

When I hear "All Lives Matter", I would think equality.  I would think fairness.  I would think equity.  What I have seen is and was anything but.  So I bet you're wondering "Why the asterisk?"  I'm gonna reveal that and let you all think about it.  Here's that phrase one last time.


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