As I watched the video, “Race Baiting 101” it really made me wonder why we ever started dividing ourselves into these categories, or any categories at all. There are so many different categories and groups that we put ourselves into. Why we don’t think more often that we can fit into more groups than one? Does it really have to be blue lives versus black lives? Republican versus democrat? Pro-life versus pro-choice? Us versus them? Each person is unique and it’s okay for them to have their own opinions and beliefs. That’s what our country was built on, wasn’t it? People don’t have to fit into a group that all has the exact same beliefs and hates. I really dislike titles and groups for this reason. If we didn't get so caught up in our own group and throwing our beliefs and feelings into each other’s faces, I think we’d be a lot more successful in our relationships. We so easily get caught up in the title of whatever group we belong to, that we aren’t even listening to each other, or considering all sides of every issue.
I feel that race baiting is just this. It's a way for people caught up in their own titles and groups, to provoke disagreements and anger in individuals. Race baiting usually uses race as bait. A simple physical characteristic of people, to bait individuals into certain feelings and ideas. The thing is though, each side is doing a great job at making the other look terrible. If you went into this race baiting war with no previous biases, and tried to determine who was right, you probably couldn't!
I can watch “pro-black lives matter” videos all day long about the mistreatment of black people by white people, and it’s going to pull my heart strings and make me feel terrible about the bad things that white people have done to black people. And the thing is, who wouldn’t?! Almost any sincere person with a heart is going to look at that and feel bad for bad treatment of black people in our history. Most anyone would agree that yes, black people deserve equal treatment and rights, and shouldn’t be treated differently. Well we can go right to the other side of that and watch a “pro-police” video about how a white cop’s story wasn’t rightfully portrayed by media, he actually did nothing wrong, but still was a victim of violence from a “black lives matter group”. Anyone will feel bad for him and view that as wrong. We’re just pointing out the negative in each group and just throwing fuel on this fire so that these groups just keep hating each other. It’s possible to think that the lives of black people matter, and also that the lives of police officers matter. Blue lives matter and black lives matter are not the opposite. One belief or opinion doesn’t make us the opposite. This is applicable in every group argument. People with republican beliefs don’t have to be anti-democrats. Pro-choice is not anti-life, and pro-life is not anti-choice.
What we really need to do is get out of our groups and not assume that one situation explains all. All white cops are not the same as one white cop that stepped out of line. All black lives matter group members aren’t the same as one that violently hurt a white cop's family member. And not all arrested black people are innocent like the one wrongfully handcuffed or shot on the news. And for heaven’s sake, we are human and we make mistakes! And we are going to keep making them as long as we exist. If we stepped back and thought about these things before we acted, and really considered why everyone is feeling the way they are feeling, we might not have so many problems in the world like race baiting.
I agree that we need to get out of our groups, the world is not just black, white, red, yellow, brown. There are so many things we can learn about people of other colors and cultures if we just let ourselves. It may be a fact that there are a larger number of blacks in prison than whites, but that doesn't mean all blacks are thugs and whites are all innocent. We need to learn to accept people as they are and not make hasty decisions based on what they "might" be. If you ask me, all lives matter, not mater what color they happen to be.
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