Countering "All Lives Matter." This worked on one relative.

[Ford_Prefect]

24. I have linguistic problems with the phrase though not with the intent.

I have my own minority story and struggles so the phrasing seems a bit exclusionary.

I am not challenging the urgency of the message nor the reality of the threat. I have been out with friends of color who were challenged in my presence for what seemed rather obvious bias by the other party. I have witnessed the police aggression and outrage 1st hand. I have heard threats whispered behind us in the restaurant. I have no doubts about the outrage and the need to declare. I just wish, sometimes there was another phrase to use if only because my life and those like me matter also and they are under threat also.

No one will likely confront me face to face, or stop my car or grab my kids, wife, or parents. At the same time, there are many of life's ordinary situations in which I will not be treated with respect or given the options of others to whom our culture assigns more privilege. It is unlikely I would receive inbound gunfire although my car and property have been attacked.

My needs for protection pale in comparison to those who are on the street right now or who must face the racist threat every day. Never the less Trump and his minions are trying to erase me and my limited SSI income and the insurance that I can barely pay for.

The difference is that I don't have to watch out for every white guy on the street, or the asshole in the pickup who threatened my friend's children on their bicycles. I have had people photograph me and follow me in my car in traffic because I have a faded "Obamanos!" sticker in my rear window. I have had face-to-face encounters with smirking red-neck assholes in the parking lot over it. I have stared down jerks who insulted people I was talking to while the thought crossed my mind to wonder if the jerk-in-question's next move was pulling a weapon (none so far).

So my wish is a humble one only.