White Lives Matter?

I write this as a white, Scottish woman, living in Scotland, and married to a black American woman.​

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I write this as a white, Scottish woman, living in Scotland, and married to a black American woman. In other words, although I am not living in America, I do take a real interest in what happens over there and I am appalled by the way things are developing under Trump’s Presidency.

The actions of White Supremacist terrorists in Charlottesville, Virginia yesterday is just the latest in a string of violence against non-white, particularly black, Americans.  We are seeing young people shot, people being arrested for the crime of being black and, unbelievably, even lynchings!  

Police seem to have a licence to shoot unarmed black men without any fear of reproach and Black parents are schooling their kids in how to behave to stay safe when stopped by police.  Implying, 1 they will be stopped and,  2 they will not be safe.  Evidence suggests they are right.  But sometimes it is not enough and we have all seen the tragic results on dashcam footage.

I need to keep reminding myself this is 2017.  It seems impossible to believe that a country can roll back 40 years of progress so quickly.  

During the election, Trump promised to ‘make America great again’.  No doubt, for some of those who voted for him this meant bring back jobs,  give us better housing, better lives, or even drain the swamp – get rid of these career (and obviously crooked) politicians.

But for a large chunk, ‘make America great again’ meant ‘make America white again’.  Candidate Trump knew that, and actively encouraged it.  And now President Trump refuses to condemn it.  As ye sew, so shall ye reap.

The ‘White Lives Matter’ rhetoric of the White Supremacists would be funny if it wasn’t so terrifyingly dangerous.  Do white lives matter?  Of course they do, all lives matter.  But that is not the point.  No-one has declared war on white America.  

Those who yearn for the good old days.  Those who want to make America white again and send all the immigrants home would do well to remember that all white men in America are immigrants.  The only people really able to demand you all leave are the Native Americans.

Tensions have been mounting in Charlottesville since a decision was made to remove the statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee from one of the city’s parks.  The concern seems to be that somehow this decision is another example of white rights being eroded.

News Flash, no-one is trying to remove anyone’s rights.   Why is this so hard to understand?  Giving other people all the rights you enjoy does not detract from yours.  Accepting that all men are created equal and should be treated as such does not mean you are somehow less equal than you were.  Black men and women having the same rights, obligations and protections under the law does not elevate them to new super-race, or make them a threat.  It simply makes us all equal.
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We have a saying in Scotland, “We’re a’ Jock Thampson’s bairns.”  It means we are all the same.  We are all brothers and sisters together.  .Scotland is at its best when it remembers that, so is America. ​​