Blue Lives Matter
Blue Lives Matter ( German : blue lives count ) is an American movement that advocates stronger punishment for violence against police officers , among other things . It emerged as a counter-movement of the Black Lives Matter (German: Black lives count ).
Surname
The name of the movement is an allusion to the Black Lives Matter movement, which campaigns against violence against black people or people of color . The color blue was chosen because of the blue uniforms of the US police . Randy Sutton, spokesman for the Blue Lives Matter movement, explained in 2016 that the choice of name should not only be understood as an allusion, but also as a deliberate attack on the Black Lives Matter movement.
history
The movement formed in December 2014 as a countermovement to Black Lives Matter and in response to the murder of two police officers in New York City . The initiators were active and already retired police officers who stated that their goal was to counter the alleged lies of the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement's spokesman was Randy Sutton, a retired police officer who worked in Las Vegas , among other places . After the attack on police officers in Dallas on July 7, 2016 , in which five police officers were killed and seven other police officers injured, the movement received further impetus and expressions of solidarity were expressed nationwide. In spring 2020, a study by the online magazine Snopes showed that a large number of social media profiles that reached several million people with Blue Lives Matter content are operated by a Kosovar network.
In July 2020, the protests following the death of George Floyd led to clashes between Blue Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter supporters. Some organizers of the Blue Lives Matter protests stated that they do not see themselves as opponents of the Black Lives Matter movement. In reply to the demand of the police to withdraw the funds, in addition, the movement was Back the Blue (: German the Blues Supports ) started.
criticism
Name of the movement
Among other things, the name of the movement was criticized by activists of the Black Lives Matter. They noted that the blue uniform, unlike the skin color, is removable. Similar to the White Lives Matter (German: White lives count ), it is also criticized that there is no need for the movement, since violence against the police would receive a lot of media attention even without the movement. In a speech on July 7, 2016, then US President Barack Obama stated that the statement that black lives count does not mean that blue lives do not count. He went on to say, however, that the data shows that black people are more at risk.
Classification of violence against police officers as hate crime
A central requirement of the Blue Lives Matter is the adaptation of the legislation so that violence against police officers can be classified as hate crime and punished accordingly. A law classifying violence against police, fire and ambulance workers as hate crime was passed in Louisiana in May 2016 . In addition to its official name “HB 953”, it was given the unofficial name “Blue Lives Matter”. Similar proposals have been made in other states based on this law.
These laws and legislative proposals have been criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) , among others . As reasons for their criticism, they cited, among other things, that police officers were already specially protected by laws and that the new laws were given in response to the Blue Lives Matter movement and not to reality. There was also no empirical evidence of an increased risk in police work, as cited by the Blue Lives Matter activists. Studies have shown that this risk has decreased significantly in recent years.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Police want to counter black US movement. In: Tagesspiegel. July 11, 2016, accessed August 19, 2020 .
- ↑ Christopher Berg: Introducing The Police Tribune. Blue Lives Matter, June 11, 2020, accessed August 19, 2020 .
- ^ Police groups want to paint a 'Blue Lives Matter' street mural in New York City, too. In: CBS 58. July 16, 2020, accessed on August 19, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Markus Mayr: BlueLivesMatter statements after the attack in Dallas. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. July 11, 2016, accessed August 19, 2020 .
- ↑ Kosovar Facebook 'Giveaway' Network Exploits COVID-19 Fears. In: Snopes. April 10, 2020, accessed August 20, 2020 (American English).
- ↑ Juliana Kim, Michael Wilson: 'Blue Lives Matter' and 'Defund the Police' Clash in the Streets . In: The New York Times . July 22, 2020, ISSN 0362-4331 (English, nytimes.com [accessed August 19, 2020]).
- ↑ Natasha Lennard, Natasha Lennard: After Dallas, We Don't Need to Say 'Blue Lives Matter'. In: Rolling Stone. July 8, 2016, Retrieved August 19, 2020 (American English).
- ^ Statement by the President. In: obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. July 7, 2016, accessed on August 19, 2020 .
- ↑ Kevin Conlon: Louisiana governor signs 'Blue Lives Matter' bill. In: CNN. May 27, 2016, accessed August 19, 2020 .
- ↑ Naomi LaChance: In Alton Sterling's Baton Rouge, “Blue Lives Matter”. In: The Intercept. July 7, 2016, accessed on August 19, 2020 .
- ^ A b Julia Craven: Louisiana's New 'Blue Lives Matter' Law On Cop Killers Is Actually Pretty Redundant (UPDATE). In: Huffington Post. May 25, 2016, accessed on August 19, 2020 .
- ^ Matthew Guariglia: 'Blue lives' do matter - that's the problem. In: Washington Post. November 30, 2017, accessed August 19, 2020 .
- ^ Coalition Opposition to HR 5698, the Protect and Serve Act of 2018. In: aclu.org. May 15, 2018, accessed on August 19, 2020 .
- ↑ Michael D. White, Lisa M. Dario, John A. Shjarback: Assessing dangerousness in policing . In: Criminology & Public Policy . tape 18 , no. 1 , 2019, ISSN 1745-9133 , p. 11-35 , doi : 10.1111 / 1745-9133.12408 ( wiley.com [accessed August 20, 2020]).