What is your Interpretation of the Slogan "Black Lives Matter"?

It is recognition that Black lives, disproportionate to their population, are disposed of with too much callous ease by the agencies that are supposed to be serving and protecting.

Excellent discussion topic. Everything I have read though this post is pretty spot on. It has so many meanings and I UP voted many. I blame the media and extreme organizations for trying to pervert the meaning. There seems to be more profit for these organizations in race conflict then in race harmony. One day we will realized there is only one race, the Human Race. Again, great discussion post.

All lives matter....black, white, brown....but if youre military or veteran...only color that matters is green

My interpretation is that this open season on shoot first ask questions later on young black people has to stop. This latest shooting in Cinncinnati was nothing less than an execution, I believe that all lives matter but I support #blacklivesmatter

When people say Black Lives Matter, there should be understood to be a 'too' at the end of that. The perception from us is that black lives don't matter..... and I see blacks as the only ones being told "Clean up your own". Basically, the attitude is that as long as any black acts the fool, no black has the right to complain about the treatment of any black. I say bullshit.

I act right, if I get mistreated by the cops, I'm going to say something. Granted, I'm an INTELLIGENT black man, so I'm going to say something through my lawyer, in court, and not during the traffic stop..... but if you're butt hurt about that, too bad. That's your problem, and I refuse to own your problem.

I really like JP4's post. What I don't like is all the negativity surrounding "All Lives Matter". You can be branded as a racist for saying it. If I were a doctor, I'd prescribe lots of Chill Pills.

All lives matter. There should be no differentiation based on anything. This is what's wrong with our country. At the beginning and end of the day we are all Americans!

Don't know why I haven't seen this before now but here is my response. I personally don't like it at all. To me it is a racist and divisive statement..it has turned into a White on Black thing versus a comment that lives matter and addressing the issue of violence. I truly believe that if MLK were alive today (who by the way I look up to) he would be saying stop the rhetoric. His words were "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." By using BLM it goes against what he says about the color of ones skin. He was looking for and marching for equality among all races. BLM is used as a catch phrase now and it causes more violence, which MLK was also against. Have we gotten where this nation needs to be with regards to racism...NO! Have we made great strides in the past several decades...YES!! Is there still a lot of work to do...YES!!! As the bible states, and I am paraphrasing, unless we believe as a little child (meaning innocence) we will never see each other as equals because things like the KKK and BLM and skinheads and Black Panthers etc continue to divide we have to realize we are all created equal and with mutual respect for each other we can become what we need to become as a nation with all races...Quick story.
My cousins son was at a ball game recently, he is 4. The UPS man had a son playing on one of the teams so he showed up to watch. My cousins son said to his momma, hey mom...look my friend Reggie came to the game...except it wasn't Reggie. This was in another town and his normal delivery man was black and this guy was white. My point is this. All he saw was a man in a uniform...not white or black but a man that he thought was his friend. It all starts with dropping the skin color and looking at the heart of a man or woman. If we can become like kids and drop this rhetoric, maybe we can make some strides. IMHO

Maj Marty Hogan
Lt Col Charlie Brown
1stSgt Glenn Brackin
Cpl Craig Morton
SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth
COL Mikel J. Burroughs
SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"
LTC Stephen C.
CPL Dave Hoover
PO3 Bob McCord
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
Sgt Wayne Wood
PVT James Strait
SGM Erik Marquez
MSgt David Hoffman
MSgt Stephen Council
SGT Elizabeth Scheck
PO1 H Gene Lawrence

First off let me say this. Downrange I had a battle, he was black, we made fun of the whole him being black and me being white and us being such good battles thing by he called me Forest and I called him Bubba (after the Forest Gump movie). When it came down to it, I did not see him as black, I did not see my driver as white, I did not see my gunner as...ok I don't remember what race he was (bad TBI day). All I saw was the fact that we all got in the trucks, test fired our weapons, went out, got blown up together, got into TICs together, walked the streets of Iraq together, hung out at the JSS together. He is out now, I am in still, when I talk to him now, I still call him either Battle or Bubba. I don't see him as Black, or anything. I see him as the dude that survived alongside me. The point of this rant? In the Army that saying DEFINITELY has no place. I HATE that saying.
I personally cannot STAND people like AL Sharpton, because they claim to want to unite people, yet they are the biggest dividers of everyone. I have all kinds of races in my recruiting station, so what about their lives? Why do Puerto Rican lives not matter? What about Mexican lives? What about White lives?
You see I am not trying to start a race thing. I am pointing out that this saying is a divisor not a unifying statement. It DEFINITELY has no place in the military. My battles lives matter to me NOT because of their race or sex, but because they could be downrange with me and we very well could be shooting the shit out bad guys and that is what matters. We are an Army of One, PERIOD. My battles are my battles, we have to get past all of this. This is not the EOL in me talking this is the reality of me talking.

I concur with SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SGT (Join to see) SGT Nel Despradel and SPC Andrew Griffin. As an AA woman I don't understand why we must dance around the issue. Racism can and does go both ways. It's like this MSgt Mike Mikulski if I go to the doctor because I broke the bones in my foot, I dont want him to focus on the bonesin my back. Yes, we bleed the same, but we don't share the same experiences. Let's forget slavery for a moment. I've witnessed my husband SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" be profiled based off of the color of his skin! American need sto wake up. Something bigger is going to happen and it's only a matter of time. Self knowledge is the best knowledge regardless of who you are.