Everything's Trash, But It's Okay

by Phoebe Robinson

It’s a plea for people to see us instead of seeing through us, a “I think therefore I am,” shouldn’t-this-be-kind-obvious-by-now statement, and a call to action we hope will get stuck in the minds of everyone who hears it until it makes them want to help dismantle a system intent on policing and harming brown and black bodies by any means necessary. That’s a lot for three little words to accomplish, but in an age when black men, women, and children are routinely murdered by police officers, who almost never suffer any real consequences for their crimes, and when black bodies are also routinely imprisoned for minor offenses that if perpetrated by their white brethren would, more often than not, lead to little more than a slap on the wrist, #BlackLivesMatter is, frankly, the thesis statement of a movement and also a reminder to black people that even though the world doesn’t see it, we do matter, so don’t fucking forget it or give up.