The death of George Floyd, an African-American victim of racial profiling by the Police, led to nation-wide protests in the USA to end racism. Consequently, #BlackLivesMatter trended on social media.
However, at the same time, a section of society talked about why it should be #AllLivesMatter. And actor Abhay Deol, who had previously called out Bollywood celebrities for endorsing fairness creams, took to Instagram to explain the ‘problem with #AllLivesMatter‘.
In his post, he talked about how all lives have not been treated equally, and thus, BLM is a ‘for equality, not preference.’
The repercussions of slavery have to be undone and that may take decades. It’s the same with the caste system in our country, which has existed for over a 1000 years. It is much harder for the poor and disenfranchised to achieve the goals they want because of the poverty and prejudice they live and grow up in.
He also talked about why he used the hashtag, #poorlivesmatter, #migrantlivesmatter, #minoritylivesmatter in an earlier Instagram post, and what he seeks to achieve by raising his voice.
To join hands authentically would be to find a peaceful way to bring about change in our own society, to headline our own movement. The 1st step we must take in order to do that is in recognizing who is most vulnerable in our culture, why are they so, and what can be done about it.
Many people commented on his post, and agreed with his message:
At a time when a particular minority group, that has faced years of inequality and injustice, is fighting to get equal representation, then the discussion has to be about that particular minority group! This is why, #AllLivesMatter is a trend that needs to end, as soon as it can.