Astronaut Lives Matter

Did the title get your attention?

This post is about the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker; astronauts, postal carriers, dog trainers, window washers, construction workers, truck drivers, assembly line workers, bankers, insurance adjusters and all other careers. It asks, are jobs the same as lives?

“Black lives matter” is a response to inequalities. In fact, it’s a response to historical inequalities. Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise.

There is opposition that responds, “Police lives matter.” When the opposition responds by using a career choice, it resounds with hypocrisy, double-standards, and ignorance. All lives matter and human life should not be valued by job titles.

Children are asked what they want to be when they grow up. That is the ability to exercise choices, but even then, some children are told that they cannot become what they aspire. For centuries, girls were told they could not be physicians, lawyers, truck drivers, astronauts, etc. Black children were told they could not become any of the above, and add President of the United States to that list.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t remember being asked what I wanted to look like, what color I wanted for my skin, hair, eyes; how tall I wanted to be; what nation I wanted to be born in.

Being a police officer is a choice. At any time, the uniform can come off. However, people cannot take off their skin. Demanding accountability and a checks-and-balance for officer-involved shootings is not cop-hate.

Never before have we seen where activism for victims and advocating for equality and equal justice resulted in a profession retorting by saying that their career choice makes their lives more worthy than the lives of others. What is really sad is that those promoting “police lives matters” don’t know the difference between a career choice and having no choice on how one is born.