I've seen this post circulate FB recently and ofc some people just don't get it.

I was going to make a tweet thread, but am still just too unwell to do so. So here's my reply to someone who wanted to insist police lives matter, they work hard, in danger, and don't deserve this.

I can try to copy/paste the text here for those that can't see it or prefer individual tweets:

"I think you're missing a fundamental issue here. There can be no such thing as a blue life, bc it's a profession they can take off, remove, leave, and/or conceal whenever they want.

So, their LIVES aren't blue, their jobs are.

Do they, as people - brown, white, gay, disabled, neurodivergent, or any other permanent, immovable identity - matter? Absolutely. Do their lives as individual people matter? Sure do.

But their "blueness" isn't an identity or a life,

it's a profession. And more importantly, it's a voluntary one. Any danger they face is informed risk they chose to take on. If they ever feel threatened, unsafe, marginalized, attacked, unfairly discriminated against, judged, etc for being "blue", they can leave.

They can stop, & all that pain & fear dissolves w/ it. Bc its not their BODY, or who they were born as, it's who they decided to become.

Black folks don't sign up to feel targeted, they didn't volunteer to live in fear, they aren't compensated nor paid for the risk to their life

they never get to take who they are off or go incognito for a break, and they can never endure the endless scrutiny by holding onto the peace of mind that if it ever gets "too bad" they can leave altogether.

That's why they are Black LIVES and police officers have Blue JOBS.

They cannot be compared. And to do so ignores the inherent privilege of getting to put on power temporarily and remove it when you don't like the baggage that comes with it.

We also don't have any Blue children, Blue 'lives' w/ severe mental illness,

Blue elderly nor Blue 'lives' in crippling poverty. But we not only have Black children/elderly/disabled/poor/mentally ill/etc -- they are the most disproportionately affected by violence.

All we DO have are Blue, able-bodied, mentally sound, employed, trained, armed, adults

typically between the ages of 25-65 - who GAIN power by becoming Blue. Bc there is no such thing as a blue LIFE if those are the only people it could ever apply to.

Therein lies the difference.

As a final note, by saying Black lives matter, no one's saying a word about the lives of police nor anyone else's lives at all.

Of course they matter, bc everyone's does. Or rather, they SHOULD matter. But,

Because Black folks have been repeatedly treated like theirs don't, we all needed a reminder: theirs matter too. Bc some people forgot.

And sadly, if you show signs that you've forgotten that or lost the plot in all these arguments, it *does* reflect on your character.

But thankfully we can work on our character and be better. You (I hope) wouldn't show up to a cystic fibrosis fundraiser, full of dying kiddos, w/ a sign that says ALL LUNG DISEASE MATTERS.

Bc that would be insensitive and cruel right in front of those fighting for their lives.

It's not a competition of whose life matters MORE. It's a simple statement that Black lives matter, TOO.

...and the days of them being treated as subhuman or like theirs don't matter at all need to end yesterday.