Baltimore Ravens Star Benjamin Watson Proposes 'Black Lives Matter Too'
Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson weighed in Wednesday on the controversy over the phrase “All Lives Matter.”
“Usually ‘All Lives Matter’ comes as a response to ‘Black Lives Matter;’ it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. So when people say ‘Black Lives Matter’ a lot of times the response ‘All Lives Matter’ can seem very condescending, dismissive to ‘Black Lives Matter,’” Watson told the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney.
On the other hand, Watson explained why the phrase came about as a reaction to the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
“I think that part of the issue here is when people hear ‘Black Lives Matter’ sometimes they think that someone is saying your life doesn’t matter and that’s not what ‘Black Lives Matter,’ at least to me, is saying.”
He continued, “The reason why ‘Black Lives Matter’ is a chant is because a lot of people feel, myself included, that sometimes they don’t matter.”
Watson then suggested an adjustment to the phrase “Black Lives Matter” in an effort to make the goals of the movement clearer as well as more inclusive.
“Maybe it should have been ‘Black Lives Matter Too.’ Maybe that would have been more descriptive of what we’re really saying. Because what they’re not saying is that Black lives matter more than anybody else’s lives, it’s more of a ‘hey, these lives matter too.’”