President Obama, yesterday, before the Dallas shootings:
So when people say “Black Lives Matter,” that doesn’t mean blue lives don’t matter; it just means all lives matter, but right now the big concern is the fact that the data shows black folks are more vulnerable to these kinds of incidents.
In other words, the declaration that “Black Lives Matter” means “all lives matter.” Quite a few traditional allies of the president do not agree with that interpretation. If the terms really were parallel, people wouldn’t be so bothered when someone used one instead of the other.
Esquire declared the slogan is a “the intersection of White Privilege and White Paranoia”; The Advocate went as far as to say, the phrase “All Lives Matter” is racist. Hillary Clinton’s use of the phrase irked some African-Americans, and to one attendee said using those words ”blew a lot of support.” Onetime presidential candidate Martin O’Malley apologized for using the phrase “all lives matter” at a liberal conference.
In other words, the liberals who object to “all lives matter” contend that the term “all” is somehow seen as exclusionary; the president is asserting that the term “black” in this context is entirely inclusive and meant to apply to everyone regardless of their skin color. Those are the exact opposites of their literal meanings.