I would expand that to bigotry, any bigotry.

Oh I do.

Yessssss!!!

Yes, we all should. But I will say that when you encounter something like this for the first time, or in a highly unexpected way, it can be rather shocking, and leave you a bit speechless. I'm white, 40, from middle class background, and grew up in a suburban area about 40 minutes south of Philadelphia. I didn't think racism was still much of a problem because I had never been exposed to it until until my late 20s, when some pig cops treated a black man who had more information about an accident we witnessed like he was causing a problem for trying to tell them what he saw. I didn't even realize what was happening right away. Of course that's back when I used to think cops were mostly good, especially where I lived. I learned the hard way ACAB. And I did tell the cops that the nice gentleman, who just helped pry a crushed door off the car to get a little girl crumpled under the dash out because the car was smoking, to please take his statement first, he saw more than I did.

in this day and age it is almost dangerous to be vocal about racism because many are being killed for speaking their minds about it .

Too many times I find myself thinking “maybe we should have let them secede.”

Both are bad. One is about racist systems and the other is about racist individuals. It's okay to object to both. It's like how, in my country, on average, women make $0.84 cents for every $1 men make AND incels are awful outspoken misogynists who are a threat to women everywhere. That's systemic sexism and individual sexism. Both are bad.

I would encourage you to listen more. Because people's experiences are different to yours and they're not all wrong about what they're telling you. And sometimes people taking the piss is still exhausting. I moved abroad some years ago and for a while - like, more than 10 years - I had people comment on my accent at least 3 times a week. It was EXHAUSTING and it was almost completely positive!! I can't imagine how I would have felt if those comments had been negative. So if someone tells you something is hurtful - LISTEN TO THEM.

That advice is good in theory, but I don't think it makes sense in practice. It removes the reality of power from the conversation. In a lot of countries, race is very much tied to power. For a comparison, look at gender. A martial arts gym may offer a Women's Only class that focuses on self defense. That makes sense. Women are frequently targeted in violent acts, and many (especially with a history of abuse) may be uncomfortable attending that sort of class with men. This class looks at the power imbalance and works to fix it. A Men's Only martial arts class would likely not be as cool. Women are already underrepresented in martial arts. There's not a reason to exclude them from a class. Power matters here. Flipping identititles often ignores reality. It doesn't always make sense.

Uh... the issue there is that white lives already matter to society and to the government. Therefore it's redundant to say. Black and other POC lives, on the other hand, currently and historically have not been seen as equal or as valuable as white lives. That's why we need to keep pushing.

This is nonsensical, I'm sorry. The whole issue with racism is that it is TARGETED and EXCLUSIONARY. And doesn't even take into consideration the power and history that's part of the equation, as Andy has pointed out so well.

This is stupid and does not work. You cannot simply change one word in a group's title and and expect to have insight on the matter. You have to do research and find out what each group's ideology is and what they're fighting for. BLM, WLM and ALM are not the same movements just for different groups. BLM believe that the USA does not place the same value in black peoples live as it does with other races, so their responses to this is BLM! WLM seem to be a racist backlash against BLM, while ALM are more concerned about people not standing for flags.

Yes and No, but mostly yes. In the same way that if you were a straight guy that had a male friend, that you kept introducing to people as your "Boyfriend", would lead to people assuming you're gay, saying All Lives Matter is going to make people assume you're racist. The reason for this is that the ALM movement is a product of a rightwing media propaganda campaign that demonises BLM as Black Supremist group when in reality they're campaigning against racist cops killing black people over minor offenses. So while it's true, your friend is a "Boy Friend" and you may feel that All Lives Matter what your communicating is something else.

Anti-racism is not racism, it's anti-racism. If you feel that people protesting a man being killed by the police because of his colour is attack on you and your race then you need to ask your self why that is.

...what?

Correct according to whom? In many books, the skin color of a character isn't mentioned at all, but if they make that person black in a movie people get mad "they weren't black in the book"... the thing is, many people assume that white is the default, and everyone in every story should be white unless it specifically states otherwise.

pretty sure its just a picture inserted

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Absolutely!!!

No one has ever said they don't. But saying that in response to someone saying that Black lives matter is like standing up at your friend's grandmother's funeral and yelling "I love my grandmother too! Why aren't you talking about MY grandmother?!"

I don't think you really believe that

That's a preference, not racism.

How would that be racism?

What, all of them? My word you do get about