George Yancey, author and Duquesne University professor of philosophy, has been interviewing philosophers on the subject of race for a series in The New York Times.
In “What’s Wrong With ‘All Lives Matter’?” Yancey’s fifth interview subject, Judith Butler (a professor at University of California, Berkeley) makes the point that the protest “All Lives Matter” states a given – that no life is worth less than another – that has not been “historically realized,” and that the recent deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice and similar incidents stem from racist perceptions of threats where there are none:
“When we are taking about racism, and anti-black racism in the United States, we have to remember that under slavery black lives were considered only a fraction of a human life, so the prevailing way of valuing lives assumed that some lives mattered more, were more human, more worthy, more deserving of life and freedom, where freedom meant minimally the freedom to move and thrive without being subjected to coercive force. But when and where did black lives ever really get free of coercive force?”
Butler says that the lives lost to police aggression “belong to the increasing number of those who are understood as ungrievable, whose lives are thought not to be worth preserving,” but as a result, “what we are also seeing in the recent and continuing assemblies, rallies and vigils is an open mourning for those whose lives were cut short and without cause, brutally extinguished.”
Previous interviews in this series:
“Black Lives: Between Grief and Action,” with Williams College professor Joy James
“White Anxiety and the Futility of Black Hope,” with University of North Carolina, Charlotte professor Shannon Sullivan
“Lost in Rawlsland,” with Northwestern University professor Charles Mills
“What ‘White Privilege’ Really Means,” with University of Oregon professor Naomi Zack
Posted by Cara Modisett