#BlackLivesMatter activist tells CNN that "all lives matter" is a "violent statement"

The only time anyone ever says "all lives matter" is when they confront #BlackLivesMatter activists

Published August 18, 2015 6:59PM (EDT)

On Tuesday, Wolf Blitzer spoke to leaders of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, who informed him that the conservative attempt to co-opt their organization's name via by claiming "all lives matter" amounts to a "violent statement."

Blitzer had asked Julius Jones, one of the founders of #BlackLivesMatter Worcester, about whether the organization would to continue to employ the shut-down tactics used against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, or whether the closed-door meeting with Hillary Clinton represented a strategic shift in its engagement with the presidential candidates.

Jones replied that the movement has a diverse range of options at its disposal, and that it would continue to use whatever tactics it believes will be the most effective given the particular circumstances in which they're intervening.

After listing off a number of the recent incidents that have demonstrated that black lives don't matter -- from Michael Brown to Tamir Rice to Sandra Bland -- he told Wolf to "temper your perspective with the urgency that black lives are constantly under attack and we are in a terrible war with our own country."

"African-Americans are American," he continued, "but we're not treated like that -- we're not treated like black lives matter. When people say 'all lives matter,' it's actually a violent statement because the only time people say 'all lives matter' is in opposition to 'black lives matter.'" He admitted that while "it's true, all lives matter," the point of #BlackLivesMatter is to emphasize that "for the longest time, the country acted as if black lives don't matter."

Watch the entire interview below via Mediaite.


By Scott Eric Kaufman

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#blacklivesmatter Cnn Elections 2016 Julius Jones Video Wolf Blitzer