Why should I care?

While BLM sounds ethically moral, most people don’t feel personally driven to support the Black Lives Matter movement. If you don’t identify as Black, what’s the incentive for you to put yourself out there in protests that could become violent to support Black lives? You might think that apart from doing something morally correct, what do you have to gain from supporting BLM?

Theoretically, yes, it makes sense for society to function as a unit and strive for equality, but from an individual’s standpoint, how does a person with privilege benefit? Moreover, there is the subconscious thought that while you don’t gain anything, you might lose your existing privilege. If you’re the teacher’s favorite student who gets a few extra points for just being you, enjoys the ability to win altercations whenever the teacher is the judge of things, or exercises less restraint in class, why would you ever ask the teacher to give this ability to everyone for fairness? Ethically, advocating for change sounds like the right thing to do -- after all, every student should be equal in the teacher’s eyes -- but there’s nothing that you get out of it except for, perhaps, a nice feeling. But a nice feeling is not going to help you as much as the privileges did, is it?

Now, for argument's sake, let’s say you decide to donate to the Black Lives Matter movement. The money you give would be used to advocate for reform or provide the Black community with financial assistance. Either way, you provide assistance to support a community that, given time, will do better than it used to. That means better standards of living and more opportunities, which benefits everyone including you. While the average Black person is statistically more likely to be arrested, providing financial aid pulls them out of poverty and pushes them into the workforce. (Note that poverty is linked to crime, not race!) When someone joins the workforce, they can stop worrying about maintaining a steady income and meeting basic human needs, and thus live less stressful lives and as a result, for the small subset of people who had to, no longer need to resort to crime or drugs. So, as lower poverty leads to lower crime rates and drug abuse, by supporting BLM, you get to live in a better, safer environment with less crime and drug abuse. Thus, one way of thinking is that you are paying for a safer neighborhood. Doesn’t seem like a profitless investment after all.

Another benefit is healthy competition. Black people have far less literacy rates right now than their white counterparts. With more Black people receiving better education and pursuing degrees, a larger population of those who didn’t have access to resources would have a better opportunity to strive for excellence. This creates a forward loop for innovation and awareness. More people would ask for things that you care about, and at the same time more people would be available to make that possible for you.

Do you want better ice cream flavors? With more people being able to afford desserts, there’s a better chance that more people akin to you are going to demand more flavors. Do you care about making college affordable? With a more educated population, there would be people who demand for free or subsidized college against the current system, thus creating more pressure on the government to pass appropriate laws. At the same time, there would be more professors and faculty, which helps decrease the cost of a college education and catalyzes building more institutions. Indirectly, you are demanding for a better chance of getting what you want by supporting movements like BLM.

From a rudimentary perspective of human behavior, the reason that humans as a species have come this far is because we live in societies, together, and look out for each other in different fields of life, from healthcare to education to municipal departments to governments to culinary arts. We specialize in one job while relying on the assumption that everyone else will specialize too in order to provide each other the amenities that complement our lives. So it goes without saying that we all benefit when we all perform better. That’s because the human capital that seemed like a liability is now an asset that will help provide resources for you. Moreover, this asset provides larger consumption for your resources. It follows that supporting the BLM also means taking action for better services and job security.

At the moment, however, this is your untapped opportunity to garner support for what you want, which, due to societies’ current construct, you are not getting. You want to demand for what is rightfully yours: for example, neighborhoods with better quality of life and affordable higher education. Supporting BLM may not look like the direct solution to these problems; however, BLM deals with the root of these problems.

Coming back to the teacher-student analogy, if you tell your teacher about their bias for you and politely ask them to change their behavior, you no longer need their biased treatment. Knowing that you took the initiative to level the playing field, your classmates will realize that you care about them. They will care more about you and there will be fewer altercations in the first place. You benefit by becoming more adept to handle situations and more hardworking to earn your grades yourself. You dealt with the problem from its root so that you no longer need to bother with the temporary solutions.

Similarly, by supporting BLM you are not letting go of your privilege. You are letting go of the need to use it. You are choosing long term solutions over short term benefits. And as a consequence, you are creating a healthier environment that caters to your needs better. It sure sounds like something to take action for.