Statement by the Citizens of Madison County in Response to the Blue Lives Matter Resolution

Black Lives Matter.
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This is what the people of Madison County know to be true. County Board Member Donald Moore and the other members of the Madison County Public Safety Committee want to divide us. They want us scattered and scared. They would prefer to fan the flames of fear and hatred against an imaginary boogeyman than truly work to improve the lives of their constituents.

The phrase “Black Lives Matter” is not an attack on any other group. It is the spirit of a movement, a decentralized political and social movement that advocates for an end to all police violence against Black people. It is an affirmation of the value of our humanity, and we will keep shouting Black Lives Matter until the day that a Black person can walk down the street without fear of violence or harassment.

Our demands for justice are not “spreading chaos, encouraging civil unrest and destroying our communities in an effort to weaken our democracy,” as the Blue Lives Matter Resolution would have you believe. In fact, speaking our truth to power and demanding that our government honestly and fairly represent ALL of its citizens is the most essential cornerstone of our democracy. Exercising our right to free speech is democracy in action.

This is our community. We are the people and we make it great. Instead of meaningless resolutions that do nothing but play on our fears, why don’t we come together to address the very real challenges facing our county? Why not turn our focus towards essential social services that are often underfunded, such as housing, education, employment, mental health care, and youth services?

“Blue Lives” do not exist. There are no blue people. Law enforcement is a job, not a race. At the end of the day, police officers can take off their uniform, but African Americans cannot take off their skin to escape from the systemic racism that exists in our society. There are 23,141 Black people in Madison County. Where is our resolution for them? Where is our defense of Black lives?

To quote the great Ella Baker, “until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother's sons, we who believe in freedom cannot rest.” And so we, the citizens of Madison County, have a message for the Madison County Board: we are not scared. We will not go away. We will not be cowed by your threats. We will keep using our voices to speak out for freedom until it comes.