He "looked like he was trying to kill a deer running through the woods"

 

That's what the father of Walter Scott, the South Carolina man who was gunned down by police officer, Michael Slager, earlier this month, said upon viewing the video of his son's murder.

This quote evidences not only the belief that Black lives don't matter, that Black men are seen as less than human, but also the belief that some lives - nonhuman lives - clearly do not matter. As long as that is true, it will be that much more difficult to change the paradigm under which Black lives do not matter.

We try so hard to move the line, to argue that, not only do straight, white, Christian men matter, other people matter too. Women matter. Muslims matter. Trans people matter. And Black Lives Matter. We are all human.

But we maintain the line. We maintain the hierarchy. We maintain the system that makes humanity a necessary component of gaining respect, dignity, liberty and life. And maintaining that line makes the ultimate goal of social justice that much more difficult.

The confluence of racism and speciesism allows society and people like Michael Slager to place people like Walter Scott on the other side of the line, to treat them like they are less than human. And while we fight for Walter's right to be on the human side of the line, we ignore the "deer" and the billions and billions of nonhumans who are tortured and killed every year simply because they are less than human.

We need to destroy the line. We need to get rid of the hierarchy. We need to fight for the dignity, respect and life of every sentient being. Only then will all lives matter.