No Lives Matter
(Unless They Are White)
The assertion that "Black Lives Matter" by protestors has been responded to by some with the statement "All Lives Matter." While the statement "All Lives Matter" should be held by all as true (in particular anyone that chooses to wear the label "Pro-Life"), it is a current and historical reality that some lives do not matter as much as the lives of others. This reality is the lingering legacy of Colonialism. Colonialism was founded on the premise that No Lives Matter (unless you are white).
I recently listened to a podcast in which the guests were talking about the founding date of the United States. This may not seem like much of a show topic to many since the school system in the US pounds a founding date of 1776 into every pupils brain. The panelists on the podcast each offered alternative founding dates for the US. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the editor responsible for the New York Times 1619 project, put forth that date - the arrival of the first slave ship in what is the United States as the founding date. Historian Peter Linebaugh posited the date of 1792 which marks the establishment of an early form of global capitalism. Phillip Deloria stressed interactions between indigenous people in the Americas and Europeans in the 1600's, as well as Columbus' second voyage when he returned with human cargo to Europe for the purposes of slave trade, and the date of 1788 when Native Americans appeared in the constitution described as savages. Each of these dates is important in the development of the United States and in the creation of the moment we are in, but it is the "No Lives Matter" movement that makes it all those dates possible.
In the middle of the 1400's, as Europeans began to move around the globe, the Pope writes a number of bulls (a public statement or decree). These official statements of the Pope - who, at the time, clearly saw himself as the religious authority for the entire globe - creates the "No Lives Matter" movement. In those bulls (Romanus Pontifex & Dum Diversas in 1452 and Inter Cetera in 1493) the Pope grants permission for Europeans to "take possession” of any lands “discovered” that were “not under the dominion of any Christian rulers” (Newcomb 1992:18-20). Furthermore, he creates the "No Lives Matter" movement by encouraging those same explorers to:
"[I]nvade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery. (Indigenous Values Initiative 2018)"
I recently listened to a podcast in which the guests were talking about the founding date of the United States. This may not seem like much of a show topic to many since the school system in the US pounds a founding date of 1776 into every pupils brain. The panelists on the podcast each offered alternative founding dates for the US. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the editor responsible for the New York Times 1619 project, put forth that date - the arrival of the first slave ship in what is the United States as the founding date. Historian Peter Linebaugh posited the date of 1792 which marks the establishment of an early form of global capitalism. Phillip Deloria stressed interactions between indigenous people in the Americas and Europeans in the 1600's, as well as Columbus' second voyage when he returned with human cargo to Europe for the purposes of slave trade, and the date of 1788 when Native Americans appeared in the constitution described as savages. Each of these dates is important in the development of the United States and in the creation of the moment we are in, but it is the "No Lives Matter" movement that makes it all those dates possible.
In the middle of the 1400's, as Europeans began to move around the globe, the Pope writes a number of bulls (a public statement or decree). These official statements of the Pope - who, at the time, clearly saw himself as the religious authority for the entire globe - creates the "No Lives Matter" movement. In those bulls (Romanus Pontifex & Dum Diversas in 1452 and Inter Cetera in 1493) the Pope grants permission for Europeans to "take possession” of any lands “discovered” that were “not under the dominion of any Christian rulers” (Newcomb 1992:18-20). Furthermore, he creates the "No Lives Matter" movement by encouraging those same explorers to:
"[I]nvade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery. (Indigenous Values Initiative 2018)"
Or in other words, "No Lives Matter" (unless you are European).
Mark Charles says of these Papal Bulls that they are,
"[The] Church in Europe telling the nations of Europe that wherever they go, whatever lands they find that are not ruled by Christian rulers, those people are less than human and the land is theirs for the taking. It is this doctrine that allowed European nations to colonize the continent of Africa and enslave the African people. It is also this Doctrine of Discovery that allowed Christopher Columbus, who was lost at sea, to land in a “new world” already inhabited by millions and claim to have “discovered” it. Common sense tells us you cannot discover lands that are already inhabited. (2016:149)"
The roots of the "Black Lives Matter" movement lie in the historical reality that was created by the "No Lives Matter" movement that began with the Pope in the 1400's. The legacy of deciding that the only lives that matter are those of white Europeans is what we are seeing today in the protests in the streets. To say "All Lives Matter" in response to "Black Lives Matter" is to be ignorant, or to deny, the history leading up to this point that is built on a pervasive white supremacy - the belief that No Lives Matter (Unless They Are White).
Joel K
Works Cited:
Charles, M., 2016, ‘The doctrine of discovery, war, and the myth of America’, Leaven 24(3), 147-154.
Indigenous Values Initiative, 2018, Dum diversas, viewed 14 February 2019, from https://doctrineofdiscovery.org/dum-diversas/.
Newcomb, S., 1992, ‘Five hundred years of injustice’, Indigenous Law Institute, n.d., viewed 30 January 2019, from http://ili.nativeweb.org/sdrm_art.html.
