Lifting the Most Oppressed: How Racism Has Shifted, What Equity Demands, and Why “All Lives Matter” Misses the Point

Lifting the Most Oppressed: How Racism Has Shifted, What Equity Demands, and Why “All Lives Matter” Misses the Point

by Scribe Diva Ink

Author’s Preface

For generations, racism has shapeshifted — never dying, only adapting. From slavery to segregation, from redlining to “color-blindness,” it evolves to match the era. This reflection grew from my own curiosity: Has racism improved, or merely changed? Have the needs of the marginalized shifted? And does lifting the most oppressed truly lift everyone — or just make us feel like it should? This essay explores those questions and ends with why phrases like “All Lives Matter” — though seemingly harmless — threaten the very idea of equity itself.

1. The Changing Face of Racism

Racism once lived openly in laws and in language. Jim Crow signs screamed separation. “White only” was policy, not preference. But as those signs came down, new structures rose in their place — zoning maps, “tough on crime” laws, biased lending, and school funding models that continue to segregate by zip code instead of color. Today, racism is more polished. It often hides beneath smiles, “neutral” policies, or claims of meritocracy. Instead of saying “you can’t,” the system says “everyone can” — then quietly withholds the tools some would need to do so. Sociologists call this structural racism: inequity that survives without individual villains. The outcomes speak for themselves — racial wealth gaps unchanged since the 1960s, school segregation reemerging, and healthcare inequities revealed most brutally during COVID-19. So yes, overt racism has declined — but covert, systemic racism has become more efficient. What changed was not the intent, but the method.

2. How the Needs of the Marginalized Have Evolved

As oppression evolves, so do the needs of those who endure it. The Civil Rights Movement fought for access — to schools, buses, and ballots. Today, the fight is for equity — to correct the disparities access alone couldn’t fix. This generation’s struggles are intersectional. A Black woman’s obstacles differ from a Black man’s; an undocumented worker’s from a disabled veteran’s. Justice that treats everyone the same ignores those differences and reproduces inequality. True equity requires targeted universality — shared goals achieved through customized paths. The destination is justice for all, but some roads must be repaved for those who’ve never been allowed to walk them freely.

3. Lifting the Most Oppressed: Repair, Not Favoritism

There’s a belief — tested by both history and humanity — that when you lift the most oppressed, you lift everyone. It’s not idealism; it’s infrastructure. - When public health systems protect those at greatest risk, everyone becomes safer. - When ramps are built for wheelchair users, parents with strollers and elders benefit too. - When voting rights are expanded for the excluded, democracy itself becomes stronger. In contrast, when the most oppressed are ignored, the cracks widen. Over-policing Black communities normalizes surveillance that later reaches others. Limiting reproductive or gender rights for some sets a precedent that endangers all. The health of a society is measured by how it treats those at the margins — not those at the center.

4. The Illusion of Neutrality: “All Lives Matter” vs. “Black Lives Matter”

At face value, “All Lives Matter” sounds fair. But it emerged not as a call for unity — rather, as a reaction to “Black Lives Matter.” The Black Lives Matter movement was never about exclusion. It was about urgency — a declaration that Black lives are treated as expendable, and that must change. Saying “Black Lives Matter” is another way of saying “Black lives matter, too.” When someone responds with “All Lives Matter,” they erase the focus required to fix injustice. It’s like saying “All houses matter” while one is on fire. Firefighters don’t spray every home — they save the one in flames because it’s in danger. The goal isn’t favoritism; it’s triage. This rhetoric of neutrality does harm in three ways:

1. It recenters privilege — the conversation shifts from those dying to those uncomfortable hearing about it.

2. It creates false equivalence — it ignores that data prove unequal risk and treatment.

3. It blocks solutions — if you can’t name who’s hurting, you can’t design what heals. Neutrality feels safe, but it’s not justice — it’s maintenance of the status quo.

5. Why Specificity Is Essential to Solidarity

Social change has always required naming the harm: - The women’s movement said “Women deserve the vote,” not “All people should vote.” - The disability rights movement said “Access for disabled people,” not “Everyone needs ramps.” - Labor unions said “Workers deserve rights,” not “Everyone deserves fairness.” By naming the excluded, they built inclusion. “All Lives Matter” mistakes equality for equity — sameness for fairness. Real solidarity demands seeing the difference and choosing to act on it.

6. Racism’s Modern Camouflage

Today’s racism wears softer clothes. It speaks the language of “color-blindness,” “diversity without redistribution,” and “inclusion without accountability.” It appears as algorithmic bias, selective policing, inequitable school zoning, and generational poverty explained away as “individual failure.” To dismantle this version of racism, we need more than empathy — we need structure. That means equitable policies, reparative investment, and voices from the margins in every room where power is held.

7. Lifting the Oppressed Lifts Everyone — If We’re Willing to Look Down First

Real justice begins by looking downward, not upward. When we repair the deepest cracks — racialized poverty, gendered violence, environmental racism — we strengthen the whole foundation. “All Lives Matter” tries to skip that step, pretending the house is already even. But justice without repair is like painting over rot — it looks fine until it collapses again. Lifting the most oppressed is not just moral; it’s pragmatic. A society that works for those at the bottom works for everyone above.

8. Closing Reflection

Equality without context is a form of erasure. “All Lives Matter” sounds inclusive but denies the truth that not all lives are treated equally. “Black Lives Matter” names that truth and demands repair. When we center the most harmed, we expand what justice can hold. Peace built on denial is temporary; peace built on truth can last. Lifting the most oppressed isn’t about who matters more — it’s about finally making “all lives matter” true.

Sources & Suggested Reading

1. Alicia Garza, The Purpose of Power (2020)

2. Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist (2019)

3. Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (2015)

4. Kimberlé Crenshaw, Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex (1989)

5. American Psychological Association (2020), The Myth of Color-Blindness and Its Costs

6. Pew Research Center (2023), Black Americans and Policing

7. The Movement for Black Lives (m4bl.org)

8. Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis (2024), Resegregation in U.S. Schools: 70 Years After Brown v. Board