The Day You Took Down Your Black Lives Matter Sign

The summer of 2020 they were going up like “20 is plenty signs” did in the early 2010s. Everyone needed a “Black Lives Matter” sign. A lot of folks got the “Trans Black Lives Matter” signs. Some folks got the “in this house we this and we that” ones. Of course some folks didn’t get the signs. Some folks don’t believe in it, some folks do but don’t want to advertise. I guess I can see plenty of reasons to not put the sign up. . .but what about the day you decided to take them down.
Do you shout out to your spouse “honey, do Black Lives Still Matter”? Do you ask “did we elect the right people? can we take it down now”. Maybe you worry about the weather? Maybe you are waiting to bring the sign back out but don’t want the snow damage? But the scariest part is that none of this is true. The truth is that on some quiet day you looked at the sign and you decided to bring it in. You decided that your feelings changed, that the moment had passed. There are thousands of people who reached the peak of their bad feelings about the police in the summer of 2020. And your mood has changed. You don’t know what the signs did. You read something. You changed your mind. I’ll be honest, I don’t get it. Do you think that the increase of murders across many American cities somehow makes current policing tactics okay? Did you have bad feelings about the police but you developed more sympathy for them after you saw civil unrest rolling out all across the summer of 2020 and beyond? I honestly don’t understand how those are connected. Do you think that the Black Lives Matter sign you own says “abolish the police” in small font? Did you get some grief from a neighbor? Did you take it down right before Thanksgiving?
It can’t just be a sign you pull out for the four months after the most egregious of police actions. The fact that so many people (myself included) were able to buy solidarity at a toy store on Grand and slide it face down onto our porch when the mood struck us is dangerous. The “Support Our Police” guy on the corner isn’t taking down his sign. This is not a fairweather moment. And particularly if you want police reform, I believe you do want to send the front yard news of “the status quo is not working, is not acceptable”. If you wanted that sign up at some point, tell me what made you want it down now.