The author of “Waiting to Exhale” and “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” – best-selling books that were turned into hit movies featuring black actors – was naive enough to publicly state “All Lives Matter.”
Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley was one of the first high profile Americans to effectively undermine the “Black Lives Matter” narrative by stating “all” lives matter at a liberal conference in July.
Black novelist Terry McMillan tweeted to her 268,000 followers yesterday:
All lives matter.
— Terry McMillan (@MsTerryMcMillan) August 4, 2015
Like O’Malley, she was stating the obvious. But the reaction was fierce.
https://twitter.com/missjia/status/628865489171689472
@MsTerryMcMillan This is disappointing.
— JL Sigman (@JLSigman) August 5, 2015
ima need you to shut the hell up. ma'am. RT @MsTerryMcMillan: All lives matter.
— miss daddy. (@qweenpush) August 5, 2015
if all lives mattered there wouldn't need to be a #BlackLivesMatter, but here the FUCK were are RT@MsTerryMcMillan All lives matter.
— Anne Davis (@jonnieanne) August 5, 2015
But unlike the spineless weasel Martin O’Malley, who apologized for saying “All Lives Matter,” McMillan was defiant.
For those who don't think I don't believe #BlackLivesMatter just because I said I believe all lives do, then stop following me.
— Terry McMillan (@MsTerryMcMillan) August 5, 2015
I don't need a hashtag to describe my beliefs. I know who I am and what I am and I don't need trolls on Twitter thinking they do.
— Terry McMillan (@MsTerryMcMillan) August 5, 2015
Oh, so now I'm not black enough? Please.
— Terry McMillan (@MsTerryMcMillan) August 5, 2015
BET reports the author “is getting dragged by Black Twitter for echoing the misguided motto.”
“The reactions ranged from dismissive to angry, but some were genuinely saddened that a luminary in the Black community like McMillan would fail to grasp the point of the movement,” according to BET, which characterized McMillan’s statement as a “perceived misstep.”
In January, Essence, a black magazine, named McMillan one of the “Women Who Empower Us.”
“Her strong, dynamic, female characters and relatable prose have empowered African-American women everywhere for years but the woman behind these characters is even more inspiring,” Candice N. Jones wrote in a glowing review of McMillan’s work.
That would be news to her critics, who apparently don’t believe all lives matter.
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