#BlueLivesMatter reignites debate following police shooting in Ferguson

Caitlin Dickson
·Reporter
Following the resignation of top officials in Missouri and the shooting of two police officers, a look at what the Ferguson community needs to do to move forward. Photo: Getty

#BlueLivesMatter has found new life following a shooting that injured two police officers outside the Ferguson Police Department late Wednesday night.

The hashtag — a play on the #BlackLivesMatter tag that has become synonymous with protests against police violence sparked by the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and others — originated back in January, when hundreds of police officers and supporters rallied in Washington, D.C., in response to the shooting deaths of NYPD Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

By 9 a.m. Eastern time Thursday, the BBC noted, #BlueLivesMatter had been used more than 3,000 times since the news of the shooting broke after midnight. But beyond expressions of support for police officers, a search for the hashtag yields a variety of contradictory messages mirroring the debate both on the ground in Ferguson and throughout the country.

Several people, of course, simply want to show sympathy for the officers and support for police in general.


But some expressed frustration over the reappropriation of #BlackLivesMatter, suggesting it devalues the message of the original hashtag.


Many dismissed the notion that there is a need to pick sides, declaring, instead, that all lives matter.

Others seized the opportunity to admonish Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama. The shooting took place during protests following the resignation of Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson in the wake of a damning Department of Justice report accusing Ferguson’s law enforcement of systemic racism.

The #BlueLivesMatter hashtag has been tacked onto many messages blaming Holder and Obama — as well as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson — for the shooting.