In true dystopian form, the killing of unarmed Black people by the police has sparked a national narrative about the suffering of police officers. \u201cBlue Lives Matter\u201d has become the rallying call for those offended by the suggestion that we should hold police officers accountable for killing unarmed Black people. According to a December 2016 poll, 61% of Americans believed that there was a \u201cwar on police,\u201d and 68% of Whites had a favorable view of the police as compared to 40% of Blacks. Lawmakers around the country have been proposing Blue Lives Matter laws that make it a hate crime to kill or assault police officers. This strange twist of events is perverse given the social context. Why should the police be viewed as victims in need of additional protection at precisely the same moment that many have questioned their victimization of Black communities? This Essay considers this question and argues that \u201cBlue Lives Matter\u201d is evidence of the permanence of racism as a juridical and discursive matter in this country.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was fifteen years after the second millennium, and civil unrest rocked our nation\u2019s cities following the police shootings of several unarmed Black people.1<\/sup><\/a>1. See Justin Hansford & Meena Jagannath, Ferguson to Geneva: Using the Human Rights Framework to Push Forward a Vision for Racial Justice in the United States After Ferguson, 12 … Continue reading<\/span><\/span><\/cite><\/sup>Introduction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n