I'll wear it with pride
by Dave Winer Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Wouldn't it be great if:

There were a lapel pin you could wear that simply meant Black Lives Matter.

Everyone could wear it. All races. All walks of life.

I'm not a lapel-pin designer but so I can't do the design, but here's what I had in mind. 

It should be small but not cheap. Not a tin button, something solid like the American flag lapel pins people wear. I could be an American flag lapel pin, with #BLM superimposed. 

We would wear where Americans congregate. On the subway. In baseball stadiums, on airplanes, when we go for a bike ride or a run in the park or a hike. At a company picnic. In the squad room and when we're on patrol. Everyone would wear this, ideally, to get it out of the realm of protest, to integrate the idea into all aspects of American life.

It's a way of saying thanks to our black brothers and sisters for putting up with the racist insanity of post-slavery US. A way overwhelm the problem with love, not just from the victims, but from everyone. To stand with our friends and fellow citizens, with dignity for everyone, to insist on there being no question of patriotism and civic pride. 

Putting America's racist past in the past is something every American should want. Someone not wearing the lapel pin should stand out as much as someone not standing for God Bless America at a baseball game (something I do, I detest that ritual).