Black Lives Matter Case Study

Looking over the gravel parking lot, filled with eager families entering the annual fall festival held by the friendly business known as Cox Farms, stood a controversial sign in the window, with a bold statement, Black Lives Matter.
Cox Farms owner and business entrepreneur, Aaron Cox, home is at the foot of the entrance of the fall festival. Cox admitted that living in such an open area with an immense amount of public view can be both a positive and negative thing. In this case, it was a perfect opportunity to share a personal opinion.
Cox first became concerned with the Black Lives Matter movement through her church, Unitarian Universal. As an active member, it came to Cox’s attention that the placement of the Black Lives Matter signs, with various congregations, were being
vandalized due to hate regarding the issue that was being presented.
“There was a Facebook conversation I was having with some people about how to address this issue or should they just keep replacing the sign over and over again. They needed a really visible place, up high, super protected, where nobody could get to it,” Cox said.
Cox knew that in order for the message to get out there without constant destruction of the signs, there needed to a placement for the sign and she knew a perfect place for it; her house window.
As time went on and the fall festival started to get into the swing of things, the controversial sign started to grab the attention of the Fairfax police department.
Some officers took offense to this sign believing that it was regarded towards them and their profession to a certain degree. However, this was not the intention of Cox.
“I am a strongly anti-violent person and I am in no way advocating for that [hatred against police officers]” Cox said. “That is one reason why people are upset about the Black Lives Matter sign because they associate it with an organization that, they believe, is strongly anti police officers or pro violence”.
The sign itself represents a deeper meaning than what many perceive it to state and that is what Cox is trying to convey.
“There is this false understanding or misperception when someone says, ‘Black Lives Matter’, what [people think] they are saying is, ‘Black Lives Matter More’ but what they are really saying is, ‘Black Lives Matter too’” Cox
said.
This misguided interpretation of the text is the root cause of why there is so much controversy regarding the sign. Not only is there misinterpretation of the sign from specific officers, it can also be interpreted as something different even from students.
“There is nothing wrong with saying, ‘Black Lives Matter’. I think it’s just an expression from the African American community and it’s important that they have the right [to say it],” senior and member of the Freedom for Humans Rights club Shanker Narayan said.
With any controversial statement, there will always be mixed opinions and interpretations that can be taken with different angles. However, Cox believes that no matter how people react, it is important to say true to your belief if you know it is good.
“If people get this upset and this angry when someone says that, ‘Black Lives Matter’ that shows how severe the problem is. To me, that is every reason to make sure that the sign stays up and to continue that conversation, discussing why that upsets them,” Cox said.