Two Black radio hosts have trademarked the phrase “White Lives Matter” to block Kanye West from selling his T-shirts in the United States.
Ramses Ja and Quinton Ward host the weekly racial justice radio show Civic Cipher, created in 2020 as “a space for Black and brown people to have courageous conversations.” The duo decided to become the legal owners of the “White Lives Matter” phrase following West’s recent increasingly controversial recent decisions.
It wasn’t an easy decision for the radio hosts, who shared with CNN they agreed to do it “once it was clear that someone stood to gain significant profit from it, because as you’ve seen, even though (West) says some really hurtful, divisive and sometimes crazy things, he has a bit of a zealot following and every time he releases something, it sells out.”
The hosts also said that owning the trademark is a “responsibility” for them that they don’t take lightly. The phrase has been used widely by White supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, and is often viewed as a racist response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Ja and Ward’s hope is that by pursuing legal action, they can ensure the divisive phrase doesn’t end up in a place that would cause more harm to the Black community.
