SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor has weighed in on the debate between the phrases "black lives matter" and "all lives matter." "All lives matter has become used as a counter to "black lives matter," despite the point of the latter being to emphasize the fact that black Americans are disproportionately likely to be approached or stopped by police, more likely to be arrested when engaged in the same activities as white Americans, more likely to be prosecuted, and more likely to be jailed and to be sentenced to longer prison terms. In a video message posted to the Facebook page of The You Rock Foundation, an organization that provides support and hope to those suffering from depression and other related conditions, Taylor offered his views on the topic, explaining that "Black Lives Matter" doesn't mean other lives don't — it's simply asking that the black community also achieves the justice they deserve. "I just wanted to reach out and talk a little bit, especially seeing where we are in the world today between [the sniper attacks in] Dallas, [police shootings in] Minnesota and everything in between," Taylor said in the video. "It has been kind of crazy lately. And some of the voices that are out there are saying one thing, trying to pull us apart, splitting hairs and taking various unifying messages and ripping them to shreds beneath the minutiae of just pretentious ignorance. "To me, it's very simple. We all matter." The singer continued: "There's a time and a place to talk about things like that. However, we are seeing that our black friends, our black family are being… You know, there's a lot of violence going against them. So what we need to do, we need to do, is band together with them and say, yes, black lives do matter, because we all matter. And to fight for those black lives does not mean that you're saying anything against anybody else. You can back up 'black lives matter' and say that cops' lives matter; it's all the same thing. And you can have those different ideas in the same thought, and there's nothing wrong with that, because we do all matter." Taylor went on to say: "The thing that I've realized is that if music can bring us all together and get us all to care about one another and tear down those color lines, those personality lines, those lines that try to keep us different, if music can rip all of that down, then we can all band together and say, 'Well, if music can bring us together, maybe life in itself is the best way to bring us all together and keep us there.' So anytime you think and feel that maybe things are too much, you're being made to feel like things are too different, things are too overwhelming, you feel like you're not strong enough to stand up not only for yourself but for somebody else, just remember that music and life bring us all together. For a few seconds at a time, we don't feel different; we feel the same. Now if we can hold on to that, if we can hold on to that, and really bring it together, then we can abolish all of this. We can bring this kind of violence to an end." SLIPKNOT was forced to postpone its North American trek with MARILYN MANSON by three weeks after Taylor underwent what he described as "an unplanned spinal surgery." The summer trek is likely to be SLIPKNOT's last U.S. tour in support of its latest album, ".5: The Gray Chapter", which was released in October 2014. Following the tour, SLIPKNOT and BLACK SABBATH will co-headline the combined Ozzfest Meets Knotfest, a two-day festival scheduled for September 24-25 in San Bernardino, California.
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