Tag: Black Lives Matter

#AltonSterling

It seems that, no matter how many times we insist that “Black Lives Matter,” it still just isn’t getting through to people. Black lives are still disposable in America.

alton-sterling-10The latest example came late last night, when Alton Sterling, a 37 year old black man selling CD’s outside of a local convenience store in Baton Rogue, Louisiana, was thrown to the ground by two officers, and then, while they had him pinned there with their knees in his back, they shot and killed him at point blank range.

Alton was the father of 5 children. He was known as the “CD Man,” because he often sold CD’s outside of that store to make a little extra cash, something hard to come by in an area where the median salary is $27,000.

Those two officers rolled up on Alton last night, and reminded all of America, once again, that black lives don’t matter to our white society. Alton is a reminder, just like Mike Brown was, and Tamir was, and Eric was, and Freddie was, and Trayvon was, and so many others are.

It doesn’t matter that Alton had a past criminal record. He had done nothing, and was doing nothing, worthy of capital punishment, of cold-blooded execution.

It doesn’t matter that he may or may not have had a gun in his pocket, something perfectly legal in Louisiana, thanks to a complete open carry law, passed by the same folks who will demonize him for it. Remember, the 2nd Amendment only really applies to white America.

The racists and apologists out there will begin throwing these things out there, to distract attention from the clear actions shown in a cell phone video of what happened. They will trot out his past mug shots, and other pictures that emphasize his blackness. They will call him a thug. They will call him a criminal. They will blame him for his own death.They will say these things to dehumanize Alton Sterling, to make his death unimportant, to make him seem like a danger to society. They will do this to ease their own consciences of the guilt of being a proponent of a system that destroys black bodies.

When I wrote my piece last year entitled “Why Black Lives Matter is Crucial, All Lives Matter is Unnecessary, and White Lives Matter is Just Racist,” I got a lot of pushback from folks saying that BLM was basically a solution looking for a problem, that our racial problems magically disappeared in the late 60s, that white people are the ones actually being persecuted in this country. A year later, I still get comments over there to that effect. My fellow white people can’t stand the spotlight being off of us, can’t stand the idea that other folks want to their full humanity acknowledged and not dismissed.

Alton Sterling shows how wrong that worldview is.

What happened in Baton Rogue is a profound injustice. It was completely unnecessary. It was disgusting, enraging and despicable.

It was also completely typical.

Let me close with the words I ended that earlier piece with:

I have no doubt that, were Jesus alive today, he would be saying Black Lives Matter and marching in the streets of Ferguson and Baltimore. And really, he already is, in the form of every human who says these words and marches for justice. I want to be on the side of Jesus, and the side of justice and truth. That’s why I support Black Lives Matter.

Jesus was shot and killed in a parking lot in Baton Rogue last night. Did we white Americans recognize him in that video? Or did we just see another expendable black body, and forget, again, that where the poor and oppressed and weak are, there is Jesus?

For updates and impassioned commentary on the death of Alton Sterling, and the protests happening now, I highly recommend following Shaun King. You can also find the cell phone video of Alton’s death there.

Addressing Objections and Criticisms of Black Lives Matter

The response to my post about Black Lives Matter has been amazing. Over 50,000 (!!!) views, numerous comments and shares and likes and tweets and reblogs. It’s crazy.

In the midst of all this, I’ve had some pushback and some specific objections to my arguments come up. I want to take a few moments to address those objections in one place.

I intend this as a post that moves this conversation forward in a positive direction, not as an attack on those who criticize or disagree with me. I look forward to continued engagement and discussion with everyone.

Black on Black Crime

The thing that keeps coming up most is this idea that somehow the presence of “black on black” crime negates the purpose of BLM. Proponents of this talking point seem to think that the occurrence of crime against black people by black people somehow “cancels out” the seriousness of the problem that is police brutality.

Blacks kill blacks more for the same reason whites kill whites more: proximity. Our society is still largely a segregated one, and the interactions we have on a daily basis are most likely to be with people who look like us. Crime is just another interaction. As a white person, I am more likely to be victimized by another white person. I am also more likely to have a white person hold the door open for me, or engage in conversation at the store counter. Not because they or I are racist; its because of where I live, where I shop, who I am around, which in turn is a product of a century of zoning laws and redlining. (Read Ta-Nehisi Coates for more on that, specifically his masterful “Case for Reparations”.)

Black on black crime occurs for the same reason. Black people are in general segregated from white populations. So the people they are around look like them, the interactions they have are with other black people, and thus the majority of crime they experience will come at the hands of someone who looks like them. It’s just a simple fact of geography.

In the end, black on black crime is irrelevant to the conversation started by BLM. The occurrence of crime by black people against black people does not reduce the seriousness of the problem of police brutality against black individuals.

White Racism

The next big push back I have experienced is against my statement that White Lives Matter is a racist statement. I continue to stand by this claim.

Prior to the existence of the BLM movement, I never heard the words “White lives matter” or “all lives matter” uttered. Ever. These phrases came into existence, not in a vacuum, or by their own fruition, but in response and in opposition to BLM. That is what makes them racist. They don’t just mean “I think white lives are important.” They mean “I think white lives are more important than black lives, and asserting that point is more important than listening to the struggles of black lives.

We only say words because they have meanings. Meanings come from culture, from history, from context. We cannot separate words from the power of their meanings. White pride carries the baggage of 250+ years of racism and Jim Crow and the KKK and white supremacy. Black pride was simply not allowed.

The nature of white and black in America are not the same. Like it or not, this is reality. As white people, we don’t need to assert our race. It has been asserted for us everyday of our lives by the racist structures and institutions that still hold up our society. To say “white lives matter” or “white pride” isn’t to level the playing field; it is to hoist ourselves on top of black America again, to soak up the sunshine and attention away from an oppressed people.

White people have a greater responsibility around our acknowledgment of race because of the years and decades and centuries of white supremacy not just being asserted, but being wielded and used to oppress black bodies. This isn’t to blame white people today for the actions of our forefathers. But it is to charge us with being adults, with responsibility, with being culturally and historically conscious.

The Deaths of 26 Police Officers in 2015

26 police officers have been killed in 2015, including 8 in the last two weeks.

700+ people have been killed by the police this year.

The death of anyone at the hand of another human being is always tragic. But, by the numbers, police deaths is not a widespread problem. It happens in the line of duty, and it is a terrible occurrence when it does. But this year, 3 people per day have been killed by police. That is a real problem. Something is going wrong.

Black people are more than twice as likely to be killed in encounters with police than white people (1). Can you understand that? That is ridiculous. If you are black, and you run into a police officer today, you’re chances of dying as a result of that encounter are 50% higher than mine!

And people are trying to say there is no problem here?

Michael Brown and Darren Wilson

The Michael Brown case was the straw that broke the camels back, the incident that set off demonstrations in Ferguson and across the country, and birthed BLM.

Yet, we still know so little for certain about what happened that day, even in light of interviews with Darren Wilson, and a grand jury, and a DOJ investigation.

What we do know is that Michael Brown was walking down the street in his neighborhood when Officer Wilson pulled up and cursed at him while telling him to get on the sidewalk.

That right there is a problem in and of itself, one that is indicative of why BLM exists. That kind of disrespect and hostility towards black people by those in authority positions is constant and pervasive in America. Everything that happened from here is a result of this moment. This isn’t to place or remove blame for one or the other. Brown acted in a way that is inappropriate and dangerous, both to him and to Officer Wilson.

But if Darren Wilson never feels the need to pull up to Brown and verbally harass him, what happens here? If Wilson doesn’t feel empowered by the badge he wears and the state that employs him to treat a young black man with less than the respect he deserves as a human being, does anyone die?

This is the issue. There is an overriding culture in America that says black people are worth less than whites, that they aren’t entitled to the same rights and privileges as others, that they can be treated with derision and discarded with impunity. There is a system that says those in power don’t have to be held responsible for their actions in the same way as others, as evidenced by the initial reaction of the Ferguson government to take no action against Darren Wilson.

Every person is entitled by the Constitution to due process and a trial by jury. Police officers are not empowered to waive these rights, to act as judge, jury and executioner. But every time they kill a person, that is exactly what happens.

This is injustice. This is why we must say Black Lives Matter.

Christianity and BLM

Finally, people seem upset with my invocation of faith in my defense of BLM.

This is a blog focused on Christianity and it’s intersection with culture, current events, and politics. I come at everything I comment on with the lens of my faith, and my desire to emulate the liberating and justice-filled life of Jesus.

Support for BLM is absolutely driven by my faith. My faith tells me that injustice is anti-God, that discrimination and oppression and disrespect and death are anti-God. The example of Jesus shows me that the proper way of living is focused on the least of these, on mercy and justice and compassion and love, on a preferential option for the poor and oppressed.

BLM is a movement of the oppressed. My faith demands that I stand alongside people fighting for their own humanity.

Christianity is inherently political. A Christianity that ignores issues like this due to timidity or deference to authority or an unwillingness to rock the boat, is no Christianity at all. Jesus stood with the oppressed, even when those oppressed had broken an earthly law, in the name of God’s justice and mercy. I strive to do the same.

P.S. This tentatively marks the end of me responding to critical comments on the other post, unless a new argument I haven’t seen before is made and I feel like addressing it. I will still leave the thread open for you all, and I will still respond to positive comments and questions, as well as correspondence from the “Contact Me” page.

(1) http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/01/black-americans-killed-by-police-analysis

Why Black Lives Matter is Crucial, All Lives Matter is Unnecessary, and White Lives Matter is just Racist

So Black Lives Matter has taken over my newsfeed of Facebook again this week.

11887984_10153326062674667_2877683434983872947_nIt all started with this picture, posted on the page for my employer, United Campus Ministries at TU, after we put a BLM sign out front of our building, and it was subsequently stolen Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. We promptly got another one to put out front.

I shared the picture to my personal Facebook page, and all hell broke lose. Immediately, the All Lives Matter and White Lives Matter crowd jumped all over this. So I posted an article by Leonard Pitts that addressed why All Lives Matter is insensitive and unnecessary.

And that set off a whole other can of worms.

11947493_10207265300571382_6896091287550583937_nSo then, in my great wisdom, I posted this wonderful graphic.

And the whole thing happened over again.

And in the midst of this, I keep seeing patterns of thought from the ALM/WLM crowd that I find disturbing and very, very frustrating. So I want to try to address some of that, to try to get people to understand, as my title states, why BLM is so important, ALM is unnecessary, and WLM is just flat-out racist. And, in sticking with the theme around here, why as Christians we have a duty to stand with BLM in combating racial injustice in America today.

First, what exactly is Black Lives Matter? It’s more than just a slogan, or a chant, or a catchphrase. BLM is a movement, organized after the unjust death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. But it is a movement responding to the hundreds of deaths before and after Brown, including Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray and many many more young black men and women who died at the hands of white police officers. Please understand that: it is an organized movement, with leaders and decision-makers and a policy platform. And it is centered around one of the largest on-going injustices in America today.

There is a legitimate problem centered around black men and women being gunned down by police officers prior to any opportunity for due process and the judicial system to do its work, and then those police officers walking away with no consequences. Read that last sentence again; it is the crux of what people are upset about. Far too many times have we seen stories about a black human being who may or may not have broken a law being killed by the officer they come in contact with, and then no consequences being handed down. Far too often, the death penalty has been meted out at the whim of a single, white police officer, for alleged “crimes” that in a court of law would merit a fine.

This is a real problem in a country that purports to believe in the principle of the presumption of innocence, and trial by jury. When we dispense with real justice, when we defend those who take it into their own hands to do the work of the courts and dispense “justice” without due process, we inevitably say that the victimized person was undeserving of the rights guaranteed to us in the America. That person just didn’t matter enough.

This is what is meant by the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” Too often, black lives don’t seem to matter. Black lives seem expendable, like they are merely the normal leftovers of creating a society that is supposedly “just” and “free” and “safe.” Every time a black man or woman is gunned down by a state actor, and no one is held responsible, it sends the message that Black Lives Don’t Matter.

BLM works to make this simple idea a reality: the lives of black people do matter.

It isn’t an assertion that no other lives matter. Stop reading Black Lives Matter as a zero-sum statement. It isn’t. Acknowledging the existence of one injustice does not the negate the importance of others. Acknowledging the humanity of another person, or of a specific oppressed group, does not deny the humanity of everyone else. These are the words of Mana Tahaie, who designed and distributed these signs here in Tulsa, on Facebook that I found particularly striking:

A critical part of my worldview is that I believe that more for you does not mean less for me. I believe in abundance. I don’t think that pulling up one community necessitates tearing down another. I don’t feel that your success comes at my expense. Quite the opposite: I believe that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that my liberation is bound up in yours. So standing in solidarity with someone else’s struggle doesn’t threaten me, it actually strengthens me. I think we’re in a historic moment, when a community is crying out for justice, and in those moments I choose to stand with the oppressed. I also fight against transphobia, and ableism, and homophobia, even though I’m not directly impacted by those. I hope that in doing so, I inspire others to fight against sexism and ageism and Islamophobia and xenophobia and other things that oppress me.

I truly believe that the world will be more just, and beautiful, when we share one another’s struggles.

We only achieve justice in this world by working together, and by acknowledging and helping those who are oppressed, not by denigrating them because we have a problem with the words they use. BLM does not negate other issues in the world; it strengthens them by it’s very existence.

A good metaphor I keep seeing is the man who goes to the doctor for a broken arm, and the doctor starts examining the rest of the man’s body. The injured man says, “Doc, it’s my arm that’s broken; everything else is fine,” and the doctor responds, “All bones matter.” Of course they do! But they aren’t the ones that are hurting right now!

As a follower of Jesus, I like this little illustration, courtesy of my wonderful wife: when Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor,” no one stood up and yelled “Blessed is everyone!”

All Lives Matter seems to only ever be said in reaction to someone saying Black Lives Matter. That is a problem. It is a phrase being thrown around in opposition to BLM, no complementary to it.

And frankly, ALM is just unnecessary. No one in BLM has ever made the assertion that all lives don’t matter. They clearly do. That’s not issue here. What is the issue is that it is black people who are the target of discrimination, hatred and violence.

I’ve also seen some views that Black Lives Matter is the wrong phrase to use, or it is divisive or non-inclusive. Usually, this sentiment comes from white people, who seem to have a knee jerk reaction to BLM. But here’s the thing: as white people, we don’t get to dictate to an oppressed minority how they go about achieving their liberation. For too long, we have been the one’s standing in their way, the ones telling them what they can or cannot do. So for us to stand up now and say, “hey, we get what you are doing, but can you just say it a little nicer?” is the epitome of racial arrogance and lack of self awareness.

Our job as white people isn’t to direct BLM, or tell it how to work or what strategy to use. Our job is to acknowledge the depth of the hurt and anger, and the injustice that is happening every single day, and then ask, “how can we help?” That’s it. We need to stop trying to make this about us, and take the back seat for once in our lives. “How can we help?” That’s our role.

This is why White Lives Matter is such a racist and hate-filled statement. We white people are not at risk in this country, nor have we ever been.

It isn’t white people being gunned down without due process.

It isn’t white people who were enslaved for 350 years.

It wasn’t white people who have suffered under Jim Crow and state sponsored discrimination and racism for 150 years since.

Just as white people didn’t need to be emancipated, we don’t need to assert that our lives matter. We were never enslaved, and we were never the victims of terrorism and hatred supported by the state based on the color of our skin.

To say White Lives Matter in response of Black Lives Matter is to again assert our own assumed “superiority” and denigrate the humanity of African Americans. In light of the racial history of our nation, of the fact that it is exclusively white Americans who for so long have held down black people so that they might not challenge our place in the world, to use oxygen and air time to drown out BLM is to stand on the side of segregationists and the KKK and Jim Crow. It’s time we white people realized, it’s not all about us. We are not victims, we are not in need of protection or saving or fighting back. We are the perpetrator, not the victim.

Black people make up about 12% of the American population. They make up almost 40% of the prison population(1). Black men are incarcerated at over 6 times the rate of white men(2). Studies show that black men receive considerably longer sentences for petty crimes than white men do, as much as 10% longer, even when factoring in past records(3). This despite the fact that, in total, black people do not commit crimes at higher rates than whites, and certainly not at a rate that matches the incarceration gap(4). In fact, the number one reason for incarceration among black men, drug use, is actually more of a statistical problem among white men(5). This is injustice. This is institutionalized racism. We are responsible for this.

Racism is not the acknowledgment of race. Racism is not being aware of race. Racism is the active or passive discrimination against a group of people based on their ethnicity or skin color, especially by a majority identifier against a minority. It is not racist to say Black Lives Matter. It is racist to say White Lives Matter. You have to be aware of culture, of society, of history. We don’t live in a vacuum. We don’t live free from the past, from those around us, from cultural trends. That is why WLM is such a big, racist problem.

As Christians, we are called to follow the example of a man who made his life among the poor and oppressed and downtrodden. Jesus’ example calls us to work for injustice, to identify with the least among us. As Christians, we must work to liberate those who are shackled.

Jesus’ primary concern for the least of these is the earthly embodiment of God’s preferential option for poor. God always sides with the oppressed and downtrodden and lowly. We are obligated to do the same, even if it makes us uncomfortable or burdened.

White, middle class Americans are not the oppressed.

I have no doubt that, were Jesus alive today, he would be saying Black Lives Matter and marching in the streets of Ferguson and Baltimore. And really, he already is, in the form of every human who says these words and marches for justice. I want to be on the side of Jesus, and the side of justice and truth. That’s why I support Black Lives Matter.

Click here for my follow-up post, which answers most of the criticism and objections raised in comments below.

ed.: Updated to reflect the fact that victims of police brutality are not just men, bu also women and trans- or cis-gendered people of color. Thanks to commenter Faith Eden-Barre for pointing out this oversight in my original writing.

(1) http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2200

(2) http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1985377

(3) http://jrc.sagepub.com/content/49/1/56.short

(4) Let me clarify this with something I said in comments: “In looking at total murders in the United States, blacks and whites both commit close to 50% of murders, with the small difference accounted for by Asians, Native Americans, Hispanics, etc. My general point stands: blacks do not commit crimes at a considerably higher rate than whites, especially not at a rate that matches the incarceration disparity.”

(5) http://healthland.time.com/2011/11/07/study-whites-more-likely-to-abuse-drugs-than-blacks/