Some white people, including some conservative Christians, have reacted negatively in recent years to the use of the term "Black lives matter." (What I refer to in this post is simply the phrase, not the activist movement by that name.) Critics of the term have reacted by championing such slogans as "White lives matter" and "All lives matter."
A recent email from the head of a conservative, Christian organization said, "[I]f a group of white Senate and House members established a 'White Caucus' for white elected officials in Washington, D.C., the 'race-baiters' would go bananas. If the Left is to be consistent, they should speak out against the Congressional Black Caucus. If a group of 'Big Business' representatives established the National Association for the Advancement of White People, the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would have a field day."
This type of reaction -- asserting "White lives matter" and decrying the existence of organizations affirming African-American causes -- might be understandable if our history were different. We cannot change our history, however.
If all of those who came to this country did so freely and lived freely, there might be no need to assert the lives of a specific group of people matter. If the laws and law-enforcement officials of this land had always treated all Americans equally, there may be no need to profess the importance of a particular group. There also might be no need to create organizations that defend the rights and express the experience of a distinct group.
Context is critical on this issue. The context for Americans is this: The forced enslavement of black people by white people in this land began nearly 400 years ago. Slavery was finally abolished in law about 250 years later, but the legal subjugation of African Americans continued in at least part of the country. The Jim Crow laws of the South made black people second-class citizens for decades. Dixie's white-controlled society made possible a reign of terror against blacks that trampled upon human dignity, resulting in thousands of lynchings and multitudes of other grievous offenses. Racism and bigotry were not limited to the South. Angry white protesters in Boston -- yes, the one in the liberal state of Massachusetts -- used bricks and bottles to bombard buses carrying black students to desegregate the city's schools in the mid-1970s.
The racism and unequal treatment continue today against image bearers of God. All those of us who are white need do is ask a black friend or fellow Christian about the racial profiling he has experienced from law enforcement or the racial profiling she has undergone in retail stores.
When the shooting deaths of unarmed black teens or men by police or civilians are reported by news outlets or displayed in online videos, it should be no wonder the cry of "Black lives matter" goes forth. To say, "Black lives matter," is not to assert other lives don't matter. It is to declare in this country at this time without equivocation "Black lives matter" just as much as the lives of whites or any others. It is to refute this shameful part of our country's history and too much of the practice within this country even to this day.
Barely 50 years ago, there seemed no need for Americans to assert the right to life of unborn children. No states had legal abortion. That all changed by 1973. The Supreme Court's decision that year to strike down all state laws prohibiting abortion resulted in the legalization of the lethal procedure effectively for any reason at every stage of pregnancy. Most conservative Christians would have no problem now proclaiming: "Unborn lives matter." To make that judgment is not to judge other lives as unequal or less worthy.
So should it be in our country when African Americans are repeatedly given evidence their lives are not treated as equally worthy. We all should proclaim this together: "Black lives matter."
-- Photo by Ryan Holloway on Unsplash
Very well said brother. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind encouragement.
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