Christians were Duped by Black Lives Matter
/The death of George Floyd led to demonstrations across the country and skyrocketed the profile of Black Lives Matter. People across political spectrums and religious affiliations marched, donated, and shared social media posts in solidarity but not without pushback.
Every time I saw BLM in my feed, I felt compelled to speak out, especially to fellow Christians. I recalled the rise of BLM some years ago. They began their meteoric rise after high-profile killings like Trayvon Martin. Then, Michael Brown, whose death was inflamed after the “hands up, don’t shoot,” lie. I recall young activists marching in the street chanting: “pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon.” And I recall the ambush of officers in Dallas during a BLM march, where five officers were murdered and nine were injured (though BLM denounced the killings).
I visited the BLM website in its early days. They implied a gay black man needed to be protected and prioritized more than a straight black man because they were more marginalized. It was clear to me that fighting against police brutality, which is a serious concern in many Republican circles, was only the gateway and not the endgame of BLM.
In 2020, I was utterly shocked that while the original language was no longer on BLM’s website, their philosophy was more clearly outlined. In their “What We Believe” section, they stated their desire to “dismantle cis-gender privilege” and to “disrupt the western prescribed nuclear family.”
Cis-gender privilege can range anywhere from going to the bathroom without worry, being detained in a sex-segregated prison, and even being in a relationship without fear of your genitals getting in the way.
Why would Christians partner or raise the profile of an organization that is the antithesis of a Godly structured family?
When confronted with the more radical principles of BLM, the rationale was generally they supported the “movement” and not the group. Considering BLM raised over $90 million last year, many certainly supported the group. However, what if the movement was based on a lie?
There’s no doubt the narrative of last year was that cops are hunting down black men because of systemic racism. While I absolutely reject that premise, recent data suggest a vast majority of Americans are way off in their estimation of black deaths by the police.
A recent study conducted by Skeptic Mag found that Americans are vastly misinformed regarding the true number of unarmed black police shootings per year. The more liberal you are, the bigger the divide is, but even a majority of conservatives believe the number is higher than reported. There are Americans who believe the number is as high as 10,000! Yet the number from 2019 is 13. And “unarmed” doesn’t mean the victim wasn’t dangerous. Now, one could argue that one death is too many, but I’m not willing to buy the premise that Americans would have allowed and even justified riots and looting as the “cry of the unheard,” if they were in the ballpark of accurate information.
A big example of Christians defending “Black Lives Matter” rather than “All lives matter” was the lost sheep parable. The argument was other “the 99 still mattered, but let’s focus on the one.” To accept this premise, you’d have to believe black people, in particular, are in danger of being murdered by police. If you weigh that number against the available data, that doesn’t pan out. But this parable, along with the lost coin and prodigal son, is a lesson on rejoicing when sinners come into the Kingdom. Jesus brought up these three parables after being criticized by the Pharisees for outreaching to sinners. To scale back this important lesson and reconstruct the metaphor for a political narrative that doesn’t align with available data, is not appropriate.
Besides, in the debate of “black lives matter” vs “all lives matter,” Jesus is likely to reply, “I matter.”
Black Lives Matter raised $90M last year, and of that money, they kept $60M to build their organization and split $21.7M among 30 different groups. Among the 30, 23 were to “Black LBGTQIA folks,” according to BLM’s annual report. It’s fine if they want to do that, but is the public aware the main heartbeat of BLM is to the LBGT community? Some black activists were angry and demanded BLM give more money to black causes after learning about their whirlwind of cash, including Michael Brown’s father.
While there are a growing number of progressive Christians, are the majority of BLM backers okay their support uplifted a group that wants to tear down traditional family institutions? Are they okay with BLM setting up guidelines and curriculum for schools to promote globalism, transgenderism, queer affirming networks, and families that are “free from patriarchal practices?”
I understand compassion and being empathic toward broken hearts, but there’s nothing compassionate about coddling lies. There is no “live your truth” in the gospel. Jesus is “the truth.” If you seek Him, you’ll find it. If you are uninformed and emotional, it’s easy to be taken advantage of. Saints must be kind, but they must also be wise. Christians must be better at discerning in the future.
The reality now, is Christians will have to deal with the consequences from the groups they empowered. I pray God gives us wisdom on how to deal with these issues moving forward, and we’re open and willing to receive it.
