A lot of people are mad or just confused about the Black Lives movement.”
That’s especially true in recent weeks. Over the course of just a few short weeks, there were two high-profile killings of Black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, followed by the targeted killing of five police officer in Dallas at the tail end of a protest against police brutality, followed a little more than a week later by the death of three-police officers in Baton Rouge at the hand of another Black activist.
BLM Condones Violence
Black Lives Matter released a statement after both police shootings, condemning the actions. The organization disavowed the violence in a post on its web page.
“This is a tragedy—both for those who have been impacted by yesterday’s attack and for our democracy,” it said, after the first shooting.
“There are some who would use these events to stifle a movement for change and quicken the demise of a vibrant discourse on the human rights of Black Americans. We should reject all of this. Black activists have raised the call for an end to violence, not an escalation of it.”
Besides the Misconception that Black Lives Matters Supports Violence, here are a few other misconceptions:
Black Lives Matter Are Anti Cop
“This movement is not an anti-people movement; therefore it is not an anti-police-officer movement. Most police officers are just everyday people who want to do their jobs, make a living for their families, and come home safely at the end of their shift,” writes representatives of BLM. On the flip side, they write, “Police officers are involved in a system that criminalized Black people, and that views Black people as unsafe and dangerous and does not see Black people as taxpayers who deserve to be protected and served just like everyone else.
BLM is not trying to make the world unsafe for police officers; it wants to make police officers less of a threat to communities of color.
The Black Church Has No Role In BLM
Unlike the Civil Rights Movement, where the Black Church was a centerpiece of the movement, this current movement has a very different relationship to the church. The movement welcomes Black churches and preachers have been on the ground helping since the early day. But BLM leaders reject any conservative, pray-only, passive theology. The “movement pastors” who have positioned themselves at the forefront of the movement are known for their willingness to think of church beyond the bounds of a physical structure or traditional worship, they are reimagining what notions of faith and church look like, and radically transforming the idea of what the 21st-century Black church should be.
The Movement Has No Respect for Elders.
The BLM movement is an intergenerational movement. The Wichita movement was proof of that, but it was evident those who marched in the 60s aren’t still physically up to marching in 2016. Marchers, protesters and even leaders in the BLM are younger and typically represent a new generation stepping up to lead. In some areas, the transition from old to new has progressed seamlessly. However, there have been schisms and battles between younger and older movers about tactics and strategies. The BLM approach in no way resembles the passive well behaved approach of the Civil Right Movement and is more closely aligned with the Black Liberation movement of the 70’s, with the leaders believing all people should be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of they look or speak.