Do Black Lives Matter...to You?
When the Black Lives Matter movement began, our country responded quickly...and poorly. The worst response we could have given to "black lives matter," was "No! All lives matter!" Keep reading to find out how we could have better handled this situation and avoided so much of the division and hatred that now permeates our entire nation.
Imagine, as a Christian, if tomorrow all followers of Christ began being attacked by government officials. There would be an outcry from the church, begging everyone to acknowledge that Christian faith and lives matter. We would begin to make a plea for everyone to join us in prayer and in taking a stand to recognize that we shouldn’t be harmed because of the faith to which we subscribe. The cry wouldn’t be that "only our Christian lives matter" but that, even though all lives do matter, ours are currently in need of help.
Now imagine that you are a black man getting into your car, just having seen on the news that three other black men were shot, unarmed, in their cars solely for the color of their skin. It would be terrifying.
But what we did as a country, when black men and women began to cry out, “Please acknowledge that our lives matter; that we aren’t going to be allowed this kind of discriminating treatment! Please help us feel safe again!” was, in fact, hateful. And our response to their cry was, “No, ALL LIVES MATTER!” We completely ignored the request for validation. We ignored the problem and stood, defensive, against those asking for our help.
“All Lives Matter” was the most insensitive response to a hurting cry that we could have given.
Imagine having your daughter bleeding out in a hospital room from a serious playground injury, and you begin to search frantically for the doctor, asking that he come see your child, as her life is in grave danger. Imagine that the doctor looks at you and responds with, “all the patients matter.” This would be a true statement. All patients should matter to the doctor. But that is not the point of your statement in THIS moment. You are not implying that only your daughter’s life is important, but that there is an urgent need for him to recognize her need and come to her aid immediately. Why then are we so quick to yell, "ALL LIVES MATTER!" at those asking for this same compassion and hope?
MAYBE IT'S NOT ABOUT RACE; MAYBE IT'S ABOUT FEAR
I have seriously been considering how we might resolve the race wars and police wars, and have come to a very hard-to-swallow conclusion. I don’t believe it is about race on either side. I think it’s about fear. Race is absolutely a factor, but not the driving one. Fear is. Before you disagree, please hear me out.
As a believer in Christ, I fear the persecution of Christians each day. I wonder, “at what point will my daughter’s life be in danger because of the theology to which we subscribe?” I wonder, “at what point will some group like ISIS want to come and do unspeakable things to her because of our faith.”
What this causes, just to be honest, is - every time I see a dark-complected individual with a beard or head wrap walking by, part of me wonders what he thinks or wants around me.
I asked the men, who stay at the homeless shelter and recovery program I work for if they, many of them black, would look over their shoulder while walking through a wealthy, white neighborhood. They said they would, in fact, be afraid of being stopped for their color.
Ask a white, very sheltered, very privileged man how he would feel walking through “the hood,” and I assure you there would be unease.
One last example: Is every older male walking through the park just waiting to kidnap or molest your child? No. But do I recommend sending your child out to play amongst them all unsupervised? Not at all.
It’s not the race as much as the fear of perception. We fear that people don’t like us and we respond out of emotion and fear. What if we responded in truth and love? What if we acknowledged that, yes, black lives do matter to us.
My point, truly though, is that “Black Lives Matter” is not a movement about how black lives are more important, or how black lives matter but others don’t. It’s a reasonable worry over getting in the car and being afraid that they might be a victim because others have been. Black Lives Matter movement just wants to know that we hear and respect - that we desire to know they are safe and that we are willing to aid in their voice being heard.
In the same way, many people heard that Target was letting men walk into women’s restrooms. They protested and many even seemed hateful. The truth is, they were scared that their voice would not be heard and that people who had bad intentions would enter and harm young ladies. No one thinks that every person who goes to the bathroom means harm, but how do you know who is the bad one?
I believe we will not see peace here on earth until Christ returns because we will always look over our shoulder, because there are always “bad guys” looking to do harm. No one knows who they are. What we can do, however, is show individuals in day-to-day moments that we LOVE and care about the fears and worries and that we are not a threat. There are threats out there.
Black men: there are cops out there who want to do you wrong. But you can know that I, at least, am one less you have to worry about and will stand with you against wrong.
Christians: there are people out there who wish you harm and to do you wrong. If you will stop and listen to those around you instead of only arguing and fighting, you may find which ones are against you and which aren’t.
LGBT community: there are people out there that wish to see you eliminated and cast out. I am not one of them. One less to worry about. We may not agree but I also hate green beans – does that mean I can’t love you if you’re a green bean fan?
To sum it up, we will always wonder how others see us. We shouldn’t ignorantly pretend there isn’t racism or that we “don’t see color.” We should, however, make every effort to be at peace and make known our position of love and peace. Let others know that “I am not a threat. I am a friend. I understand that you have reason to fear. You can rest easy around me.”
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
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