Groups that are falling all over themselves to give money to BLM have probably not taken the 10-15 minutes to educate themselves as to what BLM believes.
BLM’s website does not offer very much to go on, but it’s something.
The quotations are from the website of blacklivesmatter.com, a page titled What We Believe. I consider only a portion.
BLM is partial to women, and casts a shadow on men. BLM says “We build a space that affirms Black women and is free from sexism, misogyny, and environments in which men are centered.”
The black man is not highlighted for consideration at all. He is treated as “men”, and men are treated as if they are focal points of sexism and misogyny, or are somehow doing something wrong if they are “centered” in some work, family or other environment.
The social places of men are openly criticized in this sentence: “We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work ‘double shifts’ so that they can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work.”
This failure to mention black men positively and to dismiss the fatherly role of men is extended into an anti-father, anti-family and anti-Western statement: “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”
Fathers go unmentioned. The nuclear family is demoted and replaced by the extended family. This is very strange, because every extended family has a nuclear family at its heart. Suppose a nuclear family starts with husband, wife, and 3 children. The parents have relatives who immediately become part of the extended family. When the children marry and have children, there immediately appear cousins, aunts and uncles as well as grandparents. And this is only the beginning of what a nuclear family connotes.
The history of communism is replete with the theme of remaking or ending the family and the theme of remaking the female so that she’s the equal of the male. These themes and that of abortion naturally flow into anti-religious and atheistic themes, and it will be no surprise to find that BLM is anti-Catholic.
The document mentions comrades twice: “We engage comrades…” and “to co-creating alongside comrades”. Comrades is a term associated with communists. By itself it doesn’t mean much, but taken along with the other beliefs, the Marxist orientation begins to emerge.
Another theme that reminds us of Marxism is the global or world outlook that’s expressed: “…creating a world free of anti-Blackness”, “Our intention from the very beginning was to connect Black people from all over the world,”…changed the terms of the debate on Blackness around the world,”The Black Lives Matter Global Network is as powerful as it is…”, “We see ourselves as part of the global Black family…”, and “Four years ago, what is now known as the Black Lives Matter Global Network began to organize.”
What this global BLM presupposes is that the entire world has been and still is in the clutches of anti-blackness. There has been a class exploitation based upon race, according to BLM. Franz Fanon comes to mind: “Wealth is not the fruit of labor but the result of organized protected robbery.” BLM seeks for its grievances to be removed by gaining power, their stated goal being that “every Black person has the social, economic, and political power to thrive.” Instead of emphasizing education, work, saving, and ethical values as means to get ahead, the emphasis is on power. That’s in part because their Marxist orientation entails the belief that black people have been exploited and worse: “…the rampant and deliberate violence inflicted on us by the state.” In keeping with the idea of blaming the state and others for the situation of black people, there are two mentions of “liberation”.
The neglect of men and the disruption of the nuclear family are accompanied by a strong emphasis on transgender and queer people. Only in the context of “transgender brothers and sisters” does there appear a positive male reference. However this quickly devolves into criticism of identifying gender with sex at birth: “…dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who…”
BLM has outlined general themes. Justice is mentioned 7 times, but without telling us what it entails. BLM’s website doesn’t have specific policy endorsements.
BLM mentions the cases of Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown, and it provides information about its support for Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph. This is not enough to understand how BLM intends to capitalize upon its visibility and resources.
The goal of getting ahead in life, progressing to meet one’s aims, is widely shared by people of all races. People differ in their political philosophies and deeper outlooks on life. The BLM people are stressing means to get ahead that fall outside those capitalistic means that bring about advancement and that are necessary to achieve advancement. The BLM agenda appears to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, i.e., Marxism clothed as a justice movement. Marxism is not going to help black people significantly, even if it helps remove some injustices. What will help is to reduce government’s interventions of many sorts.
6:49 pm on June 19, 2020
