Black Lives Matter: The Intersection of Race, Politics, and Gender

When Black Americans decide to speak truth to power about the crucial issues facing many Black communities, there is an automatic level of resentment, fear and paranoia from certain segments of society.

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On October 22, 2015, President Obama hosted a White House forum on criminal justice reform. At the end of the forum, the president chose to state his position on Black Lives Matter, and why it is not a “hate movement”:

“Sometimes, like any of these loose organizations, some people pop off and say dumb things but … on the other hand though, it started being lifted up as ‘these folks are opposed to police, they’re opposed to cops and all lives matter,’ so the notion was somehow saying black lives matter was reverse racism or suggesting that other people’s lives don’t matter or police officers lives don’t matter,” Obama said. “And whenever we get bogged down in that kind of discussion, we know where that goes, that’s just down the old trap.”… “I think that the reason that the organizers used the phrase Black Lives Matter was not because they were suggesting that no one else’s lives matter … rather what they were suggesting was there is a specific problem that is happening in the African American community that’s not happening in other communities,” Obama said. “And that is a legitimate issue that we’ve got to address.”

President Obama did not say anything that has not already been echoed by other people, however, the fact that he weighed in on a movement that is seen as controversial on many fronts, by many people across the political spectrum, is in and of itself, noteworthy. A few weeks ago, I delivered a talk where I discussed various aspects of the movement.

Truth be told, it has been all but impossible to not notice the Black Lives Matter movement. From coast to coast, its members have made their presence known with their unapologetic, in-your-face message and rhetoric. While the organization has been a force for more than a few years, up until recently, mainstream visibility had eluded it. That ended when two of its members disrupted presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as he attempted to deliver a speech in Seattle in early August. Now, all of a sudden, the mainstream media is obsessed with the movement.

Reaction to these protesters was immediate and much of it critical. Many detractors, particularly those on the left, characterized the encounter as an attack on Sanders. A person who had been an ardent supporter of civil rights, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and has embraced other progressive measures his entire adult life. These were the same leftist critics who decried such actions as “disrespectful,” “juvenile” and “misguided.” Some even went as far as threatening to withdraw their support, financial or otherwise from the movement. To be sure, the ire of these protestors was not solely confined to Sanders. Democratic presidential candidate and current frontrunner Hillary Clinton, along with GOP presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, were also confronted by Black Lives Matter activists.

What distinguished these moments of protest from previous acts of civil disobedience was the fact that, in each of these protests, you saw Black activists not merely asking, but rather demanding, results from possible future presidents. Gone was the usual pretense of polite and cordial deference that have often symbolized more recent behavior of Black activism. What we witnessed was an unprecedented level of blunt demands for change not seen in Black movements since the late 1960s when the Black Panthers and other Black activist groups demanded and shouted for revolutionary change. Indeed, in just few months, BLM has been successful in having politicians from both parties address the concerns of Black and brown citizens.

While this attention is notable, there are a number of Black people who are far from content with the movement. Earlier this summer, Well-known journalist and former civil rights activist Barbara Reynolds penned a recent column expressing her dissatisfaction and dismay with the movement at its current state.

Reynolds makes the case that, while she agrees with the overall message and spirit of Black Lives Matters (BLM) activists, she is put off by what she sees as the lack of discipline and confrontational approach of its members. In a USA TODAY op-ed piece,  GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson made the point that, while he agreed with the BLM stance that racism is indeed a factor in American life, the fact is that the movement needs to expand its vision and focus on education, the breakdown of the Black family structure and other factors that he saw as contributing to the disarray plaguing too many lower-income Black communities.

What the responses from both of these very accomplished individuals demonstrates is a vast generational divide between older Black baby boomers, millennials and many Generation Xers in regards to presentation and tactics. Reynolds clearly has memories of the well-dressed, well-behaved, well-spoken protestors (which included a large number of clergy across racial lines) who marched in the South more than a half century ago. These were the men and women who wore their Sunday best to church, as well as on the front lines, as they confronted cattle prods, vehement violence, rabid racists and segregationists as well as violent law enforcement. Carson assumes that the answer to Black salvation lies in turning off the television, refraining from using profanity, reforming the pubic school system, cleaner living and embracing conservative politics.

While likely well intentioned, the fact is that both Reynolds (a liberal) and Carson (a conservative) have urged young Black activists to subscribe to a form of respectability politics that is likely to do little, if anything, to rectify the serious/pressing issues facing far too many Black youth in the 21st century. Throughout history, whenever Black people have adopted the art of civility and decorum toward racism and bigotry, the result has been an upsurge in violence, discrimination and systematic racism directed toward the larger community. The fact is that violence against Black bodies has always been a part of American life and it is still the case.

The truth is that whenever any other group of people has decided to assert themselves and have the needs of their respective community addressed, there has been little, if any, resistance or controversial remarks from the larger public. When Black Americans decide to speak truth to power about the crucial issues facing many Black communities communities, there is an automatic level of resentment, fear and paranoia from certain segments of society. This is a perverse double standard that is unjust and unfair. Such a reality is evident in the ongoing sinister and viciously dishonest attempts by some members of the conservative right to scapegoat the rhetoric of the movement for the recent high profile murders of several White police officers, Given the fact that the majority of White police officers have been murdered at the hands of White people or by individuals or members of White fringe extremist groups seems to have been lost on them. The message that has emanated from certain segments of the political left is that the movement lacks discipline and should strive to be more sophisticated in its efforts.

To be sure, the movement has made some tactical and strategic errors but they have not been insurmountable and they have, in fact, quickly rebounded from such missteps. The fact is that in spite of whatever flaws it has (and the same can be said about any and all grassroots movements), the clear, loud truth is that Black Lives Matter activists have expressed their message plain, bold and clear without apology.

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Photo credit: Getty Images

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