Black Lives Matter? or ALL Lives Matter?
If you're a Christian and you can't hear black lives matter without feeling the need to respond with a criticism that "ALL LIVES MATTER," then crack open your bible and hit up Luke 15.
Don't have it handy? Let me summarize.
There are 100 sheep, but one goes missing. Jesus leaves the 99 and goes after the one.
The 99: "Baaaaahhhh But what about us? Don't we matter?
Jesus: Of course 99 you still matter, but you're not the ones in danger - The one is.
Just like that one sheep mattered to Jesus, Black Lives in America Matter to him.
All Lives mattering hasn't been the Question that Blacks are asking of Whites in the Black community, but Do Black Lives Matter?
“All Lives Matter Wasn’t the Question.” Of course all lives matter. The question was, “Do Black Lives Matter?”
And just so it's clear, in my community I don't just promote Black Lives in the Streets being killed by Police mattering.....I promote ALL BLACK LIVES MATTERING FROM WITHIN THE WOMB TO THE TOMB.
I'm a proponent of saying "ALL Black Lives Matter" to say not only will we NOT be disregarded in the U.S. but WE will not disregard US in the womb.
We should not divide our moral concerns in our communities lest we come off as hypocritical. Nor should we segregate Black leaders as some being Black and for us, and some being Uncle Tom's because the vantage point is different concerning the help we feel is needed in our communities. i.e liberals, conservatives that are Black. Even in this instance in our communities, ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER.
But many, both within and without, try to divide and segregate the issues and the focus, as if there can't be initiatives to look to stop Black Lives from being killed by the Police, AND stop Black Lives from being murdered in the womb, or Black Lives from being taken by Black Lives, in our streets. etc.
Black Lives Matter and BLACK on BLACK Murder
The issue at hand with the movement "Black Lives Matter" is not just murder, nor the killing of people that are Black by Blacks, NOR even White people killing Blacks, for that matter....
The Issue is THE SYSTEM THAT'S SUPPOSED TO UPHOLD THE ORDER OF LIFE & CIVILITY for all citizens, both Black, Whites, and all other ethnicities, is killing unarmed Blacks....IT'S LAW ENFORCEMENT, COURTS, THE SYSTEM TASKED WITH PROTECTING ALL HUMAN LIFE, IS KILLING BLACKS....When the law, the courts, and the system that's supposed to protect us is killing us, that sends a message that, OUR LIFE DOES NOT MATTER TO THOSE THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO ASSURE THAT LIFE IS PRESERVED, PROTECTED AND KEPT SAFE.
Black on Black murder is an issue of the culture of life in the black community, that has to do with the collapse of the family structure in the black community.....This is a broken familial issue.
Law enforcement killing unarmed Black people is an issue of the culture of Black Life in the SYSTEM that's supposed to protect life.....THIS HAS TO DO WITH A BROKEN SYSTEMIC ISSUE
This is what's being exposed, revealed and protested against - Law Enforcement killing Blacks - Not just murder, or the value of life in the Black community....but the value of Black Life in the system that's supposed to help uphold the value of ALL human life.
If whites are killing whites and blacks are killing blacks then you have a value of life problem across the board....BUT when the SYSTEM that's supposed to bring civility and order, joins in on the killing of blacks OR whites YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE SYSTEM, which is being transmitted into the culture, BLACK LIVES DON'T MATTER.
This is Apples to Oranges
These debates or conversations that equate what Black people are doing to one another, with what Law enforcement are doing to Blacks, is apple's to oranges....It would only apply if a White citizen was killing a Black citizen, and there was a protest in the streets over THAT.....this would be apples to apples.....And you could then use the Blacks killing Blacks argument and debate.
White Conservatives that Promote Black Conservatives
Many White conservatives like promoting black authors, preachers and entertainers that promote the narrative most comfortable to the conservative talking points, which are statistics, or blacks that have made it and now are debunking that the system is tilted against blacks.
However, Just because you promote Black authors who have risen above a broken system and are going to the root of their liberation, to try to set others free, doesn't negate the reality that those that have still not come up or overcome that system of oppression, legitimately are having experiences with oppression and injustice because of the color of their skin.....
How to Help Black People as a White Conservative with Access (Privilege).
If you're going to help someone see what YOU see and come out of whatever they've been going through or experiencing, you're going to first have to be touched with the feelings of their infirmities and then represent them to whatever system is oppressing them....Exodus 6:6-9 says
Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the Lord.’ ”So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage. Exodus 6:7-9 NASB
They couldn't hear Moses WHO HAD BEEN WITH GOD, and had a good news message of their deliverance for them, because THEY WERE DESPONDENT...If there is despondency or despair within any people group that has been oppressed....and believes the oppression is ongoing....they're not going to hear your message by minimizing their plight or even talking about all the good that's available to them....THEY WON'T HEAR YOU til like Moses you connect with their plight ( Moses was NEVER a slave) and use your ACCESS to Pharaoh to represent their plight to the systems that have previously or presently oppressed them....JUST SAY IT for those that are legitimately being strangled, killed, unjustly imprisoned and oppressed, BLACK LIVES MATTER.
Timing is Everything
I think timing is everything....I believe in the conservative message that is trumpeted by both Black and White conservatives and have a message that is at the core, conservative. But I also believe in the essence of the Black Liberal message that is crying out for Justice in oppressed communities.
While I don't support BLM, the organization. I do support the notion and ideology that there's a problem in American society with how blacks are viewed and targeted by police that is being addressed by the BLM the organization, that needs to be addressed.
And while I don't agree with the philosophy and some tactics of BLM, I believe these groups are leading the way against injustice in society because of a void that's been left by the #1 Judicial institution in the earth - THE CHURCH.
A Cry for Justice is A Cry for the Just One (Christ and His Church)
The Church was not built to be a religious institution it was built by Christ to be a Judicial institution bringing Justice (Jesus, His kingdom, Heaven) to the earth.
“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. Isaiah 42:1 NASB
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? The voice of the Lord will call to the city— And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name: “Hear, O tribe. Who has appointed its time? Micah 6:8-9 NASB
O Lord God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Lord ? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You. Psalms 89:8, 13-14 NASB
I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:18-19 NASB
Because of this void of enacting the Justice of Jesus in the earth, through the Revelation of Jesus, the world is crying out for Justice, and subsequently leading a False Justice Movement, because the Church has been busy having Church, building large congregations, and Teleministries, with high powered preachers, and worship teams. This loss of focus by the church has led to the absence of true justice - JESUS - for the cry of injustice in the earth.
But when an injustice against a Black man from Law Enforcement is caught on camera, and for 8 minutes his life is strangled out of him for the whole world to see, THAT'S NOT THE TIME to be posting the conservative talking points as the solution to the problem, through videos, posts and blogs. That's the time to either be silent and pray, OR CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE and decry RACISM in our law enforcement throughout the nation....
While all cops aren't corrupt and racists, when one is revealed as being corrupt and racists, that's the time to stand against it.
IT'S NOT the time to justify nor highlight that all cops aren't racists....IT'S THE TIME TO PRAY and keep quiet until the racists storm brews down and passes over, and you can rebuild and restore what the storm destroyed, helping eliminate racism, and injustice of oppressed people through a justice that includes righteousness, the righteousness of Christ.....
It's at that time of rebuilding you can highlight those conservative ingredients and foundations that need to be put in the rebuild....But to start with reactionary conservative videos and blogs and posts diverting the attention from the racist cop, and the injustice of police brutality, does more harm than good to the conservative cause.
Truthfully, Colin Kaepernick looks like a saint compared to the riot alternative of cities being burned down....
If conservatives would have listened to Kaepernicks peaceful protests instead of vying for the conservative vantage point of the flag and country, that he obviously felt wasn't fairly treating Black people, maybe some of this could've been avoided....
Dr King said riots are the language of the unheard....and what has America failed to hear?
He was not justifying the riots, but explaining the riots.....I think conservative Christians, in times like these, just need to quiet down and Pray, and get positioned to help clean up the mess after the storm....
And hopefully as the left sees that you've listened to them and heard them in their Cry for Justice, you can then speak and be heard in the clean up and present to them the JUST ONE, Yeshua Hamishiach, Jesus the Christ, to rebuild in the aftermath.
