(This is the first of three in a series on what are the real issues we face in instituting a democracy in America)
BLACK LIVES MATTER
WILL CONTINUE TO BE AN ISSUE
AS LONG AS WE THINK THE ISSUE IS
BLACK LIVES MATTER
Black lives matter was not the issue of the Civil War. Black lives matter was not the issue of the Jim Crow laws. Black lives matter was not the issue of the civil rights movement. Black lives matter is not the issue of the current corruption and brutality of the police and justice system.
That black lives matter is not now and never has been the real issue – any more than it was or is:
- That red lives matter (their use as expendables in the nation’s westward expansion).
- That brown lives matter (their use as expendables in the nation’s westward expansion and their current use as economic pawns).
- That yellow lives matter (their use as expendables in the building of the continental railroads).
- That women’s lives matter (their use as expendables as primary supporters of white male culture).
Whatever our founding father’s attitudes toward different skin color and gender, they were very clear about their own status at the nation’s beginning: “All men are created equal…” All white men. It is white men that have always mattered more than anybody else.
The primary retarding issue of instilling democracy in our nation’s drama has been the belief that white males are superior to all other people. This is the baseline of the maltreatment of women and non-whites and of all the battles that have been fought for citizenry equality in American history. Those who have been oppressed by the actions and attitudes of this superiority posture have thought it was about them-selves – thus, black lives matter, brown lives matter, yellow lives matter, red lives matter, women’s lives matter, etc. And this is a natural and legitimate perspective of the oppressed. But driving these oppressions is the deeper issue that white male lives matter more than all other lives.
The criteria for rating the value of human life throughout American history, whatever the skin color or gender, is how it benefits white men. This is why women’s rights, black rights, brown rights, yellow rights, and red rights are symptoms rather than causes. Fighting over symptoms is the same as fighting for equal rights laws and assuming their passage is decisive.
The issue is not the laws of the land. It is the relationships of the land. Equality is about relating not about passing laws. Good laws are only kept when good relationships keep them.
Our founding fathers were not perfect. They were reflections of their time. It was only in their desire for democracy that they stepped beyond this reflection – which did not necessarily include women, let alone blacks of any gender. The step they took was gloriously bold and created a revolution and the birth of a nation. Those who have fought slavery and the suppressed rights of people of color and women ever since then have made the same bold commitment.
But our social action commitment has always been to do the heavy lifting of raising the worth of people of color and women up to the level of white men. These efforts we label as anti-racism and anti-chauvinism. However, the easiest way to get to the right place is to start at the right place – to be pro rather than anti. This is the place where an actualized democracy begins: All people are created equal. Pro human worth is the primal issue of creating and sustaining a democracy.
What is culturally systemic is our failure to institute the very ground upon which democracy is built – human worth equality. We must change “All men are created equal” to “All humans are created equal.” And this is a belief change not a document change or a law change. Until we do this we will continue to focus on the symptoms of oppression rather than the cause of oppression. We will focus on the oppressed rather than on what causes them to be oppressed.
We can enact laws that demand law enforcement and people of the justice system treat black citizens with respect. But that will not guarantee we have equality any more than the passage of civil rights laws in the nineteen sixties did so. If we want democracy then it will not come about in profound measure by a gradual piecemeal elevation of various facets of the human race to the status of white males. It will happen when we begin at the right place: Affirming all humans of equal worth.
I will fight for and support all efforts labeled: Black Lives Matter. As I will for women and people of all colors. And, yes, such fighting can bring progress. But far better is an actual revolution than is piecemeal progress toward a revolution. The revolution is a demand that democracy be instituted in America with the grounding affirmation that all people are created equal. As long as we only fight for symptom relief we will have to continue fighting for it as we have for almost two hundred and fifty years.
And how do we demand such a revolution? With our vote for officials who embody democratic belief in human equality in their very personhood. When we do that we will get all the right laws we need in support.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy. Alfred E. Smith
Robert
Robert T. Latham – mythinglink.com
