Why is it, nearly 57 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we find it so hard to say simply and without rancor, "Black lives matter."? That's barely three generations of people ago--less than a hundred years. For kids born today, that's their great-grandparents, their grandparents, and their parents. There are people alive today who lived during a time of segregation--or whose parents lived during a time when they were oppressed and told "Your life isn't as important as mine." And while we can say that slavery ended in 1864 with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, black men and women here in America often weren't treated as equals--a hundred years before the Civil Rights Act would finally say "no more." No more are black people to be seen as different from white people. No more can people denigrate another person based on the color of their skin. Or their religion. Or their sexuality. And yet, in spite of those hard-won words, 57 years later, we're still trying to pretend that because there's a law, people will have just magically changed.
I wrote in an earlier post that when we say "Black Lives Matter" we're not saying that other lives don't matter. What we're saying is that for a long time, and still today, black people are being told that they are somehow less than other people. We've enacted seemingly color-blind laws that disproportionately affect black and lower-income communities in negative ways. We've cemented wealth in the hands of mostly white men in this country through adverse tax and banking laws. We still see racial profiling in our algorithms meant to do exactly the opposite of that. Every day, I can find a new story somewhere in the world where our societies are creating systems that create problems for black people. Even just this past weekend at the Golden Globes we were confronted with the knowledge that there isn't a single black man or woman as part of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Inclusion matters. It is important. It allows us to see and to know different points of view than our own. It invites us to understand other ways of looking at the world. And instead of seeking to embrace that, we are often dismissive of it. And that is why there are groups out there like Black Lives Matter Global Network.
I keep remembering this quote that I read about Whoopi Goldberg and Star Trek when I think about the power of inclusion in our lives:
"Well, when I was nine years old Star Trek came on," Goldberg says. "I looked at it and I went screaming through the house, 'Come here, mum, everybody, come quick, come quick, there's a black lady on television and she ain't no maid!' I knew right then and there I could be anything I wanted to be."
To me, that is a supremely powerful statement, and her success is a direct result of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That and shows like Star Trek that included so many different skin tones and ethnicities, and while it may have had its white, male lead, it still stands as a testament to many black men and women of today about the possibilities that are available to them and to their children and their children's children.
Black Lives Matter Global Network understands that there is still work to be done in this world for all those whose skin tone is noted as black. They understand that there are still people today who look at black people and see them as being inferior in some way, and that this is something endemic to our American culture and way of life. And they believe, as we all should, that this is something that shouldn't be so.
Here is what they say, in their own words, they stand for:
Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.
We are expansive. We are a collective of liberators who believe in an inclusive and spacious movement. We also believe that in order to win and bring as many people with us along the way, we must move beyond the narrow nationalism that is all too prevalent in Black communities. We must ensure we are building a movement that brings all of us to the front.
We affirm the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. Our network centers those who have been marginalized within Black liberation movements.
We are working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise.
We affirm our humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.
The call for Black lives to matter is a rallying cry for ALL Black lives striving for liberation.
Although I've said it, I want to leave you with the words of former President Barak Obama--a black man speaking on behalf of the nation, about what it means when people say "Black Lives Matter."
"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."
Fifty-seven years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, I believe it is important that we continue to affirm that Black Lives Matter. Because it's obvious that our actions aren't showing it, and our laws aren't magically ensuring that this is the case. And that is why, today, I believe Black Lives Matter Gloval Network Foundation, Inc. is a cause worth celebrating.
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