A Breakdown of My Views on Current BLM Protests

I don't think I need to tell you that there are Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests going on right now. That's all we see on the news and on social media. I don't know about you, but my social media feeds have been full of a wide range of views on said protests and the issues the protests are about. To be honest, it can all be a little overwhelming and very confusing. I have a lot of thoughts about it all myself, so I'll try to break my views on the matter down a little bit.

Initial Reactions:

1. Black lives DO matter. Regardless of our differing views on the protests and BLM movement as a whole, I think we can all agree on that. Nobody deserves to be murdered, regardless of race, sexuality, gender, etc. Personally, I am pro-life, and adamantly so. You can't be pro-life without believing in the dignity and sanctity of ALL human life. 

2. You have every right to be angry. I'm angry too. It's a completely reasonable emotional response.

3. You have every right to protest. It is a constitutional right. It doesn't matter what you are protesting, why, or if anyone agrees with you, it is a right given to every U.S. citizen.

4. Burning your cities down isn't solving anything. Now, before anyone comes at me about this, yes, I am aware that in many cases it's outside groups, not associated with BLM, that do this and that people involved in BLM have asked them to stop. However, it's still happening and needs to be addressed. Regardless of what side you are on, setting fires, throwing bricks in windows, or whatever other violent acts people choose to commit, is not ok. I'm not ashamed to quote an old Hannah Montana episode here and say, "When you fight fire with fire, you just get a bigger fire." The more you do that, the harder it is to take you seriously.

5. Threatening the livelihood and safety of innocents is NEVER okay. I get that that's kind of the point these protesters are trying to make. Innocent people are getting killed by police and that's not okay either, but again, stop fighting fire with fire.

6. The media needs to chill. A lot of this division on the issue is sparked by the media. I have seen far too many news reports on George Floyd's past and what illegal activity may or may not have been going down when he was initially arrested. None of that excuses the fact that he was murdered. I have also seen far too many reports on the violence occurring during protests and not enough on the peaceful protests that are often seen in participants' live steams on Facebook. Maybe if there were more reports on the good instead of the bad, people, myself included, would be less conflicted.

I also think that the media needs to approach this as more of a general human rights issue. Now, I'm not trying to minimize the struggles African Americans have faced and try to take their platform away with an "all lives matter" argument. All I'm saying is a human was unjustly killed by a police officer while three others stood there and watched, and there's video to prove it. That should really be all we need to know to be upset about it. When they constantly emphasize the races of those involved, it seems to me like it just fuels the fire.

7. It's not everyone. What I mean here is that on both sides of the argument, there's a lot of generalization. Because of the actions of a handful of corrupt cops, people are saying all cops are bad, and because of the actions of small groups of protesters, people are saying all protesters are looters and rioters. This is simply not true on either side. I have friends who are cops and friends who are protesting. Due to these generalizations, there seem to be all sorts of threats coming from all angles, and I really do worry for their safety. 

8. No, this is not like the Boston Tea Party. At the Boston Tea Party, the people were angry about the unfair tax on tea without having gotten a say in it. What did they do? They dumped the tea in the harbor. In our current situation, we have a group of people angry that a cop in Minnesota murdered an unarmed man while three others watched. Now, I'm obviously not saying to do dump the Minneapolis police in the harbor. What I am saying is take your protests to the source. Go protest at the police department, hopefully in a peaceful way. Don't go around hurting innocent people and destroying innocent businesses.

Some Questions and Suggestions:

1. Who is leading this? A priest I follow on Twitter recently pointed out that one issue with these protests is that there doesn't seem to be a designated leader. Considering what has happened to such leaders in the past, it's understandable that someone may be hesitant to take on such a role. However, it's just hard to follow what's happening when there are so many different people approaching it from different angles.

2. What is the objective? Make it clear. We get it, black lives matter. We're not denying that. Now what? Be more specific about what you want from these protests. These marches are being led by different people/groups in different cities saying different things. If your goal is to convince your specific area of a specific thing, then keep doing what you're doing. However, if your goal is to change something in the whole country, it should be made a bit more clear what exactly you want changed. Do you simply want people to see you and be reminded that black lives matter? Do you want white people to somehow apologize and make up for the fact that slavery happened in America? Do you want more/better training for police officers? Do you want the police to get less funding? Do you want to get rid of the police altogether? These are all things I've heard various sections of the movement say they want. Which is it?

3. Reach out to your leaders and representatives. Once you have your objective clarified, start calling and emailing the people on charge who can do something about it. I suggest you start with your local mayor and/or city council and work your way up.

4. Vote. If the people currently in office aren't acting as they should to represent you, vote them out and vote for someone who will get the job done. 

There's only so much that holding up signs, screaming/chanting in the street, and changing your profile picture on Facebook to a black square can accomplish. If you want real change, you need to decide what you want changed and put in the work to get it done, and by work I mean starting/signing petitions, contacting government officials, and voting, not breaking windows and setting things on fire.