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Why contemporary ‘liberation’ movements like #BlackLivesMatter fail

In a nutshell: Because of the mind-set exemplified by those like that of The Daily Bruin’s Kristian Kim.

In yet another radical student op-ed from across the land, Kim excoriates the entirety of white America for the supposed continuing crimes of “anti-Blackness” and “white supremacy.”

The anniversary of the death of Michael Brown is why Kim writes her screed, and, to her credit, she actually uses the word “killing” as opposed to “murder,” despite many still believing Brown was murdered.

But, not so fast — in the very next sentence she writes “This act of terror [Brown’s killing] and the countless others that surround it …” (my emphasis).

*Sigh*

Kim continues:

As a non-Black person living in the United States, I do not claim a struggle based on Black experiences as my own. In choosing to dedicate my own body, energy, time and resources to the struggles for Black liberation that I see around me, I acknowledge that I do so from a “bystander” position.

Though my own liberation as a non-Black person of color is bound up with Black liberation, I cannot claim to know or experience the same oppression as the Black folks upon whose dehumanization supremacy depends. As #BlackLivesMatter founder Alicia Garza succinctly states, “When Black people get free, everybody gets free.” But I am not Black. And so I am deeply implicated — as both a perpetrator and a victim — in the racism upon which this country was founded and from which it continues to derive its wealth.

By way of example, I was once asked to contribute a piece to an online forum by someone who had seen a recent Facebook post of mine. The person who approached me wrote, “You seem to be very suited to reflect on the Charleston shooting.” As explicitly stated in the aforementioned post, the thoughts included were wholly unoriginal. In fact, they were drawn from analyses previously written by Black folks. Profiting from the intellectual labors of people whose perspectives and contributions are marginalized in mainstream media would only perpetuate the anti-Black racism in which I am inherently privileged as a non-Black person. As someone who is not Black, though my liberation depends upon this struggle, I must act in the knowledge that this is not a struggle for my liberation. I must recognize my non-Blackness as a responsibility and not a source of entitlement.

Allyship is not a right of the privileged but a duty of the complicit.

Translation: “Allyship” (the act of being a “racial ally” of the “oppressed”) is mandatory for white people, and they must be allies in the manner by which the “oppressed” determine — no questions asked.

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This is why these neo-struggles for “liberation” will fail. You simply cannot blame, and continually chastise, good people — the vast majority of whom harbor no racial animosity — for every conceivable societal ill in modern America and in the world … and not expect them to, at the very least, question it.

Like the narrative surrounding Michael Brown’s death.

The very weakness of protests like Black Lives Matter is demonstrated by the manner in which they’re effected: Going out of the way to disrupt and ruin completely innocuous events — like merely having brunch.

From Kim and those like her you’ll often hear the call for “real conversations” about race and justice, but that request is rarely, if ever, the actual goal. Such appeals really mean what Ms. Kim says (in her own roundabout way): “Avoiding the reproduction of existing hierarchies in the pursuit of racial justice requires cognizance and deliberate effort to that end.”

And that “deliberate effort,” again, is what the “oppressed” say it is. (Just read the summary under this video, for example … do you really think they’re interested in listening to something other than what they already believe?)

If you’re a product of the Civil Rights era and were taught to be “color-blind” in matters of race, get with the program. That is unacceptable.

If you want to bring up a few facts into these “real conversations,” just be sure they’re of the “right” type. Take care to avoid points like “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” wasn’t actually true, or that there really isn’t a law enforcement “war” against black Americans.

Holding such views and making such points are, well, anachronistic. If you’re such an individual, Kim would then play the role of a Social Justice Guardian of the Holy Grail and say “You chose … poorly.”

Kim concludes her column by saying “we all must choose to stand by something.” 

Yes indeed — as long as that “something” is precisely what Kim and those like her want. 

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About the Author
Associate Editor
Dave has been writing about education, politics, and entertainment for over 20 years, including a stint at the popular media bias site Newsbusters. He is a retired educator with over 25 years of service and is a member of the National Association of Scholars. Dave holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Delaware.