All Lives Matter? - Daniel Mosby
The number of posts I'm seeing with “All Lives Matter” or the worse "white lives matter" slogan really saddens me. It doesn't sadden me because the people posting them are necessarily racist but because it shows a huge lack of understanding which reflects the society that we live in.
This is the phenomenon known as “Whataboutism”. Whataboutism or whataboutary is a concept defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
“Whataboutism gives a clue to its meaning in its name. It is not merely the changing of a subject ("What about the economy?") to deflect away from an earlier subject as a political strategy; it’s essentially a reversal of accusation, arguing that an opponent is guilty of an offense just as egregious or worse than what the original party was accused of doing, however unconnected the offenses may be.”
The whataboutery on offer here is upon hearing the phrase “Black lives matter” to say “yes I know but what about my life”. I am white and I have been the victim of a racist attack. Black people kill other black people. Black people were involved in the slave trade too. I have a lack of opportunity because of my class and social standing. I live in poverty. But they vandalised a statue. But they should be social distancing at the protests. But most police are not racist.
All of these whataboutisms may be true but they are used to distract from the core message that racism is still a huge issue in our society. As a white male I have had to really educate myself on the societal injustices that plague our BAME friends every day. Unless you do make an effort to educate yourself though it is very easy to not see these issues. We hide behind phrases like “I don’t see colour”. This colour blindness is an attempt to remove oneself from the racism narrative by denying it’s existence. You personally may not treat anyone different because of their race; but you are part of a society that does. If you are white you have likely benefited from being in a society that does. As part of that society you have a duty to try and change it.
Ask your self “Is it easier to be white in the UK?” If your answer is yes then you need to do something about it. If you answer no I’d question how much you have tried to educate yourself about the issue. Speak to your BAME friends about their experiences. If you have no BAME friends perhaps ask yourself how you can be so sure the answer is no.
The problem we have in the UK and much of the western world is headline after headline, meme after meme, politician after politician spout elitist nonsense. They blame the people who are different for the repeated failures of the predominantly white male elite who run our society.
We have a prime minister who has said many a racist statement. A foreign secretary who flippantly dismisses the whole agenda as being from game of thrones. A press who vilify immigrants. A hostile environment for those who are different as an actual government policy. They even convince people that real news is fake and fake news is real.
There are many huge issues in our society: poverty, deprivation, lack of opportunity exist everywhere. It is very easy to dismiss the entire Black lives matter campaign through whataboutism because deep down many of us have been taught to blame migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and “foreigners” for the issues that we face.
But friends let me tell you a secret:
Putting others down isn't going to solve these issues. It's not the people who look different we need to deal with.
Are you going to support our BAME brothers and sisters on their struggle for equality? Or are you going to continue to blame them for problems they experience too? Often more exaggerated than we do.
Please don’t let your ingrained distrust of people different to you allow you to casually dismiss Black lives matter. Instead educate yourself, stop consuming whatever (social)media diet has led you to think like this. Don’t live in an online bubble; seek out those who’s views disagree with your own, not to argue with them but to learn from them.
By dismissing the greatest civil rights movement of our generation because you too feel aggrieved by a different issue achieves nothing. No actually, what it achieves is to further deepen the chasm of differences between us. To the BAME community it reinforces the idea that white people “just don’t get it”. To your white friends it reinforces the narrative of blaming those who are different for your issues. None of this will fix the issues you complain about, it will make them worse.
But why am I writing this on a church blog? What has this got to do with Jesus? Well what did the words and actions of Christ tell us about how to treat those who are different? Whom did Jesus seek out when he came to town? How did Paul treat the Ethiopian Eunuch? Christ met the Samaritan woman at the well, he met the tax collectors, he refused to condemn the woman accused of adultery.
During Jesus’s life time the big racial difference was between Jews and Gentiles and what did Paul say on this? “There is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him”
In Ephesians 2 Paul says:
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
As Christians we are called to be part of the solution. We are called to bring peace to every situation. Casually dismissing black lives matters doesn’t bring peace. Saying all lives matter makes you part of the problem.
Don’t be part of the problem, be the solution.
Hate breeds hate. But love wins.