Black Lives Matter, More than a Policing Issue

    Black lives matter. I read these words all over social media and the news. I also find, “Blue lives matter,” and “Yellow lives matter.” Now I’m seeing “All lives matter.” It seems that some find the movement, “Black Lives Matter” somehow unnerving, annoying, or denigrating to their lives. I believe this view misses the point. Black lives matter is not about policing; though that is the issue most focus on.

     Black lives matter speaks to all of the issues that marginalize Black people in our nation. While it is true that over the past few decades, primarily during my lifetime, we’ve made progress as a nation. We must still bridge the gulf that still remains for a distressing percentage of our fellow citizens. It is true that we elected a Black president, by healthy margins I might add. Unfortunately many of our fellow citizens of color face enormous obstacles in securing their hopes and dreams. The Black Lives Matter movement calls us to improve policing, yes, but so much more as well. Far too many Black children endure second-rate education in third-rate facilities. Private or magnet schools do not exist for most of them. Oh there are a few shining examples which help a handful. But, many still leave school lacking the basic skills needed to pursue a dream; whether it be a university education or a quality job. They do not enjoy all the social mechanisms which pointed me in the right direction.

     Growing up in a white middle-class environment I enjoyed tremendous support for achievement. All around me were good examples of men and women who succeeded. Most families were intact, nuclear families. Everyone expected us to go to school and finish. I do not think I had one friend who failed to finish High School. Most of my friends attended university, with a large percentage finishing. All of us enjoyed encouragement and expectation. For many young Black men and women these supports do not exist. They must develop the motivating and sustaining skills internally, on their own.

     Black Lives Matter calls us to eradicate the societal structures that marginalize and alienate our fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters. We must find ways to improve education, create pay equity, and generate appropriate housing opportunities. We want to extend the “American Dream” to as many as possible. So when we think and talk about “Black Lives Matter,” we’re really talking about a large number of issues that need attention. Incarceration rates are related to, but different than policing. Currently, one of three Black men can expect to serve time in some sort of correctional custody during their lifetime. This involves cultural issues of chronic poverty and judicial issues of sentencing. All of these call for our attention if we seriously want to bridge the gap that currently divides. These issues, and many more, clamor for our attention.

     If we consider the Black Lives Matter movement seriously, we must think through the long-term issues that generate these societal problems. Proper policing is only one of the many issues that plague certain sectors of our society. If we truly believe in the American Dream and other cultural icons we must willingly take steps needed to expand security and prosperity. Walls around gated communities merely exacerbate the problem. We want inclusive solutions. We do not want to leave marginalized groups of have-nots peering over the walls, rattling locked gates, dying in abject poverty. As, arguably, the wealthiest nation on the globe, perhaps in history, we can develop better solutions that bring many more of us into prosperous circumstances. So yes, all lives matter, but that’s not the point.