Post Election Musings

                I took a hiatus from FaceBook and other social media for a short while after the election. I found the hand-wringing by some and the crowing by others distressing and boorish. The election did not solve any problems; merely selecting a new captain the ship of state. While the presidency remains a singularly powerful office, the constitution curtails that power with various well-conceived checks and balances. President-elect Trump will soon discover that even those in his chosen party remain bound to their individual constituencies and that the levers of government are slippery and extraordinarily difficult to move; especially for one untrained in their manipulation. Here are a few thoughts regarding the upcoming days, weeks, and months.

                For my friends, stinging from the surprising defeat in the Electoral College, stay focused. Harden yourself against the temptation to criticize every single perceived misstep or un-presidential action. Each man, or woman, must grow into the office. After the mantle of leadership descends, all presidents discover what it means to represent the entire nation. Keep focused on important issues. Temper your criticism. Always, always, always include a recommendation. Anyone can point out faults or failures. Take the time to put forward solutions, well thought out recommendations that have some hope of acceptance and possible success. Any course of action that requires unobtainium does not help. Do not succumb to the gadfly temptation. Developing and enacting true solutions to the seemingly intractable problems that vex our nation will require work and effort, not an endless stream of critique. Avoid becoming the party of “no.” For far too long, congress has simply stood by and said “no” to anything that did not issue from their own party. We need to hold our representative accountable for inaction as well as action. Keep substantive issues in front of the body politic. Work. Constantly work to better the lot of the poor and downtrodden. Do not consign the next four years to positioning yourself to recover some ephemeral aura of power. In many ways this time will truly test your devotion to the causes you espouse. Stay in the fight, keep focused on your objectives, and abjure descending to mindless attacks on character flaws which, in reality, do little to improve the state of the nation.

                For my friends, rejoicing in their success; try to show a little grace in victory. After all, Secretary Clinton garnered over 1.5 million more votes than President Elect Trump. Our quirky and non-representative electoral college delivered the victory into the hands of Mr. Trump, not the popular vote. It is important for us to remember that more people voted for the ideas of the Democratic Party than voted for the ideas of the Republican Party. While President Elect Trump and his party will enjoy the fruits of victory, take care when charting the course of the nation. The Republican Party did not win a sound ideological mandate from the nation as a whole. When considering policy goals, remember to look across the aisle, as it were, and inquire from the loyal opposition. Listen to our friends who voted for Secretary Clinton, or even Senator Sanders, there are considerably more of them. Besides, wining at the Electoral College does not give one a corner on good ideas. We need everyone pulling together in order to solve some of the big challenges we face. Belittling them will not encourage cooperation or support and is manifestly un-American and un-Christian. Do not feign surprise at protests and demonstrations. Prior to wining, President Elect Trump, as well as many of his supporters, spoke darkly of not accepting Clinton win. Lawful protest is a fine old American tradition and part of our political process. It would be wise for us to listen carefully to such demonstrations, as they may very well represent the majority opinion. Let us work together, developing good, inclusive, plans to address the problems we face.

                All of us need to abandon those pseudo news sources that continually spew out propaganda, innuendo, and outright lies. These people traffic in harming others. They profit by appealing to our baser instincts and encouraging hate, ignorance, and division. We must deny them a platform for their libelous spasms. How can we expect to make coherent, informed decisions when we continually consume such slanted media? We must avoid the temptation to choose those outlets which make us feel better by feeding our own particular narrative. They may feed a darker need in our character, these vicious attacks on others, but we must rise above them and embrace cogent discussion and thoughtful recommendations. True news educates and informs. Consuming true news takes time and effort often resulting in cognitive dissonance as we assimilate new information. When we start tailoring our news, basing our choices on those outlets that make us “feel” good, we give up our claim to be an educated person, and by extension, society. Seek out and patron those media which provide insightful news. Avoid those outlets which constantly issue retractions or corrections based on slovenly reporting.

                Those of us who claim the name of Christ, must redouble our efforts to well represent Him. We must stop conflating Christianity with a particular political party, policy, or platform. When developing our world-view we must be careful to extend the same grace that we depend upon to those who might view things differently. After all, in those infrequent moments of true introspection, we find ourselves churlish failures who poorly understand God’s deep, abiding, and crazy love. Jesus calls us to a radically different way of living and loving. Whatever our party we must seek out those who are weaker, those who are poorer, the sick, the lost, the lonely, the indigent, and the frightened and tend to their needs. After all, Jesus came and found us when we were estranged and in violent opposition.

                Two final thoughts; we must stop thinking in terms of them and us. Whether we voted for President Elect Trump, Secretary Clinton, or a third party candidate, we’re all Americans. We should want saner minds to prevail and our leaders to succeed. We will make better progress once we realize that the point of politics is to move the nation forward, not destroy, totally own, or crush the opposition. If our government fails, we fail. The stakes are too high to accept failure as a viable course of action. Perhaps the time has come to revisit the need for the Electoral College. Twice in my lifetime the popular vote has been reversed by our antiquated and outmoded election system. As we continue to improve our ability to engineer elections through carefully targeted appeals and gerrymandering, we must expect more frequent occurrences of this type. For our national political health we need to consider divesting ourselves of this unneeded system. 63.5 million voters justifiably feel disenfranchised. Continued results such as this will erode trust in our institutions. It will take work, but our nation would profit from such a worthy exercise of democracy.

Politics of Fear

     “Mr. Robinson, do you think our founding fathers would be proud of our nation today?” I usually get this question in my American History classes sometime around Thanksgiving or Christmas. By this time we’ve covered the Revolutionary War and the writing of the Constitution. The question normally, though not always, comes from a student with a troubled view of society in general. They tend to focus on the negative traits of our society, thinking that I will join them in a pessimistic assessment. They, and almost everyone else in the classroom, express surprise at my answer.

     “I think they’d be rather proud of our nation, and perhaps surprised at our success.” I seriously believe this. This comes from two sources; my generally positive outlook and the fact that I have to read a lot of history in order to teach it. It also stands in contrast to much of the socio-political speech and imagery that fills modern media. Politicians and their surrogates expend large amounts of money, time, and creative energy stoking the fires of fear. Vote for me, support my candidate, accept my policies, embrace my world view or life as we know it will cease to exist. This exploitation of fear skews the view of many people into a very dark place. Many, despite evidence to the contrary, feel fearful, living their lives in dread of some unnamed enemy or catastrophe. They constantly wring their hands despite the unparalleled prosperity and security of this time.

     I understand that my glass is constantly half-full. I also know that by almost any metric you choose, we live in a land and time of great material blessing. Without laying blame or assigning credit we enjoy an unemployment rate of 5.8%. Since my birth in 1961 the U.S. economy has continued to grow, albeit with periodic downturns, most notably in 1974, 1982, and 2010 ¹. Since 1948 our unemployment rate has consistently been under 10%, rarely above 10%, and usually below 5% the figure traditionally quoted as full employment ². Of course we’ve endured various downturns, but nothing as painful as the great depression. This applies to crime as well.

     In almost any water-cooler conversation that turns to crime, most people assume that things are much worse than they used to be. Yet, violent crime rates have fallen over the past twenty years. This information comes from the FBI, a trustworthy source ³. In general, the United States is a much safer place than it used to be, yet most people find that hard to believe. Even after viewing data that contradicts their view, they insist that in their neck of the woods crime rates are rising and the streets remain unsafe. They long for some idyllic point in the past when bad things did not happen to good people. Where does this pessimism come from?

     The current political season causes much of this. Candidates and parties on both sides of the aisle employ the politics of fear. Elect me or things will get worse. Some even put out a message that claims our nation teeters on the edge of an existential abyss, claiming that we’ve gone backwards somehow. This incessant hue and cry of impending apocryphal crisis influences people. Despite the problems we face, and we do face a variety of serious problems, by almost any measure our nation is a stunning success. I regularly chat with colleagues who express grave doubts about our nation. They struggle to believe when I point out facts that say otherwise.

     We must construct our world-view based on facts. We must not let politicians, news organizations and pundits continually stoke the fires of distress and alarm. All of them profit from fear mongering. Some build constituencies, some increase market share, and others simply make money through a continual ringing of the claxon. Through creating a climate of fear, those in power avoid addressing the serious problems we face. They encourage us to focus on nonexistent dangers. This enables them to gain our support without having to develop sound strategies for dealing with the real challenges we face as a nation, and as a global community. In this election cycle we must force politicians to address the difficulties of our day. In so doing, we will forward this great experiment in democracy, continuing the progress our founding fathers worked and sacrificed to start. We must thwart those forces which would exploit fear and take us backward. Instead, let us with firm resolve, clearly evaluate our current situation and determine the best course of action to address the real issues we face. Then we can effectively continue the great work building and strengthening those democratic institutions which have made our nation a great one, one that its originators will be proud of.

1.   The World Bank at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=US

2.  The Wall Street Journal at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703338004575230041742556522

3. The FBI at: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/tables/1tabledatadecoverviewpdf/table_1_crime_in_the_united_states_by_volume_and_rate_per_100000_inhabitants_1993-2012.xls

Truth Matters

     “…if I really cared…,” the words stood out to me as if written in glowing crimson. In fact they refuse to leave me and in many ways seem emblematic of what ails our political discourse today. An acquaintance had posted something that, while factually correct, had been taken out of context to make a political point, to somehow paint their perceived opponent in a dark light. I had differed reminding them of the salient facts and how they had distorted them. They did not dispute this. They just did not care about the veracity of how they used them. They were willing to perpetuate a falsehood in order to buttress their political position. We must care.

     We must strengthen our mental discipline to care about facts and how we use them. We must take the time to check our facts before posting, or otherwise using, them in the public domain. This is the critical issue in this election cycle; indeed in any election cycle. We cannot become so intellectually flaccid as to not care about the truth. When a politician, public figure, or newspaper handles facts carelessly we must take the time to call them on it; to demand retraction when appropriate. We exist in a day where a variety of a-political organizations provide free public fact-checking. PolitiFact.com and Snopes.com are just two of the many sources available to help the public sort through the morass of political sound-bites. Without public vigilance politicians, and other public figures, will lapse into saying what they think we want to hear and hope of effective government diminishes and perhaps even disappears.

     If we relax our standards, allowing leaders, pundits, and those seeking public office to savage the truth, soon they will not consider truth important when making public statement. Discarding integrity as a critical and cherished trait will further erode public trust and confidence in the institutions on which we depend. And in so doing, we will leave our children and grandchildren a sorry mess; a non-functioning country. We must work to make integrity in public discourse the only acceptable standard. We cannot accept dangerous lapses in integrity. Sometimes, when pressed a person might say, “Well all politicians lie.” I am sure that I have let slip those words. We must guard against such a cynical dismissal of the importance of truth. While it is probably true that all politicians have lied at one time or another, it does not lesson the importance of truth. Pilate, the Roman leader charged with upholding justice in Palestine, took such a cynical attitude, saying, “What is truth?” when confronted with a challenging statement by Jesus. We must not let their casual insults on our integrity and intelligence go unnoticed and unchecked. We must push back against the rampant scorn of this age, which has led to such a casual disregard for the truth. Truth matters.

     We must also discipline how we personally handle facts. Knowingly posting or reposting a snarky meme that plays loose with the truth on the social-media platform of our choice is not acceptable for the Christian. We must take the time to verify and when something untrue or misleading slips past, we must quickly retract, admitting the mistake. Scoring political points in order to support our chosen candidate, party, or issue by misrepresentation or dissembling is not defensible for the Christian. We must retain our dedication to the truth.

     Truth matters. It matters so much that Jesus reminds us that He is the truth. If it mattered so much to Him, we ought to care for and handle the truth in a similar fashion. When we become so enamored with a party, platform, idea, or candidate that we manipulate, or even abandon, the truth we lose our moral compass. This level of commitment requires sacrifice. We must willingly commit to measuring our ideas and beliefs against the stringent, unforgiving, standard of the truth. Such commitment, and its attendant time requirement, challenges us. It does not fit well in our sound-bite every-hour-on-the-hour driven world. A commitment to the truth entails that we first ascertain, or apprehend, the facts and then use them in an appropriate fashion. It also requires that we give up basing our identity on a party or cultural set of biases; instead basing our identity on the truth.

     In an odd theological twist; which I believe to be more than a linguistic quirk, Jesus equates Himself to truth. Ultimately commitment or fidelity to the truth is a commitment to Jesus. More than “knowing” the truth we must also rightly handle the truth, II Timothy 2:15. We can, as my acquaintance did, present “true” facts in a fashion that distorts or deviates from the truth. We must not use facts to misdirect or deceive. To engage in such activity is deception, and incongruent with a lifetime commitment to adhere to the truth, and in this election season does not serve our nation or our Lord well at all.

Out of the Cellar

    Salt and light, Jesus called us to be salt and light. What does that mean in today’s world, in this country, in

this election season? How do I serve as salt and light? In this time of great acrimony, accusation, and extreme polarization how do I best serve God, the Body of Christ (locally and dispersed), and my community? What can I bring to the table? How can I best represent God while engaging in this election cycle?

     Some would council withdrawal, claiming the system is so corrupt as to make any attempt at a good decision impossible. Many in the ancient world took this view, generating the monastic movement, which remains with us today. Scripture does provide some support for such withdrawal, but a monastic life-style provides its own challenges and problems. Additionally, I do not see Jesus living a monastic life in the gospels. Of course there were time when He took the apostles aside for a season of recovery and instruction. But the Biblical record shows a Jesus who moved in His society. Given that, I find total withdrawal from the political scene unsupportable. Salt kept in the cellar does no one any good as it cannot serve any of its intended functions. Salt must come out.

     A great many Christians today fully engage in the system, supporting one party or another. Politicians of all stripes court the “Evangelical” vote. Success in certain sectors of the country depends upon a politician’s ability to speak to the critical issues of that region’s religious electorate. Sadly, Christians often succumb these blandishments, promises of support or true belief, endorsing the party or candidate with great fervor and commitment. This level or type of activity brings its own set of problems. When we unstintingly support one party or another, we must carry their baggage. As human institutions, parties remain flawed, displaying a variety of foibles and certain severe failings. No human endeavor escapes our pernicious fallen state. Sin pervades all political enterprises. Embracing a political party as “my” party, tars me with its inherent failings. Also such party affiliation tends to divide us from fellow Christians. We see harsh and divisive speech between fellow Christians in public media all too often. Someone posts support for one candidate or another and fellow Christians spew all manner of bile across the posting. Most of us know certain people we avoid, or certain topics we avoid around them.

     Often we adopt a one issue focus in response to problems generated by party affiliation. We ignore other problem areas, drawing a modicum of comfort from the party stance on our key issue. Sadly this frequently causes us to take the additional step of justifying policies or platforms contrary to Biblical standards. We wring scripture hoping to find justification for our support. Such proof-texting does damage to Holy Writ and I fear may grieve the Lord. So what are we to do? What type of participation involves action without wholesale support for one party or another?

     I believe we ought to participate without courting or accepting party affiliation. Party affiliation diminishes our prophetic voice. Standing outside the party allows one to speak critically of the party. A nonaffiliated person may speak to any key issue. Once I affiliate with a party then I must tread very carefully when talking about certain issues or planks in the platform. As a Christian this allows me to focus on a wider variety of issues. Unbound by party strictures, I am free to raise issues that I believe important. I can agitate as the Spirit might lead. In Philippians 3:19-21, Paul reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven. And while I would not censor a fellow believer for party affiliation, I believe that we would better serve God and our nation outside that system, speaking God’s love, His stringent love, boldly.

     A second tactic I would recommend is the secret ballot. In our nation we enjoy the privilege of a secret ballot. No one need know who I voted for. Obviously, those who are close to me, exchanging thoughts and ideas probably can make a good guess, but I need not say. Additionally, one might, and this is hard for me, focus on issues as opposed to individuals. In this particular cycle, we see a lot of, “I will vote against this or that person.” That is the individual’s right. But perhaps we, our nation, and, dare I say, the Lord, might be better served if we carefully thought through all the issues at hand. If we steadfastly speak to issues, eschewing personal attacks, we might find ourselves spilling out of the salt-cellar and working as Jesus intended. In John 6 Jesus, sensing the crowd’s political desires avoided political entanglements. We might consider adopting a similar attitude and retain our ability to speak truth. There is one final thing we might consider.

     As Christians we must always deal kindly with our brothers and sisters, remembering our own failure and need for God’s grace. Political dialogues need not become acrimonious, especially between fellow believers. Sometimes I think we assume that engaging in political speech somehow negates the need for graciousness and patience. We do not have to attack one another. We must strengthen our ability to present our ideas and thoughts without resorting to hurtful words and phrases that alienate. We must not allow our political passions to rule us. Instead, we must allow God’s Spirit to rule us, leavening our speech.  And as this campaign unfolds and we engage in the ongoing debate, perhaps through love we will serve our nation as both salt and light, as Jesus would have us.

Climbing with Jesus

     “Matt, do you want to go for a walk before breakfast,” Christy asked this morning? Normally we walk before breakfast. We get up, spend some time in devotions, and then go for our morning preamble. We walk a particular route of two miles in our neighborhood, taking around 28 minutes and 30 seconds, give or take. Spring, summer, fall, and winter you will find us stumping around our neighborhood. Christy, the ever-loving sacrificial spouse even gets up at 5:30 A.M., in the deep dark of winter, to accompany me on my morning rounds. As required, we bundle up. This morning, however, I thought before I answered. This sunrise found us at her parent’s cabin in Cloudcroft, New Mexico.

     I paused before answering. A walk from her parent’s cabin entails hills. Located on a pine-shaded bluff overlooking the highway that enters Cloudcroft from the east, her parent’s cabin sits on high ground. Unlike the roads around Lubbock, all the roads in the area climb and fall, rather steeply at times. In Lubbock, I never think about hills or rise and fall. We have rise and fall. The few times I’ve ridden a bike or run in Lubbock, I’ve become aware of the topography; but only in an academic sense. I know that Quaker, which runs north and south near my house gently climbs as you head north. Things in Cloudcroft are much different, requiring an adjustment in how I view things. Am I willing to head out on a walk which will raise my heart rate along with my elevation? In winter, I think about the conditions of the road; whether walking or driving. Do I wish to navigate the grade? While on walks and I look at cabins as places to stay, making mental note about which ones would require a four-wheel drive in the snows of winter…almost all. My point of view has changed.

     A relationship with Jesus calls us to such radical change. Walks around my neighborhood in Lubbock are casual affairs with little thought to cardiovascular affect. If I want to push myself in Lubbock, I must increase the pace. Getting past the drive, which slopes downhill, will elevate the heart-rate here in Cloudcroft; which may say quite a bit about my sedentary life. The simple act of walking is quite different here. Jesus calls me to such a change. Simple adjustments do not come near the radical alteration He desires. Life with Jesus implies a totally new approach; a new viewpoint. He wants to remake me, to lift me into the rarified atmosphere of His presence, and that changes everything. I no longer view the world and those who travel its surface like I used to.

     Often I make the mistake that somehow Jesus just wants to clean me up, make me presentable; spiritually speaking as it were. Jesus wants so much more, demands it in fact. He wants to totally remake me, top to bottom. We’re not talking about a nick of paint here, a touch of spackle there. No, Jesus wants to totally renovate, knocking out walls, adding new rooms, tearing out old dark and dingy spaces. He wants to radically change how I view things, how I make my decisions, and how I interact with the community around me. I often want to continue on my easy morning walk. Jesus wants me to go to a new and different level. Before acquiescing, He urges me to count the cost.

     And that is particularly challenging for us as Christians today. We, in our Western culture, want things easy. We like drive-through Christianity as it were. We’ve settled for a homogenized anemic version of Christianity. We don’t mind cleaning up a bit, scrubbing off some of the more obvious stains, but do not wish to embrace the stringent call of Christ. Jesus calls us up and out. He wants to take us into the rarified air and that stretches our lungs. Loving those who are different is not easy. Laying down our lives, taking risk, sacrificing our comfort does not come easy. We want the safety and comfort of the flatlands, terrain that does not elevate the heart-rate. Submission to Christ, being His disciple, does not allow for such an anemic response. He reaches out to us, drawing us into a new existence, one where we no longer view things as we used to. From altitude, we see things more clearly. Looking at pictures from Cloudcroft the sky seems more vibrant, less subdued, clouds crisper, more dramatic. Jesus wants a similar effect on our spiritual vision.

     Climbing with Christ opens our eyes to the fact that we are related to all mankind. After all, He bled and died for each of us and yearns to embrace all of us. Driven by that salient fact we must reach out as He did, seeking to love all we meet. Of course this lifestyle includes risk. Jesus loved unconditionally and it cost Him dearly. He calls us to the same manner of life. Often when hiking around Cloudcroft my rate soars with the altitude, but the rewards when I stand on the high-ground with chest heaving and heart pounding surpass. Life with Him exercises me; but, the view, oh my the view.

Flower Pots

     Flowers are not the only things that grow in my garden. Gardening nourishes my soul. As always, God’s spirit teaches in the little things I encounter as I work in my garden. I never know exactly what lesson He has in store as I grub around in my little patch. Of this I am sure, He works on me while I work on my, His really, plants. Each year, I don my worn shorts, roll up my sleeves, and He gets to work.

     I first turn to preparing my pots; which languished all winter long beside my house out of sight and out of mind. Previous years plants slowly disintegrate under the weight of winter rain and snow.

Dead roots shrivel and harden into clumps. I take each pot in turn and work the soil, turning it and breaking up the clods. One year I failed to fully and deeply turn the soil in one pot. All summer the flowers in that pot struggled. Not only did they have to deal with the harsh Lubbock sun, they also had to work around those hard spots. Consequently, they never flourished. Oh they grew and produced blossoms, but they never did erupt in the effuse riot of color I expected. Their roots were inhibited. Now, I take my time when preparing, or tilling, the soil. I reach deep, exploring for any hardness. Once I find a hard spot, I work it into softness, breaking up the clods, crushing the shriveled roots, and extracting any stones I might find. I take my time doing this, sitting with my legs sprawled out around the pot as I slowly turn it this way or that, plunging my arms in as I grope for any offending mass. It is worth the time and effort.

     Properly prepared pots provide a welcome environment for flowers. They send out roots and new growth quickly. Soon blooms festoon my yard. The pots themselves are worn and drab; however, I do not care. I’m looking for the colorful blossoms. I do not keep the pots around as a collection of statuary. I keep them for the service they provide. They hold what I truly desire, great and abundant beauty.

     My heart is similar. When I harbor hard spots, clumps as it were, God’s Spirit finds it difficult to produce fruit…or blossoms. Jesus talked about this at various times; most notably in His parable about the differing soils. Unlike soil, various urges animate my heart and all too often it clings to those things which create or increase hardness. Bitterness, envy, fear, and lust are just a few of those things which make the soil of my heart coarse, resistant to change. Of all the things that inhibit God’s work in this perhaps fear is the most powerful.

     I fear change. I like sameness in my life. I enjoy the comfort of stability. Constancy was one of the reasons I stayed in the army for so long. Once you understand the rules and roles life in the army is fairly simple. Oh, you change jobs every year or so and move to new assignments every two or three years, but overall life remains remarkably steady. I knew where I stood. The rigid rank structure simplified relationships. The legal requirements of orders provided a certain simplicity. All of these things made life easy. God calls us to a different sort of existence.

     He wants to break up all those hard spots, those places which harbor ill-will toward others, and let in new growth. He calls me to not fear those who are different, to love them, to provide room for them, and to go the extra mile for them. Sadly, I often resist His efforts. I’m used to those hard spots and do not want to risk breaking them up. I find it easier to limp along; comfortable in my complacency. His way involves great risk. He wants to turn over the soil of my heart, working out all the hard spots, until His desired plantings can take root and bloom. I am instant when working in my garden. I do not quit until I’ve worked through all the soil in a pot. God allows me choice. He will let me cling to the flinty parts despite the deleterious effects. But, if I let Him have His way, let Him work His will, the results are quite beautiful and the harvest bountiful.

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.