@"Scott41theMavs"
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the Politifact article.
Regarding policing, I agree with Kam, there are a lot of ideas in circulation that might fall under the umbrella of "defunding" that are really more about taking a look at how to police neighborhoods and cities in a way that is more connected to citizens, more focused on service and more able to deescalate volitile situations. I don't think those ideas should be dismissed because of the umbrella term "defunding."
Regarding Black Lives Matter and Marxism.
This is an interesting conversation with lots of tenaicals. Here are a few thoughts.
1. The ladies that started BLM are social sciences degreed folks, use social sciences vocabulary, and it's not a suprise that one of them, or more, have marxist leanings, although that could mean lots of different things. I'm just saying that's not unusual. That doesn't mean that they're working for overthrow of the government as described by Marxist theory.
2. I know they have some "beliefs" posted on their website that aren't things I can particularly get behind, but what they actualy do (the organizations activity) seems to be focused on the organization of protests that follow instances of police violence against Black folks and creating awareness of the struggle of the Black community. If the ladies that started BLM actually wanted to promote marxism in the U.S. they should probably start an organization that does a better job of that.
3. As far as beliefs go, it doesn't surpise me that folks that work for social justice can be intrigued by marxism, because when they look at the U.S. they see a caste system where the amazing wealth and benefits of the country are enjoyed by some but withheld from many others.
4. Did you know, statiscally speaking, that the group of Christians, when divied up based on ethnicity, who have the most orthadox Christian beliefs, by a good margin (believing in prayer, Jesus divinity, the authority of the scriptures, etc.) are Black Christians? Yet they overwhelmingly support Black Lives Matter without being bothered by the political leanings or economic theory leanings of the ladies that founded the movement.
5. I think the Movement behind the slogan Black Lives Matter is way bigger than the organization which works to facilitate protests.
6. The words "marxism" and "marxist" have been used for a long time, and are used in abundance these days as a wave of the hand dismissal of social justice work. Conservative policial and relgious folks, both, do this as part of the Culture War.
7. I hope and pray for conversations that can happen outside of Culture War rhetoric. While there may be a movement of young people who would love to burn this house (the U.S.) to the ground, in true Marxist style, most of the time the words marxist and marxism are thrown around in the Culture War to label things that have nothing to do with a real Marxist revolution. Much of the Black community, especially Christians, don't want to burn the house to the ground. They just want to be heard and for the caste system to end. They want to freely paricipate in our free market society, not replace it with a marxist society.
8. Brother, I love Jesus too (like you), but I hate the Culture War and think we can do better.
9. In short, I don't care for the BLM founder's economic theory leanings, if in fact she likes economic Marxist theory, but I am fully behind the movement Black Lives Matter, and I see no danger or contridiction in that. And I hope and pray for a time when we can accomplish way more than just convincing the U.S. that Black lives do indeed matter. But this is a start, maybe.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the Politifact article.
Regarding policing, I agree with Kam, there are a lot of ideas in circulation that might fall under the umbrella of "defunding" that are really more about taking a look at how to police neighborhoods and cities in a way that is more connected to citizens, more focused on service and more able to deescalate volitile situations. I don't think those ideas should be dismissed because of the umbrella term "defunding."
Regarding Black Lives Matter and Marxism.
This is an interesting conversation with lots of tenaicals. Here are a few thoughts.
1. The ladies that started BLM are social sciences degreed folks, use social sciences vocabulary, and it's not a suprise that one of them, or more, have marxist leanings, although that could mean lots of different things. I'm just saying that's not unusual. That doesn't mean that they're working for overthrow of the government as described by Marxist theory.
2. I know they have some "beliefs" posted on their website that aren't things I can particularly get behind, but what they actualy do (the organizations activity) seems to be focused on the organization of protests that follow instances of police violence against Black folks and creating awareness of the struggle of the Black community. If the ladies that started BLM actually wanted to promote marxism in the U.S. they should probably start an organization that does a better job of that.
3. As far as beliefs go, it doesn't surpise me that folks that work for social justice can be intrigued by marxism, because when they look at the U.S. they see a caste system where the amazing wealth and benefits of the country are enjoyed by some but withheld from many others.
4. Did you know, statiscally speaking, that the group of Christians, when divied up based on ethnicity, who have the most orthadox Christian beliefs, by a good margin (believing in prayer, Jesus divinity, the authority of the scriptures, etc.) are Black Christians? Yet they overwhelmingly support Black Lives Matter without being bothered by the political leanings or economic theory leanings of the ladies that founded the movement.
5. I think the Movement behind the slogan Black Lives Matter is way bigger than the organization which works to facilitate protests.
6. The words "marxism" and "marxist" have been used for a long time, and are used in abundance these days as a wave of the hand dismissal of social justice work. Conservative policial and relgious folks, both, do this as part of the Culture War.
7. I hope and pray for conversations that can happen outside of Culture War rhetoric. While there may be a movement of young people who would love to burn this house (the U.S.) to the ground, in true Marxist style, most of the time the words marxist and marxism are thrown around in the Culture War to label things that have nothing to do with a real Marxist revolution. Much of the Black community, especially Christians, don't want to burn the house to the ground. They just want to be heard and for the caste system to end. They want to freely paricipate in our free market society, not replace it with a marxist society.
8. Brother, I love Jesus too (like you), but I hate the Culture War and think we can do better.
9. In short, I don't care for the BLM founder's economic theory leanings, if in fact she likes economic Marxist theory, but I am fully behind the movement Black Lives Matter, and I see no danger or contridiction in that. And I hope and pray for a time when we can accomplish way more than just convincing the U.S. that Black lives do indeed matter. But this is a start, maybe.