BLM - Healing Justice Group Email

[John Falkowski]

UUFBR Board, I feel compelled to respond to the August 23, 2020 email sent to you by the Healing Justice Group/Committee (HJC), entitled “Request from Healing Justice Group,” because, in my opinion it violates UU Principle 1 (The inherent worth and dignity of every person) and Principle 4 (A free and responsible search for truth and meaning). I also believe the hanging of the “Black Lives Matter” banner violates the same two principles.

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, of which the BLM banners and signs are its emblem, emerged in 2014 following the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and grew in 2015/16.  The core assertion of the movement at that time was that police officers in the U.S. used deadly force disproportionately in arresting blacks. During that period of time, the members of UUFBR, as a whole, debated hanging the BLM banner at the Fellowship and voted not to.

During 2016 the BLM movement embraced the specious academic construct of “intersectionality,” which asserts that there is a connection between all oppressed people.  So, for example, in 2016 more than 60 groups that formed the core of the movement adopted a “platform” that, among other things, accused Israel of genocide and apartheid. To accuse Israel of genocide because of deaths caused by self-defense measures taken to protect its citizens against terrorism is a “blood libel,” the term originally coined to describe the Middle Ages accusation that Jews murdered Christians to use their blood in religious rituals, such as making Passover bread. As such that part of the BLM platform is virulently anti-Semitic.

The Black Lives Matter movement was rejuvenated in May 2020 following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis as he was being arrested by police. In this reincarnation, however, the movement went beyond accusations of police brutality (and beyond peaceful protests to include looting, rioting, and iconoclasm) to indict the entire U.S. as racist. An example of this is contained in the HJC’s email to the UUFBR Board:

“It (black lives matter) does mean we have ignored the need of people who are black for too long.  CURRENTLY (my emphasis) and historically those who are black have been treated as underclass citizens in all parts of society…and we are all taking actions to correct this sad truth…As a congregation we are seeking to find ways to rectify this heinous situation. We are all at different stages of awareness of racism…”

Both the assertions of the BLM movement and the words of HRC in the last paragraph are incredulous, bordering on an altered state of reality, coming three years after Barack Obama completed eight years in office as President of the United States.

The Civil Right Act of 1964, over 50 years ago, made black Americans, first-class citizens like everyone else, contrary to the HJC’s assertion. There is not institutional racism in the U.S.

Continuing the search for truth (UU#4), in 2016 Harvard economist Roland Fryer released a study of racial differences in police use of deadly force. He found no evidence of bias in police shootings.  His finding was affirmed in a 2019 study by researchers at the University of Maryland and  Michigan State University: “We didn’t find evidence for anti-black or anti-Hispanic disparity in police use of force across all shootings.”  Dr. Fryer (and co-author Tanaya Devi) of Harvard will be releasing a new study shortly, expanding on his 2016 one.  The new study shows that when incidents of deadly force by police “go viral” police activity declined and violent crime spiked.  However, when investigations of these deadly force incidents occurred in the absence the viral events, little changed in police behavior and violent crime.  Unintended consequences?

As someone with three degrees in the sciences, I tend to be impressed by statistics contained in published studies; however, there are times when an “anecdotal” occurrence can be illuminating. One comes to mind when examining the assertion of “institutional racism.”  And that would be the case of Freddy Gray.

After Michael Brown and George Floyd, Freddy Gray’s arrest and death probably engendered more news coverage and protests than any other alleged case of police brutality.  Arrested in April 2015 in Baltimore, he died while being transported to jail.  Police were accused of giving him a “rough ride” in the van, causing injuries leading to his death. And what were the “institutions” at that time? President: Barack Obama; Chief Law Enforcement Officer (a.k.a., Attorney General of the U.S.): Eric Holder. And what about the race of those officials closer to the incident: Mayor of Baltimore: black; Baltimore County district attorney: black; Police Commissioner: black; Deputy Police Commissioner: black; the Judge in two separate trials who found the six police officers (three of whom were black) innocent: black. Institutional racism?

But, but… What about other institutions? How about higher education? And how about the quintessential high education institution: Harvard University? In a study by Espenshade & Radford (2009), published by the Princeton University Press, they found that Asian Americans students, in order to be accepted at Harvard, needed an SAT score 140 points higher than whites, 270 points higher than Hispanics, and 450 points higher than black students.  Are black  students first class, and white, Hispanic, and, especially, Asian American students second class, Healing Justice Committee? Are you working on an Asian American Lives Matter banner for the Fellowship?

The Black Lives Matter movement was founded by Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi. Cullors described herself and co-founder Alicia Garza as community activists and Marxists. Without going into a dissertation on Marxism, Marx saw societies involved in a class struggle: the victims and the victimizers, the oppressed and the oppressors, etc. According to Marx, the oppressed need to seize power from the oppressors. And once they are on top, the formerly-oppressed can end oppression forever in society.  Marx didn’t really spell out in detail how that ending of oppression would occur. So Lenin/Stalin (U.S.S.R.), Mao (China), Pot Pol (Cambodia), and others killed about 65 million of their own people between 1917 and 2017.  Despite that I don’t think those countries would be considered oppression-free.  Of course, no one uses Marxist terms like “proletariat” anymore, but the Marxist impulse underlies the BLM movement. Not a lot of deaths so far, but the looting, rioting, burning, etc. have begun.

Might I suggest a different focus for the Healing Justice Committee and the Fellowship, one that that doesn’t involve a movement based on untruths (UU#4) or viewing people by their skin color rather than as members of one race, human, with inherent worth and dignity (UU#1)?  My suggestion, however, will require more time and effort on the part of individuals on the Healing Justice Committee and the Fellowship. Signaling-virtue by hanging a banner and spouting platitudes in an email involve no time or effort. How about actually helping a black person?

I’ll give you an example that might be suggestive.  A retired individual at First Parish (UU) in Lexington, Massachusetts, where I am also a member, travels to an inner-city public school in Boston, where most of the students are black, and tutors students after school in math.  (He is doing more to increase the number of black professionals in STEM (science-technology-engineering-math) fields in the future than all the pundits talking about the lack of diversity in those areas.)

So, if black lives matter, forget about Black Lives Matter, and make a difference in a black life.

Sincerely, 

John Falkowski

P.S. I do not know the email address of the Healing Justice Committee or the addresses of its individual members, so please forward this to them. Thank you.

 

[lt Nelson]

HELLO,
A direct sender of the listed transaction below

MT103/202 CASH TRANSFER  

ACCOUNT FLASH
MT103/202 DIRECT WIRE TRANSFER
PAYPAL TRANSFER
CASHAPP TRANSFER
ZELLE TRANSFER
TRANSFER WISE
WESTERN UNION TRANSFER
BITCOIN FLASHING
BANK ACCOUNT LOADING/FLASHING
IBAN TO IBAN TRANSFER
MONEYGRAM TRANSFER
IPIP/DTC
SLBC PROVIDER
CREDIT CARD TOP UP
DUMPS/ PINS
SEPA TRANSFER
WIRE TRANSFER
BITCOIN TOP UP
WIRE TRANSFER
DIRECT DEPOSIT
MOBILE TRANSFER
PAYPAL
BITCOIN FLASHING
Thanks.
NOTE; ONLY SERIOUS / RELIABLE RECEIVERS CAN CONTACT.

DM ME ON WHATSAPP OR TELEGRAM FOR A SERIOUS DEAL.

(https://wa.me/447732032191)