It’s reckless to sign up to a movement, regardless of the cause, without trying to understand some of the complexities of the issue you’re signing up to defend. Signing up out of shame or guilt at your privilege can’t be a good idea, in my opinion.
Shame and guilt mess with our affective and mental clarity and leave us susceptible to making unskillful choices. It’s important to firstly examine which values you want to support and then to accept that at some stage you might be disappointed when those values are not met, or when you realise that the very same people/group for whom you are fighting might not do the same for you, or they might be against some of the principles you hold most dear.
When you say Black Lives Matter, do you mean all black lives? Do you mean black people creeping over your borders looking for a better life or only the black people who are already here? When you say All Lives Matter, do you really mean All Lives? What about a murderer or rapist or a terrorist? Would you defend their right to a fair trial or might you be first in the queue to lynch them?
My career, both professional and research and voluntary, has been engaged with defending the rights of the poor and marginalized and standing up to racism against migrants, refugees and asylum seekers for almost two decades. I’ve learnt that we should NOT idealise one group over another and that we need to keep an open dialogue with ALL parties, especially with those with whom we most disagree. They are the ones we should be trying to understand most, without silencing, bullying, using threats or calling names.
If you are currently calling for the police to be defunded or abolished, know that there is a lot of research showing that civil society organizations are on the same continuum of domination with the government and other public servants (like the police). They are, in effect, the shadow state. Their professionals use the same terminology as governmental officials, and they employ threat and misuse their authority as well. Perhaps not with weapons but in more subtle ways: it’s abuse all the same.
If you agree that the police should be defunded or abolished, have you asked if there are viable and just alternatives, with broad public support? I agree that the police are not the best public servants to call in a mental health emergency. But what about increasing funding for training and salaries to make sure that the job receives proper recognition, whilst at the same time distributing or reorganizing police tasks? The prison system is a case in point. Rife with injustice and abuse towards inmates; with a devalued, low paid, low skilled workforce who are expected to maintain law and order within.
To imagine that extreme problems will be solved by extreme measures will only cause more extremism. Congruence is difficult to achieve, but it’s important to me. I think that racism is a scourge on humanity, and that systems which uphold racism must be transformed. But I don’t believe there will be sustainable change for the benefit of all until we stop blaming and start listening to people on the other side, with a real desire to understand various perspectives and without trying to bully or silence them into submission. This doesn't mean we stand on the sidelines and do nothing.
I am NOT advocating the bystander's role. I'm suggesting we do the work of multiple perspective taking, recognise our limitations and at least try to be congruent.
If we are holding up a BLM sign at a protest this week, but last week were posing with our face mask, to demonstrate our compassionate nature, whilst simultaneously cursing those who disagree with lockdown and stating that it's definitely a shame that black and minority people are disproportionately dying from covid19, but now we all need to stay inside......I'd reflect on my credibility.
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