Seven scholars, five black and two white, in seven short essays, comment on the Black Lives Matter movement; see the March 2016, Christian Century, for the full essays from the seven scholars.
1. Reggie L. Williams
"Whether the phrase was 'freedom now,' "black is beautiful,' 'black power,' or "black lives matter,' historically they've referred to the same goal of liberation [from oppression]. The slogans are permutations of the enduring struggle against white supremacy. That struggle is not against the police, but it does address a racist, classist legal system."
"Black humanity has remained suspect in the imagination in the imagination of a 'world that looks on with amused contempt and pity' (Du Bois). . . . Race logic made a profit-based distinction between black flesh and white humanity."
2. Anthea D. Butler
BLM "is a marked improvement over the 'racial reconciliation' movements of the 1990s which did not push forward the conversation on race or act significantly to eradicate racism. . . . Putting up [BLM] signs is good. Talking to one another about racism is better. [Implementing Jubilee justice is best---Noble]."
3. Brian Bantum
"In the summer of 2015 [in Seattle], two Black Lives Matter activists disrupted a Bernie Sanders rally. The largely white crowd began to boo, hurling racial epithets. . . . My colleagues, especially white [Christian professor] colleagues, expressed bewilderment about the event. 'What do they want?' was the question I found myself repeatedly answering in the days after."
"BLM is an ethic, a way of being that displays its humanity and demands that that humanity be recognized. This means transformation of laws, policing, economics, and social policies. But it also means an unwavering refusal to allow white supremacy to dictate the terms of what is good for us."
4. Brittney Cooper
"One of the striking things for me on a bus ride to Ferguson with young [BLM] activists was the number of people who were not only Christians but ministers with theological training and significant backgrounds in ministry. Many of these activists also identified as queer. In that moment, I was forced to rethink my ideas about who and what the church is, and about the variety of creative ways that God might show up in the movement." Supposedly numbers of the leaders of BLM movement are gay, secular and black.
"Meanwhile, the movement has issued a clarion call to the church, the black church in particular, to affirm a theology of resistance rather than a theology of respectability."
"Young activists frequently say, 'The whole damn system is guilty as hell!' The church is part of that system. The church---and we are the church---must stand up and proclaim without equivocation, "Black Lives Matter!"
5. Jennifer Harvey
BLM ritual chant: "It is our duty to fight for our freedom! It is our duty to win!" "Atrocities in U.S. criminal justice systems are a major focus. . . . Ultimately, every aspect of U.S. social life (education, economics, unemployment) is a viable target for this movement because the goal is black freedom, everywhere." "In unapologetically rooting itself in black love for black life and black commitment to black freedom, the movement has thrown down a gauntlet to white Americans. This gauntlet lies particularly close to the feet of white Christians who would claim to believe that we're called to follow Jesus and that Jesus' ministry had something to do with announcing 'good news to the poor and setting free the oppressed.'" (Luke 4:18).
6. Gary Dorrien
"black lives have never mattered in much of white America. . . . has put church leaders on the defensive. Black Lives Matter is harshly critical of everything smacking of respectability politics. . . . The new black freedom movement has created a new generation of defiant activist leaders bent on breaking white supremacy. . . . . " There is also a surge in interfaith organizing. PICO is surging. IAF remains the leading force in interfaith organizing. Gamaliel is strong here and there. DART is training community organizers. Interfaith Worker Justice has made the transition to its second generation.
A comment by Noble: No one has tied BLM to MLK's speech that I have dubbed his "I Live A Nightmare" speech, one of his last speeches. See Martin and Malcolm in America by James Cone.
The next blog on BLM is entitled "What do they want?" or "Why did we fail?"
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