Any Black Lives Matter Catholics here?

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WillPhillips

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I tried searching but didn’t see this posted. What’s the take on Catholic support of BLM (see article)?


Imagine the beautiful symbol of accompaniment the church could provide if we saw priests and religious in collars standing in solidarity with activists (whom President Trump has tarred as “thugs”) demanding that our country be a better place for black Americans.
 
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Hi! I definitely sympathize with the cause, even though I don’t like to join political movements. There should definitely be better vetting of police newcomers as the cost of a bad apple joining can be devastating. I read there’s a concerted effort by national socialists ad their sympathizers to join police and the military, not only to get combat training but also to harass and even murder people from groups they hate, such as black people. Extreme vetting needs to happen so the force can be free of these folks and have a good reputation that most of the officers deserve.
 
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Strawberry_Shortcake said:
I read there’s a concerted effort by national socialists ad their sympathizers to join police and the military, not only to get combat training but also to harass and even murder people from groups they hate, such as black people
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Oh, you “read that”? Thanks! So it’s the “national socialists” who want to murder black people?

By chance did you read the article I posted?
 
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If this is an honest question, my honest answer (as an individual; I trust that other individuals may have come to different conclusions for reasons equally thought through and well meant as mine) is that BLM is a counter productive movement that provokes and deepens racializing thinking and ‘us versus them’ combat paradigms (and thereby deepens race based divisions), instead of contributing to the cause of helping people move past race based divisions and recognize ourselves as all members of one family.

While the underlying cause of recognizing all of humanity as one race (the human race) of equal worth and dignity is unquestionably important… blindly throwing support behind a group that CLAIMS to advance this cause, but arguably acts counter productively to it, is untenable. And in fact, given that a persuasive case can be made that BLM worsens race relations, seeing priests and religious standing in “solidarity” with these activists may, while it appears beautiful to some, appear ugly to others.

Again, just my two cents. I’m happy to see priests and religious on the front lines of solidarity across ‘racial’ and ‘national’ and ‘gender’ (and whatever) lines all day every day… but they do have to be careful which groups they pick. And those activist organizations that actively whip up violence and amplify divisions, instead of enhancing peace, seem the wrong activists to go on camera with, to me.
 
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MNathaniel said:
BLM is a counter productive movement that provokes and deepens racializing thinking and ‘us versus them’ combat paradigms
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This is a Catholic produced article. Your.comments seem to be quite “othering”. Did you read the link?
 
I’m looking for a response to the actual article posted if you would be so kind.

Also, if there are any BLM Catholics here, I’d love to hear your take on this.
 
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Not a fan of the official Black Lives Matter group. Anytime an African-American is killed at the hands of police they use them as a weapon to yield against the police even when the person in question clearly was armed. Take the recent Sean Reed situation for example. The organization defended him even when he live-streamed himself shooting at homes indiscriminately and shooting at an officer.
WillPhillips said:
priests and religious in collars standing in solidarity with activists
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He said looters, not activists. The Church should absolutely not associate themselves with thugs.
 
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I’ll go out on a limb and assume there are no BLM sympathies in this forum (if there are please comment!). But even so, what is the response to this article? Is this accurate?
 
No, I didn’t read the link. I’m sorry if my first comment wasn’t what you were looking for; I only meant to be answering the intial question asked (“What’s the take on BLM”), but I see now that you were looking for an article tailored to your link, and I apologize for not providing that. I can certainly read the article you linked to and respond.

Before I do, just to expand a little more, since I actually think it does matter that people can have a ‘take’ on BLM that predates BLM’s involvement in any new situation…

Since BLM is an activist organization that has been around a while now, and has already injected themselves into lots of scenarios (in my country as well as other countries), on campuses, into clubs, during parades about other topics, etc… I think it’s relevant that they’ve already made a reputation for themselves by unfortunate incidents involving certain prominent individuals who chose to put themselves forward as representatives of the group. And some of these incidents have tarred BLM as having, so far, a historical tendency to instigate aggression in contexts where none previously existed or where it had actually long ago healed; to amplify aggressions where only low levels existed; and to seemingly exaggerate divisions rather than to seek reconciliation. They’ve sort of made a bad name for themselves where I live, at least. And I disagree that acknowledging this unfortunate fact of BLM’s self induced bad reputation is “othering”. We all have responsibility for our own conduct. None of us has a right to behave counter productively then demand others treat us as if we’re not behaving counter productively. That would actually be condescending and disrespecting someone’s human dignity, to fail to gently correct our brother or sister when they behave counter productively; it’s suggesting they’re at the level of a child who cannot see reason, or cannot be held to the same standard as an adult.

To explain with at least one example, if you’re not familiar with the sort of thing I mean… In my country (Canada), BLM has gained a bad reputation among, e.g., the LGBT community (though this may seem a strange thing to point out on a Catholic message board) for provoking worsening relations between the LGBT community and police, whereas relations between LGBT and police had actually been bad in the past, but had become very good before BLM made a point of making the relationship bad again on purpose (by, for a prominent example, getting police kicked out of Toronto’s Pride Parade, year after year). It’s a deeply counter productive sort of action and I have LGB friends who resent the harms and worsening relationship with police and popular opinion, that BLM brought to their community by these intentional provocations. My initial response was therefore not a response to what’s currently going on, or the article you posted. Just literally, my current take on BLM, based on events up to now and how they’ve affected people I care about.
 
But sure, if what you’d like is specifically a response to the article you posted, I’ll happily have a look. I didn’t mean to disrespect you by ignoring your intent in the original post; I apologize if I missed the mark. I’ll read your article now to respond; it may just take a few minutes while I read.

PS, there may well be BLM Catholics on this board. I’d be patient; it’s pretty late at night, so it may just take a day or two for more people to see your post, and for you to see more of a variety of response. 🙂
 
A person can see past skin color and stand against prejudice without joining a club.

To give a parallel, I know people who oppose political imprisonment, but don’t belong to Amnesty International.
 
I’m sorry if I didn’t adequately respond to your article.

The author wants white Catholics to acknowledge their “privilege” and “ and “the ways they are complicit in the sin of racism.” It would be nice if she explained exactly how white Catholics are complicit in the sin of racism.

She also wants Churches to invite members of Black Lives Matter. I have no issue with this to an extent. A discussion is appropriate but the Church shouldn’t get close since the group very much supports abortion.
WillPhillips said:
Ok. Are there any Black Catholics here? What is your take?
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I’m not black but I am Latino.
 
I have now read the article. With respect, I’m afraid I found nothing in it to persuade me that BLM, specifically, is mostly productive instead of mostly counter productive.

I would like to re emphasize that I support true movements towards peace and reconciliation among all peoples. I believe in solidarity and that there is only one race: the human race. That we are all brothers and sisters, one family. That racism is unacceptable, and violence against the innocent (of any skin tone, age, or gender) is unacceptable.

At the same time, I am personally persuaded, at this time, that the specific organization called BLM is, unfortunately (I’d rather this weren’t so), engaged in counter productive activities, including employing untruthful statements (or using other techniques that produce an effect of dishonestly, e.g. framing a topic in a way that invisibilizes relevant facts to the point that a lie is effectively told), employing violence, and amplifying aggressions and reflexively recreating ‘us versus them’ rhetoric on a loop, instead of working to share a new single story of ‘us’.

In my human experience, there are constructive ways to move a cause forward, and there are counter productive efforts that actually move the cause backward. It is my personal view that BLM moves their alleged cause backward. For this reason, I support other efforts towards shared community and peace that I consider more fruitful.

I’ll step back now and allow others to answer your question with their own voices. 🙂 God bless you, friend.
 
MNathaniel said:
It is my personal view that BLM moves their alleged cause backward. For this reason, I support other efforts towards shared community and peace that I consider more fruitful.
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Out of curiosity, what other groups do you support who help black people?
 
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