Why Do I Support the Black Lives Matter Movement?

3 minute read

Why do I support the Black Lives Matter movement? The full answer is far more complicated than this, but in the interest of brevity my perspective distills down to four reasons:

1. A decade ago, I read Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” for the first time. It wrecked me. As a white man who was in his mid-20s at the time and wrote a blog entitled “Musings of a Hardlining Moderate,” I was existentially shaken by Dr. King’s acute frustration with the apathetic, paternal instincts of white moderates. Nothing I’ve read before or since has impacted me quite like that. As a man of faith, I closed my eyes and through tears repented then and there. It was not repentance of any overt acts of racism nor for any malice in my heart. Rather it was repentance for my generalized ignorance and insensitivity. While I would remain a white man and a moderate, to the best of my ability I would never again behave in the inhibiting manner Dr. King lamented about “white moderates.” I would strive to be a prophetic moderate, not an apathetic moderate.
2. Shortly thereafter I went on Baylor University’s Civil Rights Tour throughout the American South. Led by a faculty member in the History Department, we went to places like Little Rock Central High School, the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Medgar Evers’ home in Jackson, 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, and the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. These experiences collectively wrecked me all the more. Standing there on that historic bridge, I experienced something akin to a Celtic “thin space” where it seemed like the distance between heaven and earth had collapsed. I felt moved to walk away from our group, kneel on one knee, and solemnly vow that, so help me God, I would do my small part to support the unfinished work of the Civil Rights Movement. Some might not take that vow as seriously as I do, but for me it was a transformative speech act on par with my wedding vows and Holy Orders.
3. Upon returning home I got to work. In the subsequent months and years I educated myself with the writings of authors like W.E.B. Du Bois and more recently listening to Larry Wilmore’s “Black on the Air” podcast. I also began the ongoing process of asking my African American friends about their own experiences, and those of their close family and friends, with personal and systemic racism. No doubt you’re detecting the pattern by now, but what I learned continued to wreck me. It broke my paradigm and seriously messed with my heart, mind, and soul. Quite honestly, as a white dude I had no idea it was still that bad. Since then my go-to response has become, “I’m sorry. I cannot change the past, but I can do something about the present and future. Please tell me what I can do to be part of the solution.” From that posture of attempted humility I’ve listened carefully and internalized the responses.
4. Obviously there is no such thing as “the black perspective” any more than there is “the white perspective.” African Americans are not a monolithic community. It has been unsurprising, then, that my black friends all nuance their outlooks a bit differently. These nuances reflect differences of sex, personality, religious beliefs, political convictions, educational attainment, socio-economic status, profession, regional culture, relationship status, family history, and the like. For all these subtle variations, however, it’s telling that I’m yet to find a single one of these trusted friends who doesn’t vocally support the Black Lives Matter movement. Not a single one. These are educated, thoughtful friends who I love and respect. Their overall alignment of perspective has sent a powerful message that I cannot ignore. Clearly this movement is tapping something deeper than mere politics that transcends the generations.

So, once again, why do I support the Black Lives Matter movement? To me it all boils down to this: As a moderate who experienced profound conviction from Dr. King’s letter, as a person of faith who made a solemn vow to do his part, as a student of history who has worked hard to become educated, and as a white man who has learned to ask questions and listen, I’ve made the decision that I’m going to do whatever I can to stand beside my black friends. That’s my answer.