Cal Thomas - Understanding Black Lives Matter

MEGAN BASHAM, HOST: Today is Thursday, July 30th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Megan Basham.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Cal Thomas now on the difference between the slogan and the organization Black Lives Matter.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: Politicians and advocacy groups have long used labels that have nothing to do with the real intent of legislation or an organization. In essence, they often mislead the public. 

The Black Lives Matter movement is a prime example of this. It’s one thing to say “black lives matter,” because they do. It’s another thing entirely to support the organization Black Lives Matter, or BLM.

Of course, you wouldn’t know this from the mainstream media. Reporters have paid scant attention to the background and founding principles of this rapidly spreading organization, even as white CEOs are contributing gobs of money in what appears to be an attempt to protect themselves and their businesses from accusations of racism.

The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty has exposed the ideology of BLM in a helpful post that we’ll link to in today’s transcript. WORLD editor in chief Marvin Olasky has also written an explainer about this. 

Acton points out that the founding principles of BLM include a guaranteed minimum income for all black people, free health care, free schooling, free food, free real estate, gender reassignment surgery, and yes, free abortion—even for minors. Apparently unborn black lives don’t matter to BLM.

Defunding the police is another major demand. The local BLM chapter in Washington, D.C., has called for “no new jails. These policies would undoubtedly lead to an increase in crime. 

BLM also demands reparations and wants to create a “global liberation movement” that will “overturn U.S. imperialism (and) capitalism.”

BLM also wants to—quote—”disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another.” 

There’s much more, but you get the idea. Ironically, many of these policies would only hurt the communities BLM says it wants to help. 

Black lives matter because, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims, everyone is “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” But BLM’s foundational principles and goals seem closer to those of China and the former Soviet Union.

As you just heard from Benjamin Watson, the gospel is ultimately our only hope. Any real solutions to our societal problems must have that at the center. And any purported solution that omits it is no solution at all. 

I’m Cal Thomas.

Demonstrators hold signs during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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