Say it: Black Lives Matter

There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; for all of you are one… Galatians 3:28

I can understand why many well-meaning Christians make the argument that “all lives matter” as a basic, Christian principle. We are all made in the image of God, all races, male and female (Genesis 1:26-27). American Christians, at least in most white churches, grew up singing “Jesus loves the little children; all the children of the world. Whether yellow, black or white, Jesus loves them in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” So why, then, do I find the admonition of Vice President Pence that “all lives matter” so offensive?

Interviewed on TV by an ABC affiliate in Pennsylvania on June 19th, Mr. Pence was asked if he would say “black lives matter.” Here is his response:

“Let me just say that what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy, and in this nation, especially on Juneteenth, we celebrate the fact that from the founding of this nation we’ve cherished the ideal that all, all of us are created equal, and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. And so all lives matter in a very real sense.”

Brian Taff, the anchor on the show, replied, “Forgive me for pressing you on this, sir, but I will note you did not say those words, ‘Black lives matter,’ and there is an important distinction. People are saying, of course all lives matter, but to say the words is an acknowledgment that Black lives also matter at a time in this country when it appears that there’s a segment of our society that doesn’t agree. So why will you not say those words?”

The Vice President answered, “Well, I don’t accept the fact, Brian, that there’s a segment of American society that disagrees, in the preciousness and importance of every human life…”

It is a noble idea to say that all Americans believe in the “preciousness and importance of every human life.” If that were true, would a police officer so callously press his knee against a black man’s neck for nearly 8 minutes while he pleaded for his life? Were that true, would a father and son hunt down and kill a black jogger, using the N word while he lay dying on the street? Were that true, would police officers use deadly force against a black man fleeing arrest for a minor offense because he attempted to use the officer’s non-lethal and already discharged taser? And the list goes on. The point is, it is patently not true and in fact, asserting that “all lives matter” is simply a means to defend the status quo which consistently and repeatedly devalues BIPOC lives (Black, Indigenous, People of Color).

What makes the Vice President’s refusal to say “black lives matter” so damning is that he acknowledges his awareness of the significance of Juneteenth and yet cannot affirm the very meaning of the day. Consider the horrible irony of a celebration of Independence Day on July 4th for enslaved people prior to their emancipation. And furthermore, that it took two and a half years for those enslaved in the state of Texas to learn of their freedom. (When do you think the slave holders heard that same news?) And another century before they and many of their descendants would earn the right to vote, the right to sit where they desired on buses and in restaurants, the right to swim in public pools, etc. Is there any wonder that Juneteenth and not July 4th is the day when most African Americans celebrate their freedom? And just the fact that so many white Americans are now just learning this, including just about everyone in the White House other than some of the public servants (there’s an irony!), is in itself evidence that we do not yet truly believe in that ideal that all lives matter, for nothing says the contrary more than ignorance about the culture and heritage of black lives.

It is telling that so many of us who are not from Texas (where I am told Juneteenth is a big celebration) or are not black, knew so little of this history, myself included. I do not recall when I first learned of Juneteenth, certainly within the last 5 or 6 years. What astounded me this year was that I knew nothing of the massacre 99 years ago of 300 black citizens of Tulsa and the razing of “Black Wall Street”. How is that the history I was taught excluded such an event, even when studying the Civil Rights movement? But you can bet I learned about the massacre of white settlers, though a much smaller number. And not until I read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee as an adult did I learn how often the reverse was true and the true nature of the so called “manifest destiny” that created one nation from “sea to shining sea”, nearly obliterating the Native People of this land in the process. I understand, therefore, why local people of native descent celebrated the toppling of the Pioneer Father statue on the campus at the University of Oregon. Perhaps many in the West do not see those statues the same as we view monuments to Confederate leaders, but once we view them through the lens of white supremacy, the distinction between the two becomes much smaller and both rightfully should be removed from their lofty pedestals. (I am not as sure about the toppling of the Pioneer Mother for she was in part created as a testimony to women’s suffrage, but that is another story for another day.)

The text from Paul’s letter to the Galatians has been one of the central texts of my preaching career. My standard one liner to update the text for today was to say, “There is neither Republican or Democrat, gay or straight, Duck or Beaver, all are one in Christ. Though I am still working on that last one!” John Dominic Crossan makes the point that for Paul, the phrase “in Christ” was the equivalent of “Kingdom of God” when used by Jesus. It is Paul’s short hand for this is what the ideal community would look like if God rather than Caesar were on the throne. Christians have often understood it to mean that this is the ideal for the church; that within the Christian community we are to display such unity. That certainly would be good were it true. But such an understanding implies if we could achieve such unity in the church, then mission accomplished. Such an understanding, however, is way too small, as if unity within one subset of humanity were all that mattered. Hence the intentional omission of “in Christ” in the tag line above to convey what I believe is the true meaning of Paul’s words–we are not solely united in Christian community, we are united as one humanity.

Richard Rohr contends that such unity is not merely an ideal to be achieved, it is an ontological reality to be lived. As such, “in Christ” does not refer to one subset of humanity, rather it says that all humanity has already been unified from the very beginning of creation. (Read the prologue to John’s gospel, John 1:1-14.) Such an understanding of course is not unique to Christian teaching, or even religious teaching. Whether from religion, philosophy, science or just common sense, the unity of humanity is, or should be, a core value of human society if we are to thrive as human beings. And that means when one part suffers, we suffer at some level with them. To do any less is to deny our own humanity. To affirm that black lives matter in this time when they clearly do not for large segments of our society, is to affirm our common humanity. To do any less is to continue the injustices upon which this country was literally built and to deny the ideal upon which it was founded, that all are created equal. Thus to say “all lives matter” and not “black lives matter” in today’s context is to deny both. We can and we must do better.

Photo: A demonstrator protesting the shooting death of Alton Sterling is detained by law enforcement near the headquarters of the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. July 9, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman