The community is invited to attend a family-friendly rally to support Black Lives from noon-2:30 p.m. this Friday, July 3 at Civic Field, 310 6th Ave. N., downtown Edmonds.
Starting at noon, there will be music and art activities for all ages, sign making (make and take home), as well as a Black-owned business showcase. Attendees are invited to contribute to a collaborative art piece being created onsite that will later be on display in the City of Edmonds.
At 1 p.m. the program will begin, emceed by Rev. Jermell Witherspoon of Everett United Church of Christ. The program will feature speakers Alicia Crank, Whitney Rivera and Shaunta Hyde, as well as performances and spoken word by Black youth.
This event is organized by local Black leaders and youth and several community stakeholders. Event sponsors include Caffé Ladro, Hunniwater Kindness, SAW Construction, The Trike Stop, Barclay Shelton Dance Centre, Taki Tiki, Mike and Erica Nelson, Brandy Donaghy, Stephanie Wright and more.
Plan to bring your own lawn chair or blanket to enjoy the program from the field. Masks are required and social distancing is encouraged. Participants are asked to leave pets at home, although service dogs are welcome.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/events/257814472173234. RSVPs are encouraged but not required.
Who’s taking away the Freedom to support BLM? Based on the events of the last few weeks it’s obvious BLM’s had plenty of freedom and support. A question and couple of observations..
How are rules that only apply to one group of people not discriminatory and racist?
Some problems with BLM specifically.
The Premise Isn’t True. Here racism’s used as a political weapon. White officers aren’t more likely to shoot minority civilians than non-White officers. Blacks 11x more likely to be killed by another black than a white..
No Goal Of Forgiveness/Reconciliation. Not mentioned on their sites. Can’t expect to move forward without intention of forgiveness. The prejudiced oppressed/oppressor theory should be a deal-breaker for Christians.
It’s All About Black Power. It’s plastered all over the MFBL website. BLMF founders explain their “herstory”: “It became clear that we needed to continue organizing and building Black power across the country.”
Push Homosexuality & Transgenderism. Loving every human being isn’t the same as loving every human doing. “We foster a queer-affirming network …freeing ourselves from…heteronormative thinking.” Not embracing confusion.
Anti-Family & Ignore Fatherhood. “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure…” Except every fatherless family “village” suffers higher crime, drug usage, abortion rates, drop-out rates, poverty rates etc.. #DadsMatter. https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/
Reparation Demands. If leftists want reparations, start with the Party of Slavery & Jim Crow.. let Dems ante up. “Reparations for…free lifetime education/learning, retroactive forgiveness of student loan”. Just Racist Blackmail.
https://reparations4slavery.com/the-movement-for-black-lives/
Abolish Prisons & Police Forces. SIMPLE FOOLISHNESS. “We believe that prisons, police and all other institutions that inflict violence on Black people must be abolished…” Defund/remove police. Anarchy in any community. Cue the utter chaos..
Anti-Capitalist. Ignorant Irony. Declarations made by a movement that is the result of capitalism: “We are anti-capitalist… Black people will never achieve liberation under the current global radicalized capitalist system.” Their smartphones and videos are a result of capitalism. It solely elevates people out of material poverty & partly why the US is the most charitable nation.
https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publications/caf_wgi_10th_edition_report_2712a_web_101019.pdf
Apparently, Not All Black Lives Matter. Pro-abortion BLMF declared: “We deserve and thus we demand reproductive justice [aka abortion] that gives us autonomy over our bodies and our identities while ensuring that our children and families are supported, safe, and able to thrive.” Aborted children don’t thrive. BLM groups announced “solidarity” with “reproductive justice” groups back in February 2015.
https://blacklivesmatter.com/responsestate-of-the-union/
https://www.colorlines.com/articles/black-lives-matter-partners-reproductive-justice-groups-fight-black-women
All Lives Matter. Equally. Period. Don’t confuse bad choices with racism.
I’ve always treated everybody the same. Be nice, try to help if you can, leave other people and other peoples stuff alone, including their property, and be kind. I don’t see that with this movement. The Bible teaches you to love your neighbor and not to kill. According to the FBI black people commit 53% of all murders, but only make up 13% of the population. 54% of all robberies, and 37% of all violent crime. Why is that? According to Statista, white people are killed by police almost twice as much as blacks, but are committing the same or less crimes. But they will have you believe that black people are more greatly affected by using the entire population, rather than those actually committing crimes.
“Additionally, the rate of fatal police shootings among Black Americans was much higher than that for any other ethnicity, standing at 30 fatal shootings per million of the population as of June 2020.”
Almost 80% of black kids in America grow up without a father in the home. Maybe we should start there and see where it goes.
Hey Joe,
I believe that the only statistics we have are what percentage of black people are convicted of or arrested for crimes, not what percentage of people “actually committed crimes.” If there were a concerted effort to single out Blacks for arrest and conviction, these would be different numbers, right? That would answer your “Why is that” question, and we would need to focus on the entire population?
In 1996, Clinton gave a speech about “super predators” as a way to show he was “tough on crime”. These super predators were consistently depicted as Black youth. Two years earlier, Clinton had passed the 1994 Crime Bill which promoted “broken windows policing”, the idea that you should harshly punish small crimes like loitering and vandalism to prevent larger crimes. This increase in policing, “random” stops, and arrests for small crimes were focused in communities of color.
The modern “tough on crime” movement stems back to the Nixon presidency, when he used the “Southern Strategy” to convert the South from Democrat to Republican partly by appealing to racist white ideas, while at the same time targeting the anti-war left and the Black focused civil rights movement. That sounds like a bold and biased statement, until you consider this quote by Nixon’s domestic policy chief when discussing the “Tough on Crime/War on Drugs/Law & Order” initiative:
“You want to know what this was really all about?” [Ehrlichman] asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
(As a side note, if you want an explicit tie to today, Trump has been very clear that he is the “Law & Order” president. Biden is “better” in the sense that he has apologized for his support of Clinton’s 1994 crime bill, but he DID support it at the time.)
Now, the three major effects of arresting and convicting someone are that 1) they lose the right to vote, 2) you can use them as slave labor (this is explicitly allowed the 13th amendment that ended slavery) and 3) you separate them from their families. This “War on Drugs” movement which the Nixon official is describing occurred in 1968. That’s less than 5 years after the Civil Rights Act, aka the end of Jim Crow. Jim Crow not only allowed segregation, it was used to prevent Blacks from voting, and allowed them to be disproportionately arrested and convicted for small “crimes” like loitering and “vagrancy”, and therefore be used for slave labor.
Jim Crow began less than 10 years after slavery ended which, to state the obvious, allowed Blacks to be used as slave labor, meant they couldn’t vote, and could be arbitrarily beaten for “not working hard enough” aka “loitering”. Do you see the trend? Every time one form of forced labor and voting rights suppression is shut down, it morphs into a new form.
The problem here is not that there is something inherently wrong with Black people that causes them to abandon their children and commit more crimes. That is a racist idea drilled into us all by people wanting to use them for economic, political, and personal gain, from the time slavery started through to today, as you can see above. The problem is that we have used them for our own gains until we have destroyed their communities.
I say all of this this as someone who had internalized many of these ideas until the past couple years. In the book “How to Be an Antiracist” Ibram X. Kendi makes the case that even many Blacks had internalized some of these ideas through the early 2000s. As a white male, I’m a bit behind as well because I have never been forced to face these issues, but we can educate ourselves now.
You can find a ton of additional information about this that makes the case even stronger with a little bit of research. I highly recommend:
13th (Netflix Documentary)
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Assuming this is the cause then looking at percentage of black crime against percentage of population in other countries should show a significant difference from what we are seeing in America. Was going to pick countries at random but wondered how I would factor out any unconscious bias so just picked countries where I’ve been. Looking on Google for about an hour and having trouble finding different numbers in Canada, England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Australia. I do find reports of systemic racism being reported in all these countries as well so maybe its a global problem of black populations being forced to be different by racist policies.
Switched to whites are a clear minority countries, China, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Kenya, Congo, Egypt, Brazil, Peru, Panama, Honduras, Belize, Mexico. Still not finding that blacks commit crimes at or below the level of population. Possibly Google is racistly (is that a word?) filtering my searches. In Kenya blacks do commit crimes near the level of population but they list 97% of the population being black so not sure how helpful that information is to the discussion. Going to be awhile before I travel abroad again but if anyone has a country I should try a data search on let me know. I’ve been staring at the computer for the better part of 3 hours now and I’m heading out for a walk.
For any crime data geeks out there with some free time…
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Crime-statistics/International_Statistics_on_Crime_and_Justice.pdf
Another interesting article I stumbled across…
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/features/2015/7/23/being-black-in-egypt
…if Egypt is still struggling to get it right does Edmonds really have a chance at stamping out racism?
Anthony, it looks like I can’t reply to your comment for some reason, so I’m replying to my own, and hopefully you will see it.
I don’t know much about global crime trends, but the entire world went through a period of Western Colonialism, the exploitation of Africa, and slavery spread around the world. Multiple of the countries you listed, Brazil, England, Spain, France, etc. had African slavery at some point. Remember that when slavery started in America, we were still a British colony. The idea that “some races are superior to others” and specifically that the races in the “Western World” were superior was a very widespread idea. So, if your premise is true, would it really be that surprising that racism would be widespread?
Regardless, the history of racism is pretty clear in our country. I don’t think you are disputing any of the facts or history I laid out. So, maybe we discriminated against, oppressed, and exploited Black communities for the entire history of our country and up to today, and there just happens to be some other reason for them being disproportionately poor, prosecuted, and imprisoned? It seems reasonable to start with the obvious possible cause, and if that doesn’t work, maybe we look for other causes then?
I don’t expect us to “stamp out racism” in Edmonds. But we can work to acknowledge the harm we’ve done, and start correcting some of it. And if we as a society caused this over the course of 400 years, don’t we have a responsibility to keep trying to fix some of it even though we can’t completely fix 400 years of damage with a single bill, in a single year, or even within our lifetimes?
PREFACE: It appears that you subscribe to Christian theology, so I hope you don’t mind if I dig into my personal faith to respond. (If you would prefer secular rationale, I can provide that instead.) I’m also going to focus on your “All Lives Matter” and “The Premise Isn’t True” points. I’m happy to help you understand some of the BLM goals you’ve misunderstood if you’d like to continue the discussion.
ACTUAL RESPONSE:
No one is arguing that “ONLY Black Lives Matter.” But if you believe that “All Lives Matter,” you should be willing to focus on the lives most in danger. Or from a Christian perspective:
1. When Christ went looking for the one lost sheep, did he declare “all sheep matter” or did he focus on the one in crisis?
2. When the Samaritan found a man beaten on the side of the road, did he declare “all lives matter” and give equally to everyone in the neighborhood? No, it was the Pharisee and the Levite (aka temple worker) who felt their time was “just as important”, and ignored their neighbor in need.
3. When the prodigal son returned, did the Father stop the celebration to make sure that the “loyal son” felt valued, or did he focus on the son who needed him at that moment? Your response sounds remarkably similar to the “son who stayed home”, aka the Pharisees, who felt that they should be as much the focus as the “son in crisis”.
From your arguments above, my guess is that now you will either respond “Blacks are in crisis because of their own behavior” (see more Blacks commit crimes and more Blacks kill Blacks comments above) or “Blacks aren’t in crisis” (see “it’s obvious that BLM’s had plenty of freedom and support” comment above).
For either of these points, I strongly recommend you go watch the documentary 13th on Netflix to get your statistics and history straight. As a society we are way more likely to kill, imprison, or harm Blacks than whites, regardless of guilt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States#Ethnicity). We have a long history of taking advantage of Black men and women for political, economic, social, and personal gain. If you want facts and sources, take 1 hour and 40 minutes to watch the documentary and educate yourself. If there’s any chance that we ARE exploiting our fellow human beings as so many claim, isn’t 1 hour and 40 minutes of watching a documentary the LEAST we could do?
If you still believe that we can “cross by on the other side” as Blacks are literally and figuratively beaten up on the side of the road, let me leave you with Matthew 25:44-46:
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
I don’t see any excuse to ignore our responsibility to help the stranger or prisoner because we disagree with their beliefs or because they “deserved it”. Do you?
Thank you, Chadd.
A factual and well stated response. Thank you Roger Sherman
Well thought out response. Thank you.
The City cancels the 4th of July parade but supports a rally on the 3rd .
Where is the equality?
This has nothing to do with “equality.”
The city must cancel governmental events because of legal issues of
1. Conformance with State and Federal health orders/guidelines.
2. Liability: the city would be sued for sicknesses caused by its own event, but isn’t for events organized by other groups or people.
Art, per the article mayor Mike Nelson is actually a sponsor of this event. Wouldn’t that fact and the fact that this is being held on city property violate everything you mention?
Good point!
The City of Edmonds cancels the 4Th of July Parade? This is wrong, the 4th of July belongs to all the people! Absolutely ridiculous Virtue Signaling from our City leaders. Roger has it correct; when BLM starts marching in Chicago every Monday after the weekend murders of black-on black crime, and stops supporting Planned Parenthood that is responsible for the murder of hundreds of black babies every day, then their credibility might improve. Our city is Pandering to Black Lives Matter.
Just to clarify — the chamber made a decision in May to cancel the parade because of the governor’s orders. The Edmonds Kind of Fourth of July parade/fireworks show is a chamber event, not a city event.
The Chamber Event/City Event should be reinstated, at least the parade. So many families have enjoyed this event for years. If the July 3rd Event can legally be held so can July 4th Parade. This is crazy to allow one and not the other! Where are our city leaders?
Will the police be allowed there to keep things peaceful?
Who feels guilty in Edmonds? Not me, I’m not racist and as others have pointed out. Why is this march roll on as our 4th parade is cancelled? Kind of reminds me of Seattle’s leaders. Is Chop coming to our city? Pathetic decisions by our city leaders.
Douglas Frazier I am not guilty either. I am in no way a racist nor is anyone in my family or in my ancestry. In fact, I’m Jewish and many of my ancestors were killed in concentration camps. I have no animus towards any race or nationality. I’ve lived in Edmonds for 40 years and this is just plain bonkers.
If like clueless parrots you just keep regurgitating nonsensical Fox News and traitor Trump (and Republican stooges) talking points, like defunding police means abolish all police and establish socialist anarchy, we will occupy ground zero village square and establish Your Edmonds Autonomous Haven (YEAH!), complete with barricades and the whole nine yards.
So just keep it up. Don’t make us do this. Put on your thinking caps, consider this a teachable moment, and cease and desist. Thank you.
Unlike some, I can think for myself, do my own research, and don’t need regurgitation from anyone. And how dare I use actual BLM links to make my “clueless” case. Is there a logical rebuttal somewhere, or just pompous virtue-signaling smears and insults? I’d guess not. Because for some, there’s enough due-diligence in simply labeling it “wrongthink” coupled with the creative skill to blame any and all evil on that nasty “root of all evil” Fox News, or some other right-wing pundit. Oh, and let’s not forget that like everything else, I’m sure it’s Trump’s fault somewhere, cause.. you know… “Orange Man Bad”. The left admires the anarchic CHAZ/CHOP/CHEW, and you’ve got to appreciate that “Summer of Love” feeling it’s giving us all. Finally, you most certainly have stumbled on to the problem with regurgitation, thinking caps, and teachable moments; but perhaps a mirror is involved..
Sounds like a threat of violence to me….why is this post still up? The ‘Autonomous Zone’ has worked so well in Seattle, eh “A Levine”? How many murders in the past 10 days? Lastly, why no full name? Cowardice?
So you al realize we in this state of Washington have been and are governed by the liberals. So in the 30 plus years of control over Washington. you just blast Trump and the stogies? Wakeup and look at how our state’s been run for decades.
If you read the comments here it becomes clear that people have been pushed too far.
I am certainly supportive of individuals gathering to support their causes. Perhaps the mayor, who appears to be one of the sponsors, was ill-advised on the optics. Regardless, I’ll still celebrate the 4th of JULY and our country’s independence.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
I will be celebrating the 4th of July
If you are going to quote these words, you must also understand what they mean.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident” – We chose these “truths” because they support what we want and our efforts to get it.
“that all men are created equal” – Really, just all white men who own property (even if that property is other human being) and excluding women or anyone of any other ethnicity.
“that they are endowed by their Creator” – And you must believe in our specific fictional being, which we use as a crutch and a cudgel.
“with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” – “Rights” dedicated solely to enabling our group to express our own particular needs and move us to the top of the list of those allowed to force our views on every other group of beings.
Remember that these “truths” were used as the backbone of a revolt against a perceived oppressor and were the precursor to a list of grievances that were a declaration of war against that oppressor. The “self-evident” truths were not self-evident to the oppressor, who obviously had its own set of self-evident truths and unalienable rights.
Replace England with the U. S. government and the colonies with the disenfranchised ethnic groups of the United States today, and it will be easy to understand the feelings and hope of those groups in the current social climate.
I also will be celebrating the Fourth of July, but I won’t do it by simulating bombs and guns. I do it by appreciating the freedoms I have, and have volunteered to give my life for, and by supporting the right of everyone in this country to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
For me the meaning is, I’m going to have a picnic with my family, eating my special homemade potato salad, while aspiring for the best for all.
I will miss the 4th of July celebration in Edmonds this year, but I am happy for the opportunity to stand up for Black Lives on the 3rd. I love my country, but it is gut-wrenchingly clear that my black brothers and sisters STILL do not have the same access to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that I and other white people enjoy. We have a lot of work to do. Stay safe everyone!
You can’t name one they don’t. Because it doesn’t exist. In fact because of “Equal Opportunity” they often have greater access. You have been brainwashed by the liberal media. They are very good at it.
I moved from Freeattle to Edmonds in 1981 and sadly with our current slate of elected officials it seems the Freeattle way of thinking has now arrived. Considering the Mayor and Council were elected by ” us” , as the old saying goes “you get the government you deserve” is operative.
What a great way to celebrate the 4th of July! Freedom and acceptance are part of what the 4th is about – for ALL people, not just white people. We have been really lacking as a country when it comes to practicing what we preach regarding diversity. I am only sad that it’s taken so long – and I hope I get to see the positive changes in my lifetime. Good on you Edmonds and the organizers! I am so proud of this city.
This weekend of the 4th of July seems a good time to reflect on the Declaration of Independence. Ron Sewell points out that it initially referred to rights just for white male landowners — right there we have the origins of an UNequal society. Black people have been trying for hundreds of years for recognition as human beings — deserving of the same rights as others, but this apparently threatens some people. Are those people afraid of losing their unearned privileged status? Why is this such an emotionally charged issue?
thank you to the organizers, supporters, speakers and sponsors for holding this rally in our community. reading the comments above – diversity, inclusion, equality and kindness shouldn’t be political. and…when did this rally replace the parade? it didn’t. get the facts. don’t jump to conclusions. be safe and be kind. #BlackLivesMatter
All Lives Matter. Period. I don’t recommend you try and mirror ‘chaz’ / ‘chop’ here in Edmonds. Keep to your tent world in Seattle.
YEAH! (Your Edmonds Autonomous Haven) announcement update:
Numerous uncharitable comments with suspect motivations have encouraged us to proceed. Barricades have been loaded onto a flatbed trailer. Brothers and sisters from the CHOP, whose dismantling is pending, are happily anticipating relocating to the fresher air and shore breezes of bucolic Edmonds. Our command center will be bordered by a BLM-supportive Starbucks and a Mexican restaurant. BLM is all-inclusive: Raised-in-America DACA folks in HS, college, or productive careers aren’t thrilled with the Trump mob chomping at the bit to expel them to lands strange to them; Hispanics in general take offense at the stable genius having “assumed” there were some good people among the dope dealers, rapists, and murderers seeking asylum here. And authorities haven’t been particularly even-handed with them either.
It’s going to be a very issue-oriented PARTAY!
This event is allowed to happen with games and music because it apparently poses no risk, yet the traditional Edmonds events celebrating America and freedom are cancelled as they apparently pose a risk. This is hypocritical and outright offensive. I’m ashamed of Edmonds.
Why, why, why would City of Edmonds rent a property capable of supporting large gatherings when WA has not recovered from the first wave of the pandemic? The current recommended best practices limit group gatherings to FIVE. Insanity!
I am saddened and deeply disturbed by many of the comments in response to this notice about a family-friendly event organized by local Black leaders and youth and supported by a wide diversity of community members. As a 61 year resident of Edmonds, I never expected to hear such an unfriendly and unwelcoming reaction to an event planned by local Black leaders to which we all are invited. Activities such as “music and art activities for all ages,” “a collaborative art piece” and “performances and spoken word by Black youth” are fun activities we all can enjoy, so what is the rub? Why would anybody be ‘called out’ for supporting such a festive event?
And why is anyone bringing up the 4th of July parade cancellation? It has nothing to do with this event. When the Chamber of Commerce (NOT the City) canceled the parade, any individual or group was free to organize an alternative event at Civic Field. So why begrudge a group that has planned an event for us on July 3rd? Clearly, Edmonds still has a long way to go to walk its talk about being a welcoming community.
Thank you, Kathleen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Again, how are rules that only apply to one group of people not discriminatory and racist?
Blacks have more than equal access, and have since roughly the LBJ’s “Great Society” starting in the 1960’s. Any person of any race who makes bad decisions has problems in life; White, Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander alike. Victimhood is a state of mind. We’re all equal in front of the law, which is the only thing that matters.
BLM promotes racism, victimhood, destruction, division, dishonesty, erasing history, violence, and civil disobedience et. al. The family values I was raised with include the golden rule, honesty, respect for property amongst many others. But this past generation has seen a sharp rise in pompous, emotional children, and a general sharp decline in wisdom and morality .
If these are your family values, I’m sure you’ll enjoy your virtue-signaling Friday, and I’ll be glad to count you and BLM amongst my enemies. You certainly have the right to stick your head in the sand amongst the other clueless children and pretend you’re doing something good, but I pity your illusion and the consequences of your actions. BLM is a pariah on our town and country, and I will be doing everything I can to expose it and see it fail.
Perhaps none of you are creators and producers. I am both; and know how difficult it is to make something, and how much easier it is to destroy it. BLM makes nothing, and is a wanton destroyer.
I’m an unapologetic capitalist, a non-racist, student of history, follow the golden rule, and search for harmony where I can find it. Can anyone name another country in the history of the world where anyone of any race can have success merely by making good choices and working hard? There is NONE. Let that sink in… You can stuff the dishonest victimhood, any person of any race that chooses poorly suffers. The blue is required in any civil society for law and order. I don’t see any of this in the charlatans who run BLM or those sycophants and our feckless politicians that support it.
All Lives Matter. Equally. Period. Don’t confuse bad choices with racism.
This was cancelled due to pushback from the community not because of increased covid numbers. The city and the organizers knew full good and well that phase 2 didn’t allow for large groups to gather for a festival. People and sponsors jumped onboard anyway. Why would that be?
Wrong. As one of the organizers, we had significant support from those who wanted to see this happen. When Exec Somers made his statement yesterday, I reached out to my fellow organizers about postponing this. Be certain we did not kowtow to the vocal negative commenters. Before making such assertions, it would benefit you and others to at least have spoken or interacted with us first instead of making unfounded conclusions. Also: to clarify another misconception: the gathering that was planned was put on by a diverse group of Edmonds residents, not anyone from BLM locally or nationally. Any assertion otherwise I’d false and unwarranted.
Alicia, you might clarify why you decided to use the “symbol” of Black Lives Matter, The Black Clenched fist, if this was not a BLM Event. Wikipedia says “The Black Fist, also known as The Black Power fist is a logo generally associated with black nationalism and sometimes socialism. It’s most widely known usage is by the Black Panther Party in the 1960’s. A black fist logo was also adopted by the northern soul music subculture.” To be sure, this is probably why many thought this was a BLM sanctioned event. With the last months activities around the country we have all seen this symbol that was used in your news article about the July 3rd event; this symbol is depicted on many of the newscast nightly, as well as a popular graffiti symbol painted on buildings that have been looted or burned. To associate it with BLM is certainly understandable since it is seen in many nightly news videos, flags, some peaceful marches, some rioters used it, and it no doubt led many to believe that this event in our town was a BLM sanctioned event. I, for one, appreciate your clarification, but to assume that those of us who referred to it as a BLM event had the “misconception” solely based on the symbol that was used.
Hi Theresa,
As you noted abound, the Black fist symbol has has been associated and adopted by many groups over the years. Within the Black culture, it is a symbol of unity and pride. One cannot control who adopts it for different reasons, be it within music, politics or any other subculture. I appreciate where misconceptions can come from. I only wish a question or some type of exchange could occur beforehand, and don’t consider myself perfect in that example. I call myself and others to engage beforehand.
Alicia, (being completely serious here Paul so don’t jump to a wrong conclusion), someone could easily substitute everything you a say above for the confederate flag and white culture. Both are clearly divisive symbols, in the spirit of unity I propose we ban both.
Alicia, it was organized/advertised as a “rally” when in actuality it was an event with music, art activities, etc in support of black lives matter. You can spin it however you want, but in lieu of the current health crisis it should have been prohibited much like other 4th of July festivities have been.
I’ve stated my position/ truth. If you are choosing to lean into an intention of misunderstanding so you can be “right”, I can’t do anything about it.
Anyone who has any interest in fairness and understanding these issues owes it to themselves to see the new documentary from Larry Elder called “Uncle Tom”.
To anyone reading this, let’s do a challenge. People can watch Uncle Tom like you are suggesting, and the documentary 13th on Netflix. Then they can decide which one has more merit.
I’m pretty confident where people will see that fairness lands. I’ve already seen 13th, so I’ll add Uncle Tom to my list.
Are you game Roger?
It is probably going to be like comparing the 1619 project to the 1776 project where people will align with what they felt before watching. There are a lot of “society shifting” shows on Netflix the last couple of years that should be taken with a healthy grain of salt, my current favorite is La Casa de Papel.
Anyone that watches Uncle Tom should do at least some research (I don’t see anyone that has a good counter point up for it yet) and not just take everything at face value.
Watch 13th with an open thoughtful mind and then bring that same process to…
http://internetisinamerica.blogspot.com/2016/11/26-errors-inaccuracies-and-flat-out.html
…and then decide what you think, not what you should think.
I absolutely agree that people should do research and check their sources. First off, the one you provided appears to be a random blog post that I could have written. Is there a reason to trust it more than that (and more than the numerous leading scholars supporting the 13th documentary)?
I don’t have time to check every claim in that blog post right now, so I randomly picked one to see if maybe it was trustworthy. The blog post claims that “the KKK burned the cross before The Birth of a Nation”.
Quick Google Search and:
“ The first instance of a cross being burned in the United States was on November 25, 1915, ten months after the debut of The Birth of a Nation, when a group led by William J. Simmons burned a cross on top of Stone Mountain, Georgia, inaugurating a revival of the Ku Klux Klan. The event was attended by 15 charter members and a few aging survivors of the original Klan.[11]” – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_burning
Maybe there is some good info in that post, and I’ll go through it more thoroughly later… but as you said. Please check your sources, and make sure they are trustworthy.
Chadd was not providing the link to say “here is the truth” just that it is a detailed counter point and that people should decide for themselves after looking at both. As I said I looked for a similar link for Uncle Tom just couldn’t find one.
Chad, I do appreciate the thoughtfully obvious care and concern on display. I’ll comment here on 13th after watching. My responses..
With your Christian thoughts and analogies, I would refute with one concept that I think is at the crux of our current discussion. Jesus and the Fisherman. To paraphrase.. “give a fish to a man, feed him for a day”; “teach him to fish, and feed him for a lifetime”. I choose the latter school, and think the former is at the root of many problems in many communities, but most on display here in the black community. Don’t get me wrong, my issue isn’t with black folks or anyone else generally, but with BLM specifically, for reasons I highlighted above. If you or anyone wishes to teach anyone of any race or creed how to fish, I have the utmost respect. If you want to give fish, then at best, you’re providing a short-term solution and at worst, are part of the problem.
Slavery, indentures, and conquest all are part of the history of the world for all peoples Slavery wasn’t a western innovation nor was it was practiced first in the western world. World history didn’t begin in with the colonization of the African continent, and cherry picking a specific 400 years without context is ignorant, naive, or both. All races have been slaves in all times of human history, most treated much worse than the American black slave. Many, including blacks still enslave their own. Opposition to slavery has been a reality for probably all of mankind’s history, including now. Exploitation certainly existed during the time of slavery especially in the American south, but is was neither unique to the south or the black race specifically. Southern slavery existed in a populous form for 50-75years. Our country is over 240 years old. Are you saying that these 100 years of cotton production is the sole or a primary causes for American success? I can think of a number that I would argue for.. capitalism, can-do, our federal system of government etc.. NOT black and white. And I think it’s a easy argument that most slave decedents live a much better and opportune life here than they would be in Africa.
Historical relativism is a slippery slope. Things we confidently judge to be right and wrong are rightly judged in the light of our time and place. Many people through time, including many of our founders, thought slavery was immoral. But applying our black and white moral judgments to another time is simple intellectual dishonesty. And while mentioned in the declaration, race is not once mentioned in the original constitution until the emancipation. We can debate whether the founding fathers were racist, according to out current definition, they would be. But the map is not the reality, but there’s neither room nor my focus here..
As for modern crime sliced in any way.. violent, petty, homicide, it’s apparent and easily proven that blacks commit it at a much greater rate than any other race. I can slice and dice the numbers in any way you like.. per capita, homicides by black-on-x, etc.. Let me know.. And like I’ve said before, who’s standing up and rioting for the many more victims of black violence?? No one knows their names, because it’s not the current media “in vogue” frame. It’s NOT justice, more truly an outrage.
Another troubling current is the modern leftist, where judgment is the “echo chamber”, not one of rational discussion. If you disagree or have the audacity to think for yourself against the current mobs “wronkthink” you will be labeled, doxed, canceled and punished, violently if need be. That’s “1984” and Naziism. Then there’s our current American Taliban pushing the “if it’s offensive to me it deserves to be erased” school pulling down statues of anything that offends them. They’re pompous, selfish, pubescent white leftists, antifa, and more radical elements of BLM that seek to erase history unilaterally, as if a) their opinion is the only one that matters, and b) naively thinking an attempt to erase history in any way make us stronger. All periods have much to teach us, the confederacy included, it’s not solely about racism’s broad brush, but about many of man’s faults and noble attributes.
I’m not aware of anyone in the general populace saying that there’s anything’s wrong with black people. The problem is systemic, except probably not in the way you think. What was thought in the 1960’s to be the right way to address inequality; LBJ’s “Great Society”, has in the past 55 years morphed into a monster. This monster has two faces, a) pushing victimhood over morals or personal responsibility, and b) the disintegration of the black family. What slavery couldn’t kill, and I think is at the crux of a lot of society’s problems today, is the disintegration of the black family. These problems occur in any race, it’s just a bigger problem in their community. And perhaps my biggest beef, is that of race hustlers (of which I think BLM is a member) and mental midgets that push mental slavery and victimhood. The root attributes of strength and longevity in any community include honesty, strong families and resultant good kids, personal responsibility, work ethic, good planning and good choices etc.. The documentary “Uncle Tom” is at the root of that, not victimhood from any race or tribe.
No one in this world has ever seen or known a black American slave, just as no one has known a white slave, Anyone who looks for justice from the past is more focused on either revenge, division, and/or their own pocket. Whatever your view, there’s simply no way to go back in time to correct the thousands of things that people think were was bad. And who knows what we’d think when we went back, at best we have a map of those times not the reality and I’d guess even if we could, it wouldn’t often look how we expected it to. Would there be a practical statute of limitations or can we extend it forever? Can a race or tribe be rewarded for grievances of affirmative action? There’s simply no practical or fair way to do it and who chooses who would choose the problem and who would be the beneficiary? Me? You? Someone Else? I’ll always pick 1776 over the racist 1619.
Today in America we live in a bubble of time and place, more prosperity than at any time in the history of the world, our poorest people live better than Kings of the recent past. Perhaps the central American theme being that of liberty. Not liberty for whites, blacks, or any other specific race, but for all. MLK was as right in 1963 as he is now… “I dream of a day where my four children are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”. In 2020, we are all equal in front of the law, the only thing that matters. Choices matter! Anything that judges based on color is simply by definition racist and utterly indefensible, and is what I think BLM and some here are pushing. I went to college as a minority, and was judged in some cases by the color of my skin. Over the years, I’ve made many friends of all colors, value the differences in our experiences and personality, and simply use the golden rule and content of character for my judgment. This is the simple principle here. Anything else is just logical and moral contortions to stand up for hypocrisy. We must focus on the current and future, not the past.
And again, please tell me how rules that only apply to one group of people not discriminatory and racist?
Really it’s simple, the only way moving for justice for all is that we must judge by merit and content of character only.
Alicia, I wish you and your friends and family a happy and blessed 4th of July. Be safe as we all should.