2020 is not over yet but it has already been rich in significant events. One of them is #BLM, Black Lives Matters. Seen from France, this movement arose from yet another tragic accident in the United States: the death of a black man, Georges Floyd, on May 25th, 2020, who died during a police intervention in Minneapolis (Minnesota). For the American authorities, its death is linked to drug consumption (official conclusion), for others, it is a murder.

The smartphone recording film of his arrest and death, live, toured the world, arousing legitimate emotion. It is tragically violent to see a man die like this.

From this emotion arose the Black Lives Matters movement and the hashtag #BLM. The movement existed before, but had little resonance in France. Even in the United States, there is a before and after George Floyd for this Black Lives Matters movement.

In the weeks that followed, there were numerous demonstrations in major American cities, followed by numerous and violent riots and looting and many buildings and businesses were ruined into fire. The Police, implicated in this event, became the target of numerous claims and the white color people were summoned – when they did not do so voluntarily – to kneel, literally, in front of black persons.

The BLM fight has also became a fight against white racism, linked to their “white privilege”, but also against the Police, against State officials and representatives, and in favor of LGBT minorities. The Americans discover the existence of anarchist “antifa” on their homeland (when the French had already been used to undergo such radical left violence for over twenty years.)

The fight becomes even more lunar when elected officials such as mayors come to demand themselves the suppression of the Police Department or the drastic reduction of its means of work.

How did we get here ?

 

Genesis of a movement

From a general concern (violence and homicides are over-represented among black American populations, all causes combined), we have moved, via some tragic lethal Police arrests to the indictment of the USA itself to be officially racist and violent against black people and leaded mostly by white privileged people.

Between the point of departure and the point of arrival, factual reality has disappeared.

American statistics indeed show an over-representation of black populations among crimes, on the one hand, and that the vast majority of homicides of black people are committed by black people, on the other hand.

But public opinion and emotion cannot be managed with figures, as factual as they are, and the BLM movement reach an impact on the society (and even abroad) that no one had anticipated.

 

Racial minorities

The United States allows race statistics, and anyone can claim their race. These races are a reality with shifting borders, and it is sometimes difficult to say what race a person is. Thus, the “race” of Joe Biden’s running ticket, Kalama Harris, is raising debate in America. Judge for yourself: What race does a person whose mother was born to an Indian family in the United States and the father be Jamaican belong to? Jamaicans themselves are quite often mixed race, as a result of the history of this country.

Is she really black as most American media forcefully assert? (An American theory called “One drop rule” is that a single drop of black blood will make you a black individual. It is likely that there are many blacks in the world who ignore that they are black …) Miss Harris herself does not  take sides clearly on the subject.

As we can see, nothing is more difficult than putting men in “race” boxes, which is one of the best arguments for fighting racism.

In the United States, although racial segregation no longer exists, notions of race are still valid. Thus there are quotas of “colored” people for university admissions. Minorities have specific rights (women, veterans, disable people, etc.) which is called “positive discrimination” across the Atlantic.

It is true that the end of American apartheid is recent: Pastor Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement (for black people) only date back to the 1960s. That is just two generations.

With an incredible turnaround – one would write clownish if the subject were not so serious – racial segregation is returning to the United States at the behest of BLM activists. An American university a recently accepted, at the request of the BLM militants, to separate the whites from the blacks. What was scandalous and shameful in 1960 is once again acceptable. It would be interesting to keep an eye on the evolution of this 21st century racial segregation over time. It is doubtful that the experience is working to the advantage of these pro-black activists.

 

Loss of Christian Faith

There is little mention of religion in this BLM movement, although this aspect may be central.

Indeed, if Martin Luther King was able to initiate a movement for equal social rights, he owes it a lot to the activism of American Christians (black or white) for whom this American historical and cultural racial segregation was in direct opposition to Christian values. .

Let us simply quote Saint Paul’s letter to the Galatians in the Bible to summarize the situation: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither man nor wife; for you are all one in Jesus Christ. “

The American society, which was still very Christian-rooted in everyday life in the 1960s, was able to eliminate the segregation inherited from the slave trade and from the economic development of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Sixty years later, the USA is no longer a Christian society, but in addition being a Christian classifies you as a dangerous conservative, opposed to social progress. One only has to look at the fight around abortion between pro-life and pro-choice to understand that it is fashionable to be in favor of abortion and that being pro-life turns you in an enemy of progress and women.

The BLM movement can take root and grow in America because it is no longer a Christian society. If men (and women, whites and blacks, etc.) are no longer brothers in Christ, then it is quite relevant to pit one group against another. The same way as Marxism, also freed from the Christian Faith, intended (intends?) to oppose men according to their social status (the vast majority of exploited people, the proletarians, having to free themselves, arms in hand, from the yoke of the rich exploiters : nobility, clergy, wealthy)

 

The BLM movement is ultimately just a new avatar of the individualism of Western societies: what matters above all is me, myself, I. And any mean is acceptable to get privileges from the society that others will not have. I envy the success of others but prefer to pose as a victim rather than roll up my sleeves. Nothing new under the sun.

 

There are now many examples of BLM activists who allow themselves to behave unworthily, even completely unequal (not to say contemptuous) on the sole pretext that their fight is fair and consists of supporting oppressed people. To be officially oppressed therefore authorizes to oppress. This is the essence of dictatorships.

 

The end of the “American Dream”

What this movement means is the end of the “American Dream” that, as Wikipedia defines it, “the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers “.

Some “happy few” have succeeded through their work and their talents to become rich, very rich. Let’s mention, to name just three, Tina Turner, Tiger Wood or Will Smith. But one cannot see the forest for the trees. The vast majority of America’s poor people have had poor parents and will have poor children. Perhaps what the French call “Social Elevator” does not work, or no longer, or even does not exist. And there may come a time when a poor person wants to get out of poverty for himself, and no more by proxy through the immense successes of Michael Jackson or Michael Jordan.

This American Dream failure nevertheless affects all Americans and the solution must be found by all Americans. Whether they are African-Americans, descendants of Asian people, or the Founding Fathers of MayFlower. And that the BLM do not want to see, obsessed with their intrinsic racism.

 

The “left behind” person in the BLMs

One of the weaknesses of the BLM movement is that it is supported primarily by white populations, with urban, academic or educated preferences, and not Christians. A large majority of American people do not see themselves at all in these claims.

Let’s start with the Hispanics, who are extremely numerous in the South and West of America. The BLM movement ignores them almost completely while this population suffers from the same problems of poverty and violence and can legitimately think of themselves as second-class citizens in a country where the dominant and leaders are mainly white.

Christians, still very numerous in the United States, are mostly white, black or Hispanic. And few validate the claims of Black Lives Matters. What matters to them is justice, education, a way out of poverty. Without taking into account the color of the skin at any time. Their fight for more social justice is likely to hamper the BLM movement, and it would not be surprising if the BLM leaders turn their vigorous retribution (not to write “their hatred”) against Christian churches.

There are also the Asian people. Fewer in number, very discreet, but broadly concerned with implementing the “American Dream” while working and studying hard. They too are a thorn in the side of Black Lives Matters, thankfully a discreet thorn, which allows them to be ignored. But observers that do see that these populations, originally very poor when they arrive in the United States, are doing very honorably without accusing the whites of being privileged.

Finally, there remains a large section of the American population, the one the Mass medias often portray as rednecks, typical voters of Donald Trump – which is proof that they are complete morons, aren’t they? – the fifty-year-old white American, worker, technician, farmer, small boss or shopkeeper. This one is very worried about the images he has seen on TV of riots in the suburbs of his city – when he is not suffering from the destruction of his own car or business. This one does not join to the Black Lives Matters ideas and movement but in addition passed by the armory, in order to purchase a new machine gun and increase even more his stock of weapons to be able to defend itself. Just in case his daily life turns into “American nightmare” for several nights or weeks.

Not all of these populations can support the demands of the BLMs. Unfortunately for them, they are not the ones who make the most noise.

 

The “white privilege”

Before concluding, it is important to return to a astounding aspect of the Black Lives Matters phenomenon: it is mainly supported by young white educated leftists.

(White) people helping populations in distress is not surprising, because it is very common as a matter of fact.  What is surprising is that it is white people who affirm aloud that whites are intrinsically racist. And admit guilt in public.

The explanation lies in two expressions: “white privilege” and “patriarchy”

These white people, often young and educated, are genuinely convinced that they enjoy a privilege just because they are white and that to be white is to be naturally racist. This powerful spring comes from a book widely adopted in American universities, “White fragility” written by Robin DiAngelo. Without going into details, this scholar concludes in her book that white people enjoy a privilege in American society simply because they are white. Who are not aware of it. And any white person who refuses to admit that he enjoys the privilege of being white proves that he enjoys that privilege and is unaware of his atavistic racism.

These young, educated white people who demonstrate are aware – of course! – of this privilege. It is therefore their duty to actively fight against this racist privilege.

The other aspect of this struggle is the struggle against “patriarchy”. To fight against the society of one’s parents is, on the leftist opinion, a landmark in emancipation. Working to improve society, removing its flaws, necessarily comes down to questioning the society as it used to operate, the society of one’s parents.

This is not a new spring and historical examples abound where a generation wants to break free from the poorly made rules of the society in which they live. Their thirst for an ideal world – a very noble objective in itself – requires a regeneration of the society in order to improve it.

It’s trivial, but it works. In general, when one grow older, and into debt to buy a roof, a car, start a family, pay for studies and a health insurance for your children and secure your funding for retirement, in general, one becomes more realistic and realizes that the perfect society does not exist, and that destroying what does exist may not be the best way forward.

This is also called “to become adult”. The vast majority of white youths protesting and rampaging today are utterly immature. Asking for the deletion of the Police, for example, is the best example of such immaturity. In addition to being totally cartoonish.

 

What future for the movement

The BLM movement has a future. Indeed, one only has to see how eagerly the Democrats leaders have endorsed the demands of the BLMs to understand that as soon as the Democratic party take the White House – which will happen sooner or later, it is only a matter of time – these demands will be implemented.

These BLM demands, which however are not representing the majority among black American populations, tend to replace the LBGT demands as a hobbyhorse, which have had some success under the mandates of Bill Clinton and then Barack Obama. The future elected Democrat president will necessarily make these demands his own.

Being adopted by one of the two American parties does not necessarily guarantee that these demands will really take root in the American population. They are also at risk of the erosion of any fashion phenomenon, worn out by the double effect of everyday reality and the arrival of new trends that one cannot be predicted today.