Letter To My Son, Kwamina, On Black Lives Matter

Dear Kwamina, things have been a bit unsettled since the unfortunate murder of Mr George Floyd on May 25th by the police.

It has led to understandable outrage, leading to legitimate protests and fuelling the "BLACK LIVES MATTER" movement.

It appears to me that you and many young people, just like the rest of us, are trying to make sense of these events.

Let me offer my perspectives on some of the issues raised in the hope that they would help stimulate your thinking and action as you seek to join the work of making the world better.

Before I get to the core issue, let me touch on tolerance or its absence.

For a long time, the civil rights movement was about getting the voiceless heard, giving them a place at the table and building a more diverse, inclusive society.

Unfortunately, these times, there is a tendency to shut down those whose views are not in line with approved, progressive opinion.

The civil rights movement is, inadvertently becoming more like the intolerant organizations it used to fight. And your generation is increasingly more inclined to join this unfortunate trend.

Let me begin with "BLACK LIVES MATTER " vs "ALL LIVES MATTER ".

I concede that many of those who chant "all lives matter" are probably more interested in diluting the "BLM" agenda than in finding solutions. On the face of it, though, it is hard to disagree with the self-evident assertion that "all lives matter". Indeed, the BLM movement weakens itself significantly when its behaviour and focus gives the unfortunate impression that ONLY some black lives matter.

This year, through July 11th, 373 Americans 3/4 of them black, have been murdered in Chicago. Indeed, 18 were killed on May 31st as Chicago erupted in violent protests over Mr. Floyd's death.

As a physician, it is hard to make sense of losing 18 lives while protesting the loss of one..

Back home in Africa, when a farmer requests his neighbours' help to bring the harvest in, they focus on where the harvest is heaviest. Why does BLM seem indifferent to the many who perish daily in our black neighbourhoods and inner cities? Expanding the focus of BLM to all black lives, including the black children lost in black neighbourhoods to guns and abortion would make the movement more complete in my opinion.

Next, I have been stunned by the failure of the BLM to condemn the violence that has been associated with it.

It does not make sense that people will burn down a pharmacy or Wendy's in their own neighbourhood or the business of their neighbour into which he has poured decades of effort. While I agree with JFK that those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violence inevitable, that situation does not pertain here. America, despite its original sin of slavery and other egregious sins, has been striving to build a "more perfect union" throughout its history.

It abolished slavery, passed civil rights laws, integrated schools and elected Obama amongst other things.

While much remains to be done, compared to many other societies, America has done a lot to correct discrimination. It is tempting for those not sufficiently informed of the global history to see a funeral in Ghana or solidarity marches in South Africa and Nigeria or condemnation by China for George Floyd's murder and not know that there have been more egregious human rights abuses, often by the police and security forces in those countries.

Finally, son, let me talk about courtesy and the need to make more sense rather than noise. People do not listen to angry voices. MLK did not insult. He marched in peace and spoke in complete sentences. Your teachers did not ask you to memorize "I have a dream" because it was insulting. They did because it inspired and challenged America to do better. Thurgood Marshall did not insult. He went to court and won great victories. Mindless and unfocused anger does not convert others-- it entrenches them.

I trust that as you continue to work out your role in the American experience and how to build a better world, you would keep these in mind.

Continue to care, as you do, for those less fortunate than yourself. As the Bible says, "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me".

I look forward to hearing from you.

Love,

Dad

(Arthur Kennedy 7/26/20)