Answering the Question: Do Black Lives Matter?
This will not take long at all. The phrase “Black Lives Matter” has become a powerful and trending phrase throughout social media and online mediums such as blogs and activist organization sites. The phrase is conjured up in rapid fashion any time there is some type of hostile action taken toward a black person by a white person, especially white police officers. The phrase has become so popular that other groups are attempting to ride the coattail of its popularity. The problem is that there is a conflicting message that is intertwined within the chords of this phrase and the behavior within black inner city communities.
It is a challenging endeavor to convince those outside of our communities that black lives matter when there is so much inner turmoil and violence within the black community being perpetrated by blacks upon other blacks. Does this mean that we should just accept the external hostility that has become a perpetual force and a threat in our inner city neighborhoods? Absolutely not! We must send a message to all external forces that would deem it to be an acceptable course of action to rain down terror in our neighborhood that their actions are not acceptable, and they will not be tolerated.
While we are sending a message to those outside of our communities, we must take a long hard look at what we, ourselves, are doing from within our communities. There is an old African proverb that states that “If there is no enemy within, the enemy on the outside can do us no harm!” The best way to protect ourselves is by confronting the enemy within. Once we deal with the self-hatred that makes us look at a brother with disdain, contempt and anger, we will be willing to stand alongside of that brother and lift him up so that we can stand up together in order to become an exceedingly great army.
Yes, black lives matter, but it is not through the speaking of those words that we will find our power and authentic emancipation. It is in the actions that are produced by the genuine belief that black lives matter that will lift us up as a people and validate us as a nation. When we truly embrace the truth that black lives matter, we will not have to convince those on the outside of its truth; they will see it in our actions. The truth is that those on the outside are afraid of the day that blacks really start to believe that their lives have value. They see a greatness in us that we have yet to see ourselves.
It is time for us to rise up and live in the truth of our inherent worth. It is time to embrace our innate power. It is time to stand up and walk out into our destiny of greatness. If black lives really matter, it is far past time that we begin to act like it. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace, Ph.D.