(This Post was originally made in July 2020) Recently, I attended a March for Peace in my community. It was a glorious and huge event headed by an extraordinary black leader in our community who collaborated with city leaders to bring us together around an important issue. Even more impressive is that it was started and, in no small part, led by a group of students. Like most of these events, it was peaceful and barely made the news. The mayor spoke, and the Police chiefs from our city and the Tulalip tribe across the freeway spoke. Several black leaders spoke, and several bright teenagers spoke. Tribal leaders spoke, and the Tulalip tribe provided music during the closing ceremony. During the march, we often chanted, and many were carrying signs with messages that spoke truth into our troubled world. Probably the most common chant was Black Lives Matter.
Since the march, I’ve received feedback from people concerned about that slogan. In listening to their concerns, I think I’ve decided that many people, especially white people, misunderstand what those words mean. I don’t mean they don’t understand the individual terms but don’t understand what they mean in context. Communication happens in context, so as a white guy who had to go through a sharp learning curve about the black experience, let me see if I can help with this important slogan.
To my white, evangelical brothers and sisters, what if I were to say to you unborn lives matter? I very much doubt that you would respond with, all lives matter. I believe the reason you wouldn’t react with all lives matter is that you recognize that unborn lives are in unique danger in a way that other lives are not. To say unborn lives matter is not to say that other lives don’t matter. In fact, as a pro-life person, I believe every single life matters to God, and to take a life is a sin. Still, as a leader, I must find ways to articulate that unborn lives need special attention and protection because they are under unique persecution that most lives are not. I think I’m going to start by saying unborn lives matter. #unbornlivesmatter
I’m also going to continue to say black lives matter and blue lives matter (Police) because I think both of those groups are also in unique danger and under particular threat. I’m probably not going to go around saying white middle-class male lives matter. Not because they don’t matter, but let’s be frank, I’m in very little danger of being killed by someone else, and certainly not because of my skin color or the uniform I wear.
On another note, you probably won’t hear me say all lives matter. Again, not because I think some lives don’t matter but because those words miss the point and can sound like I don’t care about those who are under unique persecution.
Let’s try a thought experiment. Imagine your spouse comes to you, wraps their arms around you, gives you a big hug and kiss, and with a warm smile, says do you love me? What do you think happens if you reply, I love everybody? While I hope it is true that you love everybody, if you reply I love everybody to your spouse, well, let’s just say you missed the point by about a mile. You made a colossal mistake in understanding what your spouse was trying to communicate. Imagine if you publicly declared your love for your spouse and someone said that you shouldn’t say that. You should say I love everybody. We say things about particular people and situations not because they might not have a larger application but because of something unique about the person or situation.
Black lives, Blue lives, and unborn lives matter as all lives matter, but we need to focus our attention on honoring and protecting these groups because they are uniquely in danger. As a society and certainly as followers of Jesus, we need to spotlight the problem. Jesus was clear: how the powerful treat those with less power matters greatly to Him, so it must matter to us. Maybe it’s time we evangelicals stepped up, and in addition to proclaiming that unborn lives matter, we add blue lives matter and black lives matter.
By the way, your life matters too.
#unbornlivesmatter #bluelivesmatter #blacklivesmatter
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