Afraid to Ask the Wrong Questions When Trying to Understand BLM?

If you’re growing increasingly aware that you are less sure about the cultures around you then you once thought you were, then you are not alone.

One question that I see underlying a lot of public discussions lately, especially Christian spaces, is “Why Black Lives Matter? I thought we were all one race, the human race.”

In a lot of ways, I know that this comes from a genuine place of wanting to love all people, as we believe we should.

Here are a couple of reasons why this is not only untrue, but it’s also offensive, to all people really.

The challenge for many of us is that we believe that if we grow up together and live in the same community that that must mean that we’re all the same.  But, just because the majority of our American culture revolves around white culture does not mean we’re the same 

In America, one of our challenges as a country has been that white culture has been elevated to such an extent that it can be easy to believe that white culture is American culture.  So, even if you are not white, it is assumed that we all share the same culture.  And we do on one level, and we don’t on many other levels.

Yes, a lot of Americans value independence, freedom, and creativity. And these values shape our American culture.  We can share these values as Americans while also still having very diverse family values, heritages, and races.

It can be confusing trying to wrap our minds around the reality that not everyone is just like us (nor wants to be just like us) simply because we live in a community together, I know. So, let’s take an easy example like food.  Food has deep roots to our heritage and family culture is a visible way (unlike much else about culture which is often hard to put into words because it’s so ingrained into who we are).

For me personally, I value my Scottish and English heritage as much as I value my American heritage.  And it is precisely because I’m American that I can.  So, on Christmas day, you’ll find our family eating Prime Roast and Yorkshire Pudding.  Why?  Because that’s the meal that came with my great-grandmother from Scotland, not to mention other Scottish values and norms.

But because I’m white and my Anglo-Saxon heritage is normal enough, or at least accepted, I don’t have to lose my identity to be an American.  But this isn’t true of all of American citizens, especially if you are not white.

So, here’s why saying we’re all one race (the human race) is actually offensive.  For starters, so far as I can tell, I only hear white Americans saying this.  So again, it can be easy to say this if we’re going back to the idea that because we are Americans, we must all be “alike” and share the same values and culture even if we look differently.  We might also say it because we’re uncomfortable with people who are different than us and we subconsciously want one race, and while this may not be what is intended when it is said, it is how it is received.  Because when we say this, it makes people feel like their race and ethnicity and heritage and family culture does not in fact matter to us.  When the reality is that that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Different races, cultures, and people is BY DESIGN.  It is intentional.  There is no one race.  Yes, we all share the fact that we are humans. But until we can value all races and ethnicities for the values that they fundamentally have, we must be intentional about making sure non-whites know that their lives matter.

And in America particularly, people who are not white have been made to feel less valued than whites (even in our official documents) for longer than they haven’t.

So why Black Lives Matter?  Because for too long in America they actually haven’t mattered.  And it’s beyond time that they do.

When we grow up together and assume that all families are like ours, we also assume their experiences growing up are the same too.

So, this week, could you do me a favor and ask three of your friends what they eat for Christmas, Hanukah, or Kwanzaa?  And why they eat it?  When we begin to discover what and why people do what they do, we begin to have a better appreciation for them as whole people and fear our differences less.