I am excited about the present opportunity for Black, Brown, and White people to have honest dialogue. The goal should be to have a more harmonious future for the betterment of our communities and nation. We should not destroy the USA, but heal it. The fact that people who do not look like each other are marching alongside one another makes my heart glad (I am a networker and a connector at heart!).

Although I may not be a proponent of the objectives of the goals and ideologies of the original Black Lives Matter organization, their phraseology seems to be transcending their movement.  Many people believe the phrase “Black Lives Matter” presently depicts the human value, dignity, and worth of Black Americans. That being said, I do not believe the critical consciousness of “Black Lives Matter” as a phrase has gone far enough. 

There cannot be an entirely honest conversation about this movement without identifying the pernicious plans of Planned Parenthood to use abortion as a means of exterminating “the negro race.”

The devastating effect of abortion has on African Americans:

Planned Parenthood (its founder was a White supremacist named Margaret Sanger), has been very successful in dissipating the Black American population.

For example, in NYC more Black babies are being aborted than are being born. This is an outrageous figure and shows that we are now witnessing a modern-day “Black genocide!”

As reported in the Wall Street Journal: 

What’s not in doubt is the outsize toll that abortion has taken on the black population post-Roe. In New York City, thousands more black babies are aborted than born alive each year, and the abortion rate among black mothers is more than three times higher than it is for white mothers. According to a city Health Department report released in May, between 2012 and 2016 black mothers terminated 136,426 pregnancies and gave birth to 118,127 babies. By contrast, births far surpassed abortions among Whites, Asians and Hispanics.

What if leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, W.E.B. Du Bois, Barak Obama, Lebron James, Spike Lee, and more, would have been aborted and never given a chance to make a difference in the world! That would have been devastating. What if a Black American, a future doctor or a scientist, carrying the cure for a disease has been aborted? Devastating.

The insidious intent of Margaret Sanger:

To understand her original intent in founding Planned Parenthood, it’s worth reading a few of her salient quotes:

From “The Pivot of Civilization” (1922): “We are paying for, and even submitting to, the dictates of an ever-increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all.”

From “Birth Control and Racial Betterment” (1919): “Before eugenists and others who are laboring for racial betterment can succeed, they must first clear the way for Birth Control. Like the advocates of Birth Control, the eugenists, for instance, are seeking to assist the race toward the elimination of the unfit. Both are seeking a single end but they lay emphasis upon different methods.”

Sanger even presented at a Ku Klux Klan rally in 1926 in Silver Lake, N.J. she recounted this event in her autobiography: 

I accepted an invitation to talk to the women’s branch of the Ku Klux Klan… I saw through the door dim figures parading with banners and illuminated crosses… I was escorted to the platform, was introduced, and began to speak… In the end, through simple illustrations, I believed I had accomplished my purpose. A dozen invitations to speak to similar groups were proffered (Margaret Sanger, An Autobiography). 

That she generated enthusiasm among some of America’s leading racists says something about her remarks, content, and tone.

In a letter to Clarence Gable in December 1939, commenting on the “Negro Project”, Sanger wrote: “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

The fact that there is a disproportionate amount of Black babies being aborted should alarm all concerned citizens on both the Left and the Right. The fact that Planned Parenthood is a leading organization with an insidious plan to commit black genocide should shock everyone. There should be a collective cry for the total defunding of this malevolent organization. 

The failure of the great society to eradicate systemic poverty:

If Black lives matter, there needs to be a serious and honest look at the devastation some of the progressive Great Society policies have wrought against people of color.

According to expert data, many of the Great Society programs have failed to live up to its hype. For example: 

Programs like ‘Head Start’ have had little to no impact on it’s participants, had harmful effects on behavior and peer relations, cost 240 billion since its inception in 1964 with spending on K-12 education quadrupling since 1960, national scores have changed little since the 1970s, the current gap in learning between students from the highest 10 pct and the lowest 10 pct is the same since Johnson launched his war on poverty, college tuition has risen over 200 pct since 1987 and 44 pct of college graduates are in jobs that do not require a college degree…

Regarding the Great Society’s effect on the Black family, the famous Black economist Thomas Sowell states, “The black family survived centuries of slavery and generations of Jim Crow, but it has disintegrated in the wake of the liberals’ expansion of the welfare state.”

It’s common in a welfare state to reward a single mother more welfare money per child than a married mom. Such programs discourage marriage and disincentive having a father in the home. Since 1970, out of wedlock birth rates have skyrocketed amongst black Americans. In the early 1960s, less than 25% of Black infants and about 3% of White infants were born to single moms. By 1990 it was 64 % for Black infants and 18% for Whites! 

Not only was the welfare program responsible for this among poor Black Americans, but the availability of legal abortions and easy access to contraceptives for single people, another progressive policy, since 1970,  helped erode traditional marriage when so-called “shotgun weddings”…dissipated.

Related to the affordable housing crisis among the poor in our cities, many social scientists believe the main culprit is over-regulation by city and state governments. Onerous zoning laws that hurt new development and policies meant to aid poor people, such as rent control, tend to freeze people where they are for generations, even if they become more affluent. This results in a housing shortage for the poor.

Thomas Sowell says the following:

Too many people who talk about a lack of “affordable housing” seem to think that this is something the government must build or subsidize. It never seems to occur to them that government activity is itself one of the biggest reasons for housing being unaffordable. Nor are they likely to check out the fact that housing is far more affordable in communities where the government is not nearly so active…what is “the solution?” The solution is to stop doing the things that create the problem. But politicians, especially on the left, always like to “do something,” whether that something makes things better or worse.”

Of course, we could cite many more things, such as the need for police and prison reform, which thankfully are conversations already on the table in mainstream dialogue. 

In closing, people who are serious about breaking systemic poverty and making life better for the urban poor, including many Black and Brown people, need to expand the collective discussion. The deleterious effects some big-government policies have had on their families and communities need to be dealt with. 

Unfortunately, some of the progressive, socialist programs many are fighting for in the name of “social justice” for Black and Brown people are just a mantra for failed Marxist policies. They have proven to be counterproductive and have caused an increase in systemic poverty, gentrification, and family fragmentation. 

I am in favor of the Black Lives Matters as a concept, not the organization. I am also in favor of expanding it to include all of the above. If we only talk about police brutality without dealing with these other issues, we will be circling the same wagon for generations to come. America does not have much more time to get this right! 

Purchase Joseph Mattera’s latest book, “The Jesus Principles”, available now on Amazon here.

In light of the present civil unrest, the sole focus has been on prejudice as it relates to skin color, with many Blacks accusing White individuals of oppression against them and pointing to the “White Privilege” they enjoy in society.  In my opinion, discrimination based on skin color is a secondary issue, not the root issue. The root issue is humanity’s alienation from their Creator, which began during the Fall when Adam disobeyed God. This started a process of tremendous pain that pitted human beings against one another.

The first homicide had nothing to do with racism. Cain slew his brother Abel out of jealousy (Genesis 4). Hence, human alienation from God had immediate consequences resulting in hatred and murder. The apostle John said that if we hate our brother, then we do not have the love of God and that we are abiding in death (1 John 3:11-15). According to this interpretation of Cain’s wicked deed, it was inspired by the evil one who took advantage of the sin of jealousy in his heart. Satan compels us to do what we are already entertaining in our hearts. 

False Theology

Some have mistakenly claimed that the commandment by God to Adam to have dominion over His creation, (“The Dominion Mandate”-Genesis 1:28), offered one group of human beings the right to have dominion over other less developed or less civilized humans. This erroneous hermeneutic could have been used by some European colonialists to subjugate non-Europeans because they believed Genesis 1:28 granted them the “manifest destiny” to rule the world for Christ. However, a closer look at Genesis 1:28 illustrates that the “Dominion Mandate” was granted to all of humanity (not just to one ethnic group) to cultivate the earth. It could not have referred to exerting dominion over other less civilized humans since the earth was not yet populated when God spoke this to Adam and Eve. 

In general, all humans who steward the created order are walking in this command irrespective of their ethnicity. (Although promoting the first two chapters of the Genesis account is counter-cultural in contemporary times, especially in regards to its theistic worldview.  This theistic worldview recognizes only one expression of marriage with only two genders, male and female, as seen in Genesis 1:27).

Slavery

Slavery is one of the cruelest manifestations imaginable regarding abuse among the human race. 

The first illustration of slavery in the Bible.

The first illustration of slavery in the Bible was not between Whites and Blacks, but between Egyptians who subjugated the Hebrews. Since Egypt is considered a part of North Africa and the Jews of those days would not look like the European Caucasians of today, slavery was African peoples subjugating people of Middle Eastern background (who probably had olive-colored or brownish skin tone).

European slavery 

During the days of Jesus, most of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves. Although this could have involved some light-skinned Europeans enslaving dark-skinned people from African nations, it most definitely involved Western Europeans enslaving other Europeans with similar skin color. 

Slavery during this time most likely had nothing to do with ethnic racism but was encouraged because it directly impacted economics and those in power. Furthermore, even when we read the Spanish and Portuguese historical accounts, the use of African slaves started in the 13th century. In many instances, the slaves were not kidnapped but sold by their tribal heads for economic reasons. Hence, Africans participated in the wicked slave trade for their sustenance.  This increased the slave trade in Europe, including its expansion into the British Empire and initiated slavery in the United States. 

The Rwandan Genocide 

During four months in 1994, there was an attempt to commit genocide against the Tutsi people by the Hutu. This was a demonically inspired (systematic) plan based on historic grievances by one Black tribe against another in this African nation. 

Black on Black slavery today.

Today, some will argue that Africa is again the world’s epicenter of modern-day slavery. One slavery index found the following, “In recent years, serfdom in the continent has attracted global attention after videos showed slave markets in Libya where African migrants were being auctioned off in car parks, garages as well as public squares.”

I wonder why the “Black Lives Matter” movement doesn’t address this horrific situation taking place in our day? Is it because it doesn’t fit into their White against Black narrative? If Blacks indeed do matter in the USA, shouldn’t they also matter in other nations? I think the poor, enslaved, and persecuted Blacks in Africa have the same human worth and value as Blacks, Whites, and all ethnic peoples everywhere else! It’s unfortunate that Black civil rights leaders and political leaders in the USA are not raising their voices against this injustice. 

The USA 

In our own country, we see high instances of “Black on Black,” “White on White,” and “Latino on Latino” crime.  It is not just relegated to White on Black crime or seen only when abuse is committed by White police officers on Black citizens. Hence, to my point, the main issue is a “sin” issue and not merely a “color” issue 

Our racist history 

We all know that the USA has many warts related to its initial history, none worse than the legal integration of African slavery into the southern economy. This resulted in the “war between the states” where thousands of mostly White northerners lost their life fighting against slavery.

 I agree that the Confederate flag and monuments to its southern separatist war heroes should be relegated to museums instead of being allowed to be displayed in the public square. I also believe that “Juneteenth” celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves should be a national holiday. However, I do not think every vestige of American history should be deconstructed nor should statues be torn down by an angry mob. These issues should be debated and statues removed according to the legal and orderly process.

It’s one thing to point out that some of the founding fathers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were slaveholders (forever diminishing their standing in the eyes of some), it’s another thing to tear down the flag of a southern secessionist group that wanted to divide our nation! 

Along the lines of this reasoning, I agree with Dr. Michael Brown who tweeted, “In the spirit of pulling down historic statues and removing “racist” brand names, should there be a move to cancel the Democratic Party, since the Democrats were the party of slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow?”

If we are going to go as far back as colonialist, Christopher Columbus, and tear down his monuments, why not also hold the African nations accountable for who participated in the American slave trade by selling their people? Where does it end?

I will tell you where all these roads eventually lead to, they lead to the beginning.  It started in the Garden of Eden, when our common parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God. This had cosmic consequences (not merely individual) since it negatively impacted every level of human reality, such as the spirit, human relations, the physical ground, the animal and plant kingdom, and the immediate heavens (Genesis 3).

I believe now is the God-ordained moment for a healthy dialogue between White and Black citizens of America and beyond. I contend that we cannot lose sight of the fact that the only true cure for individual and systemic racism in the world is a strong, united Church that preaches the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Only the gospel can restore individual sinners to the Father and garner the intellectual and political capital necessary to reflect systemic biblical justice in the earth.

Purchase Joseph Mattera’s latest book, “The Jesus Principles”, available now on Amazon here.