Is Black Lives Matter Too Safe?
The next step, aim and organization could take notes from its predecessors, the Black Panthers. By Jimmy H.
Since the slaying of Ferguson teen Mike Brown in August of 2014, it seems as though there has been a new hashtag to encounter every week. A new hashtag that holds the name of a new victim of old police brutality and an even older “justice” system has the ability to spark new passion and frustration.
As Black Lives Matter turns five, this month the Black Panther Party turns 50. While both movements were born out of black struggle, they share a striking difference in how they approach the system they are protesting, and maybe what they exactly want to accomplish.
“A new hashtag that holds the name of a new victim of old police brutality and an even older “justice” system has the ability to spark new passion and frustration.”
Former Black Panther chairwoman Elaine Brown agrees. “The next wave of young people running out here, who are complaining and protesting about the murders of young black men and women by the police all over the country, they will protest but they will not rise up in an organised fashion, with an agenda, to create revolutionary change,” Brown explains in an interview with Spiked. “This to me is a plantation mentality. It smacks of ‘master, if you would just treat me right.’ And it has nothing to do with self-determination, empowerment and a sense of justice, or anything else.”
DeRay McKesson, an unofficial and visible face of Black Lives Matter, simplifies the movements aims as toward discussion and awareness, leaving self-proclaimed “social justice warriors” to tweet about white privilege while protestors in the streets disrupt highways and president hopeful’s rallies. Journalist Shaun King explains to Democracy Now insisting, about Black Lives Matter, “how we do what we do will be uniquely different. Our time is different.” But as Black Panthers are romanticized and admired for their resistance tactics and philosophy, it is fair, especially for Brown, to be skeptical about the direction of the Black Panther Party’s more liberal, leaderless successor.
“They will protest but they will not rise up in an organised fashion, with an agenda, to create revolutionary change.”
The contrast between the two movements is clear. While Black Lives Matter cashes in $100 million from liberal democrat donors and McKesson endorses Hillary Clinton for president, Brown expresses that she “was ashamed of them for asking that racist warmonger what she thought of black people.” It is a concerning thought that Black Lives Matter might be reactionary without being aware, and blindly giving more into compromising with the system that oppresses black and brown people here and abroad. Even Martin Luther King Jr.’s dialogue-based approach had him harassed by the FBI to commit suicide until his assassination. And former Black Liberation Army member and current political asylum Cuban resident Assata Shakur pointed out that “[liberals] feel sorry for the so-called underprivileged just as long as they can maintain their own privileges.”
Therefore, tweeting #BlackLivesMatter cannot grant you membership into the “wokeness” club without any sort of focused understanding. The Black Panther Party may have fell under the influence of government-assisted drug addiction, but the non-threatening Black Lives Matter could be playing themselves while the movement is still at its peak; they could be taking money from the same investors in “New Jim Crow” private prisons. When are we going to stop begging for equality and start demanding it? According to Black Panther veterans, Black Lives Matter might not be demanding enough.
Jimmy H. is a high school student planning on majoring mass communication at Sacramento State University.
