Letter: Beware of the wolf in sheep’s clothing hiding behind BLM
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Editor,
It is perplexing to read about flying the Black Lives Matter flag “above or below” the American flag. Questions of legality are raised by the writer, but the symbolism of each flag is given short shrift. Indeed, raising the BLM flag above the Stars and Stripes advertises that your primary allegiance is to another entity, not to your country.
Before making that kind of public declaration, wouldn’t it be salutary to examine what exactly “Black Lives Matter” stands for?
Unquestionably, most Americans respond favorably to this emotionally charged and socially imperative slogan. And for good reason. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott has repeatedly been subjected to atrocious racial harassment on the very grounds of the U.S. Capitol where he is serving the nation. His case makes our blood boil, but, unfortunately, it is not unique. This kind of treatment is despicable and it’s got to stop now.
Behind the well-crafted BLM slogan stand its founders who are self-proclaimed “trained Marxists.” Now, after months of “mostly peaceful” protests, it is clear that the rallying cry “Black Lives Matter” represents a pernicious Trojan Horse. Inside is a cargo of vindictive intersectional ideology that is destructive to any further civil rights progress. It aims to arbitrarily declare anyone guilty of irredeemable racism — based solely on the color of his or her skin.
BLM now openly threatens businesses in Minneapolis and Louisville for non-compliance with its demand to sign a “contract.” It invades sleeping neighborhoods in Portland, Ore., with screams of “Wake up, mother (expletive), wake up” while shining bright lights into private homes.
The original goal, as represented by the slogan, was subverted incrementally. The movement shifted from wanting to overthrow oppression to being clearly about turning the tables. The goodwill of reasonable Americans was hijacked as cover for coercive shakedown operations.
How can you tell when a movement is veering into cultism? Two good indicators are that the group A) tolerates zero dissent and B) attempts to separate its adherents from their families. The attack on the family was codified on BLM’s own website with the sentence “We disrupt the Western-imposed nuclear family.”
This language was taken down recently when it became inconvenient. Should one naively assume an honest change of heart or does the removal of the language constitute a cynical attempt to manipulate public opinion?
The most frightening — and self-defeating — aspect of the BLM juggernaut is its recent focus on #shutdownSTEM because it has not just social but also national security implications. The scientific method is the sharpest tool available to deliver truth, discard biases and overthrow oppression. To demonize that exquisite tool as an invention of white Europeans is a tragedy of enormous proportions. It is hard to overestimate the extent of unintended consequences that BIPOC will suffer as a result of rejecting reason and science.
To uncritically embrace the mantra of an organization whose ideology intends to destroy the social and civil rights progress made over the last 50 years is to welcome unending strife and hostility.
Martin Luther King’s core exhortation to humanity was to judge people by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin. BLM (the organization) actively aims to turn that honorable goal on its head.
Before flying the BLM flag, beware of the wolf in sheep’s clothing hiding behind it.
V.F. Gelfand
Greenbank
