Of course Black Children’s Lives Really Matter

The popular battle cry of the downtrodden and oppressed reverberates loudly and indignantly among those who would suggest that white people don’t care about black people. To a white person who hears, “Black Lives Matter”, it implies how inconsiderate whites are regarding the value of black children’s lives. While it is true that no one of this generation has ever owned slaves, there is an air of indictment against white people that the same ideas of white superiority are prevelant in today’s society as it was in the mid-nineteenth century. Is it another way of playing the race card to suggest that we are still guilty of the same discrimination as our forefathers? Just as they joined secret societies, brutilized poor black people, surpessed their votes, forced them into indentured servitude in the prison systems, and enforced “Jim Crow” laws over many years, we, as a white dominated society continue to flagrantly violate the rights of modern day black people. The implication strongly suggests that if you are white then black lives don’t matter. This is outrageous to whites and insulting to the mores of modern society.

Let me state emphatically, “Black lives matter!” The overwhelming majority of white people believe black children’s lives are precious. Most of us understand the blow back that causes blacks to protest  and remind us all that black children are being abused by the system. We get it.

We understand the charges of police brutality. We agree that there are many incidents where police officers over- extended their privileges and used excessive force to take control of a situation. We understand that no one has the right to take someone else’s life, particularly when they are charged with protecting lives.

What is it that black Americans think white Americans don’t understand?
Why is it that we are all implicated as complicit to feelings of white superiority.
Why do they think  that we are all responsible for the actions of a few.
Why are some blacks so angry at all white people?

Some police officers have been shamefully abusive to suspected law violaters and they should be held accountable for their actions. There is a thin line that officers of the law are required to walk and it is often obliterated when a situation gets out of hand. Peace officers are frequently forced to make quick decisions in order to restore order. Sometimes, they make bad choices, wrong assessments and over-reactions to a situation out of hand. Maybe they always have. Maybe they always will. The senseless acts of gunning down unarmed suspected felons cannot be tolerated.

I was born into a prejudicial society which “taught” it’s youth that white people are superior to black people. I had close relatives who abused and degradated persons of color in every possible way. The turmoil of the mid-50’s through the 70’s really did change American society as a whole. In spite of what many would like you to believe, America has dramatically evolved over the past 50 years. I know because I have lived through the experience. No longer do black Americans drink from separate public water fountains, no longer are they forced to sit in the balcony at a movie theatre, no longer are they forced to sit in the rear of the bus, no longer are they forced to sit in a separate section at a restaurant, or even denied entrance to a diner, no longer are schools segregated. All of these things I witnessed as a child.  Even though there are a few who retain deep prejudices, the world we live in today is not the world of my youth. It is not just a matter of becoming racially tolerant, we are now a society that genuinely embraces racial equality. Just because I have never been black does not mean that I can’t understand the injustices that have been unduly inflicted on blacks. But I assure you that even though today’s world may harbor an excessive number of bigots, it is not the shameful, oppressive American society of my childhood. The older hard-line, bigoted generation of my youth does not exist as it did then, most have taken their prejudices to their graves.

Without doubt, there are many who would cling to the extreme prejudice of earlier generations, but they are not the mainstream of America. The vast majority of the white population in this great country have either been taught from their youth to be non-prejudicial or they have experienced the transition of the 50’s through the 70’s which taught us that we are all truly equal in ability, opportunity and in every other aspect. It took a thousand years to forge those prejudices, it might require more than 50 years to completely dissolve them.

As Americans we should unite to a rallying call that every life matters, regardless of color or ethnicity. Black children’s lives matter, hispanic children’s lives matter, asian children’s lives matter, arab children matter, native American children's lives matter, and yes, white children’s lives matter. All children’s lives matter.

None more valuable than the other.

"Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world,

 Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His site,  

Jesus loves the little children of the world"

And so do I.