Do All Lives Matter?

I attended Melanin Narratives here in Edmonton a few months ago and it was amazing.  I have never seen so many beautiful, talented black people in one room in Edmonton! Seriously, it was a breath of fresh air! I felt myself being rejuvenated surrounded by talented and gorgeous people who look like me!

While reveling in the glory of God’s handiwork in that room, I was reminded that “there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known” (Luke 12:2). We are living in an age where the wool that has been pulled over our eyes is being burned, and our consciousness is being awakened. Through social media we are revealing the racism that is affecting black bodies and killing black people. We are illuminating how the perception of black bodies as dangerous permeates in the very hearts, minds, and actions of those who have voluntarily committed to serve and protect all citizens. The recent events of the back-to-back shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castille in Minnesota by cops attests to this assertion.  

In God’s eyes, all of our lives matter. We have value. Yet we don’t live in a world that believes this. #BlackLivesMatter is showing us that our world doesn't believe that all lives matter. We don’t live in a world that values the life of another human being. How can we claim that all lives matter when we have rampant police brutality and violence against civilians that we are unwilling to do anything about; where even with video evidence and witnesses, justice remains illusive for the victims and their families?  When we are unwilling to hold accountable those who are supposed to serve and protect when they become the villains on the street and in our communities?

I recently read an article that stated: “What’s going on when we see racism, brutality, injustice, violence,abuse and hatred in our world and call it everything but what it is—sin?”  We sin against God and we reap the rewards of that sin. We have become gods unto ourselves, answerable to no one, regardless of who suffers. And we all suffer for it. And much like the shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota reveal, we need to take responsibility: that is, take responsibility for saying one life is worth more than another; for accepting the degenerate belief of the inferiority/superiority of skin colours, and to hold accountable those who err in their duties to serve and protect. 

God gave us a choice: to choose life or choose death. We have chosen death and all its fruit. We are suffering because of the choices and the beliefs that we have accepted as a society.

Yet, Freedom is our birthright in Christ. We can break off the chains we have put ourselves in. What happened in Louisiana, and Minnesota and the shooting of cops in Dallas doesn’t have to be our reality. And that is why #BlackLivesMatter is so important. #BlackLivesMatter is crying out for all of us to see that the reality that black lives are subjected to is distorted and deadly.  #BlackLivesMatter is being specific about an injustice that pervades black communities. To say #BlackLivesMatter is not to discount the value of other human beings; but it is to highlight an injustice suffered in black communities, at the hands of those who are supposed to protect and serve us, and imploring all of us to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. It isn't enough to say all lives matter when society's policies, and policing, etc say otherwise. 

For the Sake of His Love let us "turn away from evil and do good; [let us] seek peace and pursue it." (1 Peter3:11).

--Chenai