We hear repeatedly from the liberal echo chamber that Black Lives Matter is a peaceful movement. Last Sunday, the black community in Wichita put that proposition to the test: They met to break bread with police at a local park in an event dubbed the First Step Community Cook Out. From the looks of it, the event was an overwhelming success in bringing together disparate factions, if not entirely for fun and games. One of the event’s leaders told station KSN:
Everybody thinks we’re out there just having this grand ol’ time, but really we were addressing some of the issues that have been plugging this community for quite sometime.
So how did Black Lives Matter fare when it came to the acid test? The litmus paper came up black — and bitter. BlackLivesMatter DC harrumphed in a tweet:
THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL #BlackLivesMatter CHAPTER! THIS IS NOT IN LINE WITH OUR PRINCIPLES. @Blklivesmatter https://t.co/IIlnTbgE1S
— BlackLivesMatter DC (@DMVBlackLives) July 20, 2016
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Interesting. And what would those principles be? If you skim the other tweets on the page, nearly every last entry is about “winning” (as though this is a tug of war with police) and occupying the headquarters of the Fraternal Order of Police, sprinkled with the occasional “instructional” video:
WE GON BE AIGHT!!! #FreedomNow pic.twitter.com/DNPxS0zS0N
— BlackLivesMatter DC (@DMVBlackLives) July 20, 2016
Apropos of this clear divide in the way many blacks and Black Lives Matter view this standoff, a black community activist in South Carolina is suing the movement, claiming its members “attacked him with racist comments.” In his lawsuit, Jack Logan argues:
[T]hey have prevented law enforcement from patrolling the area he [I] lives in due to being attacked as prejudice, hate organization, having myself and others in fear of our safety, inciting the imminent services bodily injury and killing police, promoting gang violence.
Doesn’t sound all that peaceful.
Barack Obama, who has made repeated overtures toward Black Lives Matter, including inviting members of the movement to the White House, has given false hope to those seeking unilateral changes to police forces, if not an out-and-out end to policing. In the end, gestures like the Wichita cookout will do more to heal the racial divide than blocking highway traffic. Maybe Obama should tell Black Lives Matter the truth for a change.
