Saturday, August 19, 2017

Black Lives Matter Is Not A Hate Group - Southern Poverty Law Center

Black Lives Matter is not a hate group. The perception that it is racist illustrates the problem of our society as a whole still not accepting that racial injustice remains pervasive. And, unfortunately, the fact that surveys reveal that a majority of white people tend to see race as a zero-sum game may actually impede progress.

Generally speaking, hate groups are, by our definition, those that vilify entire groups of people based on immutable characteristics such as race or ethnicity. Federal law takes a similar approach.

There’s no doubt that some protesters who claim the mantle of Black Lives Matter have said offensive things, like the chant “pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon” that was heard at one rally.

However, we have heard nothing remotely comparable to bigotry from the founders and most prominent leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement and nothing at all to suggest that the bulk of the demonstrators hold supremacist or black separatist views.

Thousands of white people across America – indeed, people of all races – have marched in solidarity with African Americans during BLM marches, as is clear from the group’s website.

The movement’s leaders also have condemned violence.

Black Lives Matter is not a hate group. The perception that it is racist illustrates the problem of our society as a whole still not accepting that racial injustice remains pervasive. And, unfortunately, the fact that surveys reveal that a majority of white people tend to see race as a zero-sum game may actually impede progress.

The full article is available here