Students at St Andrews College in Christchurch and Marist College in Auckland put up Black Lives Matter posters which were promptly ripped down by the authorities. The students were furious and went straight to media claiming systemic racism.
From a student at Marist College in Auckland:
“We’ve had a lot of problems with our teachers being racist towards students and trying to force their views on them,” Nia told Morning Report.
From a student at St Andrews College in Christchurch:
“I think a lot more needs to be done on promoting education, specifically on these racial issues that occur in our country, and I think for people of colour, their voices need to be amplified more and schools across the country really need to step up.”
The irony is that both these schools are founded on Christian principles which teach that we are created equal regardless of skin colour or anything else.
“In a statement, St Andrew’s College rector Christine Leighton said the school was committed to “treating all people equally and fairly“.”
Clearly that message didn’t get through or were these students not listening? Did the school include Christian fundamentals in their curricula or did the Education Department forbid them from teaching their Christian values?
Of course, these two students are not necessarily representative of either the schools or their students. It would be interesting to know if these two had spoken up about the alleged racism before they were triggered by the BLM movement.
I doubt schools teach the history of the BLM movement, much less that students get to debate its relevance to New Zealand. Most likely they were triggered by the idea that if you don’t agree with BLM you should be labelled a racist.
Our media did not bother to enlighten us about the history of the movement. Instead they told us frequently the protests were “largely peaceful”. Media discounted BLM’s association with Antifa and seem unaware of the long list of people who died during the protests. Our media shielded New Zealand students from the truth about BLM which is responsible for inflaming hatred and racism. This makes our media both irresponsible and despicable.
BLM’s protests are based on the lie that America inflicts rampant and deliberate violence on black Americans. From the Black Lives Matter Website:
“The impetus for that commitment was, and still is, the rampant and deliberate violence inflicted on us by the state.”
Olivia Pierson wrote that US statistics for police killings do not support the theory that American police, the enforcement arm of the state, deliberately targeted African Americans in 2019. In New York demonstrators repeated the lie chanting “How do you spell ‘racist?’ N-Y-P-D” as they passed police officers.
BLM protests were infiltrated by Antifa, an umbrella term for the many militant political groups who say they oppose fascism. Evidenced by the carnage from the protests and ensuing demands for white Americans to take the knee in front of protesters, you are excused for thinking that Antifa is predominantly fascist – the very thing they claim to oppose.
Attacking people and destroying property is representative of BLM protests in the US and the UK. At least sixteen people have been killed in the US riots including David Dorn, a 77-year-old retired St. Louis police captain who was shot and killed by looters who broke into a pawn shop. Many black people are among the dead.
No one can justify the current body count of sixteen against the unjust death of one man. Lives and livelihoods were lost in supposedly peaceful protest. This violence is no small portion of the protests, it is carnage on a grand scale. New York introduced a curfew to protect Manhattan businesses from further looting and destruction by protesters.
In New York, people marched until police officers with cans of pepper spray advanced into the crowd, followed by officers swinging batons. The sounds of screaming and chanting mixed with that of bodies hitting the pavement and zip ties being tightened around wrists. For a moment, the demonstration would subside.
But then they would return, more forcefully than before.
Lushington Brady wrote about the Antifa-ISIS connection. The American government claims Antifa hijacked BLM protests.
“…several top officials in the Trump administration — from the president to the US attorney general — are blaming the anti-fascist group, called Antifa, for taking over protests triggered by black man George Floyd’s death in police custody.”
BLM stirs up emotive racial discord without disclosing that it is based on and promulgates the racist lie that African Americans are targeted by the state, supposedly a white state at that. The inconvenient fact is that most murders of black people are committed by black people. This is not a black vs white issue, but knowledge of that inconvenient truth would ensure BLM ceased to be relevant.
“Our continued commitment to liberation for all Black people means we are continuing the work of our ancestors and fighting for our collective freedom because it is our duty.”
What happened to the land of the free and the home of the brave? Did Black Americans opt out? The real damage done by BLM is to protesters with genuine grievances, perhaps this African American veteran whose story we are not told.
“I FOUGHT TO BE FREE FOR 17 YEARS OF MY LIFE,” SAID HAMMOND ELLS, AN ARMY VETERAN. “WE EXPORT FREEDOM OVERSEAS. WHY DON’T WE HAVE IT AT HOME?”
Clearly reconciliation is still needed, and BLM presents itself as the only option, but if you choose NOT to support BLM you are labelled racist. Anyone with a basic respect for humanity – which is most of us good, kind and tolerant people – are expected to agree with BLM (with its mendacious claims) or be labelled racist.
It’s a no-win situation aptly reflected in the two memes currently doing the rounds in the US: “Words are Violence” and “Silence is Violence”. If you speak you are labelled a racist, if you don’t speak you are labelled a racist. You literally cannot escape being labelled a racist by this very clever marketing.
An interesting aside: while researching this subject I noticed Americans who do NOT support BLM refer to themselves as African Americans but Americans who DO support BLM refer to themselves as Black Americans.
You can listen to African American Nestride Yumga, a brave young woman who argued with BLM protestors in DC that she is black and free and does not support BLM. Warning: bad language.
Or Rob Smith, an African American who says BLM is a “fake black movement.”
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