Medium Post 8

I have had little experience at viewing BLM as a religious movement outside of this class, but after engaging with prior week’s works, I looked forward to connecting BLM to ideas that I learned about earlier this year. I was familiar with some of the ideas that this week’s pieces presented, such as the fleeting role of religious organization in BLM and the roles of black and LGBTQ women in this movement. I was eager to read more about the role of religion in BLM that these articles and readings offered.

In Tesfamariam’s article, “Why the Modern Civil Rights Movement Keeps Religious Leaders at Arm’s Length,” she describes the differences of BLM to the previous civil rights movement, such as Black and LGBTQ people are now on the front lines of the movement instead of clergymen. However, the main point that stood out to me from the reading was that BLM takes a very radical approach, and Tesfamariam describes today’s movement as more similar to the radical beliefs of the Black Panther Party than to the nonviolence of King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The radicalism of BLM has also helped it distance itself from the Church, which did not take a similar stance of violence and separatism. This separation from the Church is also described in Oppenheimer’s article, “Some Evangelicals Struggle With Black Lives Matter Movement.” While some Christian churches affirm the Black lives do matter, they are uncomfortable with other aspects of the movement. The fact that the Church would not come out and support the fight to end racial discrimination just because BLM embraced liberal politics surprised me. I had just assumed that, since they believe God loves everyone equally and we are all made in His image, they would put politics aside and help support a movement that is actively working to protect the lives of Black people, God’s creation.

As I read Donna Auston’s article, “Mapping the Intersections of Islamophobia and BLM,” I was reminded of Floyd-Thomas’ response to Cone. Just as black women were oppressed even more so than black men were, black Muslims are oppressed on two different fronts. They face the stereotypes of being called terrorists because they are Muslim and savage because they are black. Even within Muslim communities, they often experience racism. Black Muslims are participants at the center of the BLM movement, yet they are not seen and heard despite facing higher amounts of oppression.