MAGA is a badge used to self-identify as a supporter of Trump for President. MAGA is a service mark owned by “Donald J. Trump for President”, which is a non-profit corporation with a leadership structure.
While the Black Lives Matter Global Network would probably like to become the face of BLM (in fact they just applied for a Trademark that has not been approved), I can freely create thousands of different organizations that I call Black Lives Matter, can print it on shirts without recourse and don’t have to follow any leadership structure whatsoever to make the claim that I am part of it.
To reply to the OP: If someone who had never heard of Black Lives Matter before saw the term and instantly said, “Nope, I don’t support that” as a knee-jerk reaction, then yes, they may be racist.
If on the other hand, they had done careful homework and research and decided that BLM entailed a lot of baggage which they didn’t agree with, then it would be different.
I bought a Black Lives Matter t-shirt from the Black Sabbath website that is done in the same font as the Master Of Reality record cover. Geezer Butler saw a homemade version that Tom Morello was wearing, and decided to make official ones.
“On June 8, Morello posted a photo to Instagram of himself in the Black Lives Matter shirt featuring the iconic font, alongside his mother and a message supporting the movement.
…
Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler approved, commenting “Nice shirt & nice sentiment & awesome mum”. Now, the band are selling the shirts themselves.”
(BTW: Sabbath donates all the proceeds to Black Lives Matter.)
If that’s the path we go down, then “men’s rights activists” aren’t misogynist, they just want decent treatment for men. Same for Republicans who push “family values” - who could disagree with something as wholesome-sounding as “family values?” I think we can see the problem that comes with simply taking a label at face value.
That kind of immediate, right off the bat “they have a BLM support link, I don’t ant anything to do with it” reaction… yeah, there’s something up with that person and it’s not pleasant.
Though one does wonder what happens if it is approved. This is one that I would have been happier leaving as the people’s slogan rather than try and turn it into something trademarked to a specific entity.
I’m hoping that it’s denied for that very reason. I get why they are doing it (they want funding to help support local chapters), but I prefer the current state where it truly is merely a statement of fact.
We are expansive . We are a collective of liberators who believe in an inclusive and spacious movement. We also believe that in order to win and bring as many people with us along the way, we must move beyond the narrow nationalism that is all too prevalent in Black communities. We must ensure we are building a movement that brings all of us to the front.
We affirm the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. Our network centers those who have been marginalized within Black liberation movements.
We are working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise.
We affirm our humanity , our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.
The call for Black lives to matter is a rallying cry for ALL Black lives striving for liberation.
The beliefs of that particular organization, which is not the entirety of the BLM movement. You may as well claim that the DNC platform comprises the mission statement of “liberalism”.
BLM is a movement, not an organization. There is no president of BLM. There are no official rules. You can’t get kicked out for not paying your dues. Nobody issues you a membership card. The only requirement is a belief that black lives matter.
Funny you should mention Antifa, as many factions that identify with Antifa use tactics that others disagree with, only to be told that if you’re against anything someone who is Antifa does, then you must be pro-fascist since Antifa means anti-fascist. “Black Lives Matter” suffers from the same etymological fallacy, as does the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, although I can imagine the laughs people would be met with if they were to claim that you have to support North Korea if you believe in democracy since democracy is in their name.
That can’t really be the case, because there are far more people protesting against police misconduct than there are protesting for universal health care, the lack of which kills orders of magnitude more black people than police shootings do. So, it must mean something else than simply thinking we should do as much as possible to protect Black lives.
Unless of course you can point me to an extremely large movement rallying for universal health care, because I would actually be interested in that. I haven’t heard anything from the media and Google gives me a couple tiny marches from a few years ago.
I was not responding to Ponderoid’s friend or, for that matter, to Ponderoid, and with all due respect, neither were you. Your “Wrong” was a response to Chronos’s statement. Mine was a response to your comment and the link you provided.
Yes, my response to Chronos was needlessly vague. He said there was no Black Lives Matter org. I said there is. Just because the official name includes more words, they go by simply those three. Many, many people think that the movement and the group have all the same goals. So, whether or not you actually are a member of BLM(GNF) or are just sympathetic to the phrase “black lives matter” is a distinction that is lost on many, many people.
I think anybody who wants to flip out at something like a cartoon character making the statement “Black lives matter” better immediately explain that they oppose something about the official organization, otherwise they just branded themselves as a racist.
I considered saying something like that to my now former friend, but as I explained above, this person had made me leery of upsetting them by bringing up politics they disagreed with. So, I elected to dump them as a friend, rather than risk ever triggering them again even inadvertently.
I’ve had more time to consider things more calmly since I burned the bridges. I realize now I could and should have said, in response to them saying they were going to contact the site owner about their banner, “If Randall responds, would you listen?” With the point being I didn’t think it likely they’d listen after that last conversation about anything weighty.
That’s treppenwitz for you. I think this friendship was doomed from that moment back in January when I realized I couldn’t discuss consequential things with them anymore.