The Observer: Black lives must matter

It has been more than a year since the town's Board of Selectmen issued its official proclamation opposing racism, discrimination and bigotry. You could be excused for thinking it might not be controversial. After all, how many people in York openly support racism, discrimination or bigotry? Yet since being signed July 13, 2020, the proclamation has generated some strenuous opposition. 

The essence of the BOS document is contained in the first of its six concluding statements: therefore "the Town welcomes people of every color, race, ethnicity, creed, sexual orientation and gender identity." I am unaware of any public outcry against this part of the proclamation and assume most of my neighbors support it. The same thing cannot be said, however, with regard to the proclamation’s sixth conclusion: therefore "the Town recognizes Black Lives Matter."

One point of controversy regarding BLM is its purported link to Marxism. The Marxist label has arisen explicitly at York select board forums this year and at School Committee meetings, as well. The same thing has been happening across the country. Who would have guessed Karl Marx would still be in the news 138 years after his death? 

PolitiFact:Is Black Lives Matter a Marxist movement?

One of BLM’s founders, Patrisse Cullors — who has since resigned from BLM’s global board — told an interviewer in 2015 that she is a trained Marxist. The political right seized upon this statement, using it to discredit her, the organization she cofounded and the global social movement that followed.

The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter began in 2013 as a grassroots movement following the acquittal of 28-year-old George Zimmerman, on trial for the 2012 killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, whom Zimmerman shot at close range.

The conclusion to which people outraged by Zimmerman’s acquittal came was that Black lives do not matter in America the way white lives do. Would the deadly encounter have happened if Trayvon Martin were white? It is an uncomfortable as well as an unanswerable question.

To attack BLM because of its alleged Marxist leanings is to engage in a misleading diversion, effectively drawing attention away from the reality that spawned the movement in the first place: systemic racism. It is easier to talk about Marxism than it is to discuss the bias, discrimination and bigotry that have plagued Black people in America for centuries. .

If opportunities, experiences, policies and practices were the same for Black people as they are for white people in this country, then you might expect comparability between these two groups in terms of their life circumstances and outcomes — but that is not what we find. 

All things being equal (which, of course, they are not) you might expect a similar pattern when it comes to quality and length of life between members of different racial groups. 

Disparities persist:These 12 charts show how racial disparities across wealth, health, education

Consider these 10 comparative data points, excerpted from USA Today (June 18, 2020):

1. Black women die three times more often in childbirth than do white women.
2. Black people have shorter lifespans than white people do (2.7 fewer years for women and 4.5 fewer years for men).
3. Percentage of high school students who graduate on time: 79% for Black people versus 89% for white people.
4. Percentage of students who graduate from four-year college programs: 40% for Black people compared to 64% for white people.
5. Black unemployment is consistently higher than white unemployment: 16.8% versus 12.4% (May 2020).
6. Black median household income ($40,258) trails that of white households ($68,145).
7. Black homeownership rates are low compared to white homeownership rates: 44% versus 73.7%.
8. Black poverty rate is more than double that of white people: 21.2% versus 8.7%.
9. Black men are 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police.
10. There are more Black people incarcerated in federal and state prisons (475,900) than there are white people (436,500). This in spite of the fact that just 13% the total U.S. population is Black and about 61% is white.

Organizations like BLM are much less a threat to America than are the gross disparities that exist between the life experiences of Black people and white people. That is why York’s BOS proclamation was signed. That is why the Committee to Combat Racism and Bias was formed. That is why Black lives should matter to everyone.

Ron McAllister is a sociologist and writer who lives in York.