By Darren Brady Nelson -
Let's do a statistical analysis of the priorities of Black Lives Matter in their own words.
My only source for words used here is the official BLM website. I copied nearly every word in there and pasted them into a Word document. That amounted to over 8,500 words (without headings) on 23 pages. I grouped the text in four broad categories of “Black”, “Lives” and “Matter” along with “Defund The Police” and “BLM”. Only 3 pages are devoted each to broader “Black” issues as well as black “Lives” (ended at the hands of white police) plus less than 1 page to “Defund The Police”. Broader “Matters” have 11 pages, whilst “BLM” itself has 5 pages.
What you will see in the data below is that BLM seems to be more about a radical cultural revolution than anything else, and that even includes putting trans-sexuality and feminism above blackness. Unlawful white police killings of black suspects appears to be, not just of secondary, but of tertiary importance. It is certainly telling that only one unsourced number of “175” (and over an unspecified time period and unclarified circumstances) is referenced regarding such killings. In fact, there is no attempt at all to provide any evidence whatsoever for the plethora of assertions made by BLM, and not just for those quoted above.
A small sample of BLM words is provided next for each category, along with an appendix with BLM in more of their own words.
“Lives” refers to only black ones unlawfully ended at the hands of white police, accounting for about 13% of the BLM website text, and includes the following representative words:
- “Police continue to mistreat, terrorize, and even murder boys and girls of color, and then walk free.”
- “We are working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise.”
- “Activists used 175 caskets to represent these lives and to magnify the impact.”
“Black” refers to identity politics issues, accounting for about 13% of the BLM website text, and includes the following radical words:
- “End white supremacy”, “eradicate white supremacy” and “free from white supremacy”.
- “Anti-Blackness is pervasive and implicit, and…perpetuate[s]…deadly policing [and] racist legislation.”
- “Five years later…conditions…have been exacerbated under the Trump administration”.
“Matter” refers to culture war issues, accounting for about 49% of the BLM website text, and includes the following revolutionary words:
- “This is the revolution. Change is coming.”
- “[We are] galvanizing BLM supporters and allies to the polls in the…2020 U.S Presidential Election.”
- “We…fight against elected officials, be it Democrat or Republican, who don’t share a vision that is radical and intersectional.”
- “We must view [the police violence] epidemic through a lens of race, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”
- “Black trans women…continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.”
- “[Our] intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking.”
- “Black womxn are too often overlooked, erased, and devalued.”
- “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement.”
- “[We] continue to pressure ICE, and to draw attention to the need for immigration reform — the unfair targeting of Black immigrants and the 600,000 undocumented Black immigrants in the US.”
- “As the coronavirus spread across the globe, the United States had two months to prepare — and our federal government squandered it.”
- “[We are] commit[ted] to ending gun violence. … There are still no consequences when adults wave their guns around at Black and Brown kids.”
- “We will need to raise aloft a declared vision for Black freedom that is unprecedented in its scope.”
“Defund The Police” refers to BLM’s signature solution, accounting for about 4% of their website text, and includes surprisingly sparse words:
- “We know that police don’t keep us safe — and as long as we continue to pump money into our corrupt criminal justice system at the expense of housing, health, and education investments — we will never be truly safe.”
- “We deserve communities that are safer and better for everyone — and that starts when we #DefundPolice…to divest from our criminal justice system and reinvest in our communities.”
- “What does our collective Black future look like in…prison abolition…and more…?”
“BLM” refer to themselves, accounting for about 22% of their website text, and includes the following revealing words:
- “Black Lives Matter has become a cultural phenomenon since its inception in 2013.”
- “Herstory: In 2013, three radical Black organizers — Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi — created a Black-centered political will and movement.”
- “We need to see what you see. Report disinformation or suspicious activity.”
Before concluding with a pertinent quote each by two black American academics (one Left woman and one Right man), it is important to note that the writing style and substance of the BLM website is utterly sophomoric. That means: “conceited and overconfident of knowledge but poorly informed and immature.” This is crucial to know because of the huge financial and slavish public backing offered by so many in business, education, entertainment, news, politics, sports and even churches. I highly doubt whether many, if any, of them have ever bothered to do their due diligence on Black Lives Matter in their own words.
Appendix BLM: More of Their Own Words
“Lives” refers to only black ones unlawfully ended at the hands of white police, accounting for about 13% of BLM website text, and includes the following representative words:
- “Trayvon Martin’s death sparked a movement.”
- “The list of lives violently taken is too long to paint” but includes “Breonna Taylor”, “George Floyd”, “Kenney Watkins”, “Mike Brown”, “Nina Pop” and “Stephon Clark”.
“Black” refers to identity politics issues, accounting for about 13% of BLM website text, and includes the following radical words:
- “We are unapologetically Black in our positioning… part of the global Black family.”
- “In the fight for Black Liberation…each of our own liberation is tied to one another.”
- “For more than 500 years Black people have been fighting for our freedom.”
- “Juneteenth became the date we celebrate emancipation, despite government agents having to travel from plantation to plantation for years after to free our ancestors.”
- “NASCAR banning the Confederate flag has [positively] impacted the Black community.”
“Matter” refers to culture war issues, accounting for about 49% of BLM website text, and includes the following revolutionary words:
- “We are in this together! Keep changing the conversation. Keep changing the world.”
- “We must move beyond the narrow nationalism that is all too prevalent in Black communities.”
- “We have fought back against…some of the highest unemployment rates, consistent homelessness, dying while giving birth, being murdered for being trans or non-binary.”
- “[We] challenge the misconception that only cisgender Black men encounter police and state violence.”
- “We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege.”
- “Our network centers those who have been marginalized within Black liberation movements.”
- “Our Black LGBTQ siblings need us to raise our voices in a resounding affirmation that their lives matter.”
- “We build a space that affirms Black womxn and is free from sexism, misogyny, and environments in which men are centered.”
- “We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work double shifts.”
- “BLM…art culture…is reflective of the 1960s and 1970s when the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Women’s Rights Movement…dominated the discourse.”
- “We disrupt the status quo of the art world… within a politically radical framework.”
- “[One of BLM’s co-founders led] the first ever Black-led rally for immigrant justice.”
- “Then, as the [coronavirus] situation worsened, Trump and his administration kept peddling conspiracy theories instead of taking action.”
- “[We are] commit[ted] to ending gun violence. … There are still no consequences when adults wave their guns around at Black and Brown kids.”
- “The political period we are now entering promises to require a redoubling of our efforts.”
“BLM” refer to themselves, accounting for about 22% of their website text, and includes the following revealing words:
- “Alicia Garza is an Oakland-based organizer, writer, public speaker, and freedom dreamer.”
- “Patrisse Khan-Cullors is an artist, organizer, and freedom fighter from [LA].”
- “Opal Tometi is a…Nigerian-American writer, strategist, and community organizer [plus] student of liberation theology. She currently resides in the Republic of Brooklyn.”
- “Our intention from the very beginning was to connect Black people from all over the world… now a member-led global network of more than 40 chapters.”
- The North American chapters are “Boston”, “Chicago”, “Denver”, “Detroit”, “District of Columbia”, “Lansing”, “Long Beach”, “Los Angeles”, “Memphis”, “Michigan”, “Nashville”, “New York”, “Philadelphia”, “South Bend”, “Toronto”, “Vancouver” and “Waterloo”.
Darren Brady Nelson is the Chief Economist at, and on the Advisory Board of, LibertyWorks. He is also a Heartland Institute expert who has previously worked for an Australian Senator and on a Presidential Campaign.
