Black Lives Matter

I was recently wearing a bright yellow Black Lives Matter t-shirt at a local Homegoods store when a white male approached me fairly aggressively and said something along the lines of ‘that is terrible organization‘. My ‘crazy’ radar went off and I immediately walked in the other direction. He went on to rattle off some additional information while I was turning around and walking away. From what I caught, he said something about mishandling of money.

I did not know what the heck he was talking about. I felt very uncomfortable and wanted to get out of the store ASAP. I felt attacked in a way and threatened even. Was he going to find me in the parking lot after I left and attack me? Was he going to follow me home? I felt rattled for the rest of the night. I’ve owned the shirt for a few years and wore it out in public a number of times, but that’s the first time someone approached me and talked negatively about it. Normally, I’d randomly get comments such as ‘nice shirt!’ from both black and white folks.

What the guy said bothered me, so I did some research later that night….

Black lives matter. First and foremost, it’s a sentence and a belief. It’s something I believe. It’s also a movement. The movement itself is not tied to any organization or company. It is a grassroots, decentralized, movement. However, there is an organization called, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF).

It turns out the BLMGNF did buy a $6M home using donations they received for the BLM movement. Was this an appropriate purchase? I’m not one to say, but I suppose if I donated to the BLM movement via BLMGNF, I might be a little confused about the purchase. There has been a ton of controversy over it. It does seem that the leaders of the BLMGNF did capitalize on the general BLM movement. Since the general movement is decentralized, if someone wants to donate to the cause, having an organization to accept the donation seems almost necessary.

I did in fact buy my shirt from the BLMGNF website, however nowhere on the shirt does it have their logo or name. BLMGNF does not own #blacklivesmatter or the BLM acronym. Unfortunately, in the news and media, whenever BLM is discussed, it always seems to be tied to the global network foundation. Even on the BLMGNF website, ‘BLM’ is plastered everywhere with no mention of the ‘GNF’ except on their about page.

I’m sure that if I was wearing a home-made screen-printed t-shirt with #BLM, the guy would have still approached me and said the same thing. But now that I know the background, I have the appropriate information to offer a rebuttable and perhaps put him in his place.

I do wonder however, if he only had an issue with the BLMGNF or the BLM movement in general. Unfortunately, I think it may be the latter – given his aggressive nature. If he actually did believe that black lives matter, then perhaps he could have lead off with that statement. Here’s how he could have better approached me: “Hi, my name is so-and-so. I also believe black lives matter. However, you should know that organization has mishandled donation money.” With this, I think I would have been more willing to engage him in conversation.

Ever since purchasing the shirt and wearing it out in public, I admit feeling extra alert to my surroundings. I am little careful where I go. I typically do not wear it out while I am alone. I think any time you publicly put your opinion out there, especially on a heated topic, you put yourself at risk for attack. I wanted to support the movement, so I figured my purchase along with wearing it out in public would do that. I’m hoping both are true.

I want people of color to see that I am an ally. I think this is more than worth the risk of any attacks on me. If I try to put myself into the shoes of a POC, with all the violence against POC, I think I would naturally have a feeling of animosity toward any white person if I did not personally know them. Perhaps seeing a white person, like myself, wearing this BLM t-shirt offers some comfort. Despite what happened, I plan to continue wearing the shirt.

Resources:

• BLM movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter
• NPR article on the BLMGNF: https://www.npr.org/2022/04/07/1091487910/blm-leaders-face-questions-after-allegedly-buying-a-mansion-with-donation-money
• BLMGNF $6M Creator’s House in California: https://blacklivesmatter.com/we-want-to-talk-to-you-about-the-creators-house-in-california/