Behind the Masks: Marxism and Black Lives Matter

By Jeff Minick

“Black Lives Matter.”

It sounds good, yes? Even noble.

As Tucker Carlson reported, a recent poll found Black Lives Matter (BLM) is popular with many Americans and is viewed more favorably than Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Congress, or either major political party. Carlson goes on to point out that BLM is deceptive, concealing its real agenda and using intimidation, rioting, and force to achieve its goals. Disagree with BLM, or even innocently remark that “All lives matter,” and you can be accused of racism, fired from your job, and even have your family threatened.

On Saturday June 20, Black Lives Matter marched in Front Royal, Virginia, where I live, ending at the town’s landmark gazebo in the center of town. I’d estimate about 10 percent of the crowd, which numbered a few hundred people, was black. The majority of the participants appeared under 30. In what was more a street party than a protest, some people wore masks, some didn’t, and no one practiced social distancing.

As I watched them, I wondered: Do these people really understand the group they are supporting? Have they or the tens of thousands of others who have marched in similar protests across the country ever read the mission statement of BLM? It’s readily available at their website.

Let’s take a look.

BLM’s “What We Believe” begins with declarations most of us would agree with. The writers claim that they want to create “alongside comrades, allies, and family a culture where each person feels seen, heard, and supported.” They go on to say “We acknowledge, respect, and celebrate differences and commonalities.”

Like their name, those aspirations sound worthy, but in reality BLM takes down anyone who disagrees with them. It’s easy to do: they simply smear that person as a racist, and everyone then understands everything.

BLM claims to want to “build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting.”

That sounds sweet as maple syrup, but this is the same group, as Carlson points out, that called for the death of police officers and is now leading the charge to defund police departments. Some of our city officials, again frightened of being labeled racists, are doing just that.

BLM claims to make their organization family friendly, but in the very next paragraph states, “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another….”

How many supporters of BLM realize that this organization wants to “disrupt” the nuclear family? Does that young newlywed I saw at the protest know that BLM disdains her marriage?

BLM spends a fair amount of words in this manifesto touting its support for transgendered men and women. Near the end, the writers also declare: “We foster a queer-affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).”

This point, especially the part in brackets, is confusing, but we can gather that, like their attack on the nuclear family, the BLM writers are no fans of heterosexuals, especially men.

Former Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division Terry Turchie explained the Marxist background of BLM in a recent interview. He begins by looking at groups from the 1970s – the Black Panthers, the Weather Underground – that were Marxist to their cores, and then goes on to tell viewers why BLM is so much more dangerous than these predecessors. The last fifty years, Turchie tells us, have brought into the mainstream ideas that once seemed radical or foreign to the American people. As Turchie points out, the Democratic Party in particular embraces concepts such as ending capitalism, putting limits on speech and religious practices, and fundamentally transforming American laws, government, and society.

One of the founders of BLM reinforced Turchie’s interpretation of the group’s motives by proudly proclaiming, “We are trained Marxists.”

Our young people who march under the banner of BLM do so in the misguided belief that they are striking a blow for justice, that they have enlisted in a righteous cause intended to bring light to a troubled world. Some might describe them as “useful idiots,” but I prefer “useful innocents,” a term referenced by Ludwig Von Mises in his book Planned Chaos, where he describes such people as “confused and misguided sympathizers.” Their lack of education, their inability to reason critically, and their idealism make them as dangerous as a frat boy with a case of beer and a car.

BLM’s declaration ends with this statement: “We embody and practice justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another.”

Again, there’s confusion here. How do we interpret “with one another?” It sounds as if they embody and practice those values only with one another. Disagree with them – and those values – and you get kicked out the door.

Like the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea, Black Lives Matter is a fine name. And like the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, that name is a mask hiding reality. The reality is that BLM is after power rather than justice, suppression rather than liberation, and class and racial warfare rather than peace. If you doubt this contention, all you have to do is tune into the news and watch them.

Actions speak louder than words.

[Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons-Andy Witchger, CC BY 2.0]