Black. Baby. Blog.
Until recently, I must confess that I was completely unaware that I knew so many religious laypeople with advanced degrees in sociology, statistics, anthropology, medicine and public health.
By my estimation, most of these “friends” must have undertaken an accelerated course of study — with programs ranging anywhere in length from one day to two weeks. During these crash courses, many of them learned to quickly misinterpret data, offer easily debunked conclusions, utilize anecdotal evidence and lob red herring arguments in an effort to a) ignore pressing human rights atrocities and b) support one conclusion:
“Black people don’t care about their own lives. After all, they abort 52 million black babies each year!”
There are a few versions of this statement floating around on social media, but most are founded upon two weak and unrelated assertions:
Black Lives Matter must be a racist, far-left organization founded to undermine the pillars of democracy. We must destroy the movement before our slaves are free, ahem…before black people are viewed as our equals.
We will accomplish this by refusing to talk about the issue at hand. Instead, we must always point to abortion rates. This is a far greater evil than unjust policing, based on the age of the innocent victim.
Of all of the asinine arguments that can be used to justify senseless murder and systemic racism, this is among the most prolific and revolting.
Before you crack your knuckles and start typing, just stop.
Take a cleansing breath, go sit down in the back of the class, and utilize duct tape to render your fingers useless. Meditate. Do yoga. Compile a slide show of your fur babies. Any other activity would be more constructive.
Why?
You don’t actually care about black (or brown) babies.
Or, you don’t care unless they grow up to become Candace Owens or Ben Carson, in which case these overgrown African-American infants have demonstrated continued utility to the Conservative Cause as ‘token negroes’ that you can point to — in the vain endeavor to validate your biases.
How do I know that your righteous indignation over abortion is merely virtue signaling?
Because Newborn Black babies grow up to be black men and women.
And Newborn Brown babies grow up to become brown men and women.
Men and women who will then be treated as second-class citizens.
Far too many less-melanated humans implicitly and explicitly engage in oppressing us early in the game…from the time we begin to we walk and talk.
This oppression persists due to the fact that Black, Indigenous and Other People of Color (BIPOC) are verifiably the backbone of this country. Since the inception of chattel slavery, we have served as the workforce white males depend upon to prop up capitalism. By using our bodies, minds and money, the energies of the black and brown population are exploited to support the patriarchal institutions you know and love,
So, in some small and perverse way, black and brown babies do matter.
Until that baby refuses to “stay in his/her/their place.”
And then you kill us.
Demean us.
Unjustly police us.
Unfairly sentence us.
Deny us job opportunities.
Pass us over for promotions.
Stereotype us.
Remove seats at the table.
And refuse to believe our words when we speak truth to your power.
That being said, what is the true root of your fetish with black babies?
Does the justification of institutional racism with “black-on-black” counter-arguments make your platform feel more solid?
Why does “protecting innocent life” stop when we are old enough to think on our own?
Against my better judgment, I am going to assume that you have answered these questions honestly, and are now seriously pondering these questions in your heart. To take it a step further, I will operate off the assumption that you are now deeply penitent over using black abortion rates to deflect from inexcusable police brutality.
If this crusade to save babies is truly just and equitable, you can start here:
Release the thousands of children held in cages at U.S. detention facilities. And by save, I mean send them home to their parents.
Actively seek to adopt the black or brown babies in the foster care system .
Spend time volunteering in the AIDS Hospice with a big, black man who was once a tiny, black baby.
Campaign for wage equality for the brown baby who grew up to be a field laborer. Unless they only exist (in your thinking) to harvest your avocados.
Encourage and affirm LGBTQIA+ youth by ending conversion therapy efforts and shaming practices. After all, “babies lives matter!”
It is indefensible to protect the unborn so that you can preserve the privilege of killing our hopes, dreams and life once we are here.
Compassion hears the cries of the world.
When did you plug your ears?
