How the Black Lives Matter movement can change the game in Iowa

“Similia similibus curantur“ is a Latin expression which means “like cures like.” This rule can be very useful for the Black Lives Matter movement to achieve its goals through a four-pronged approach. namely: family education, school education, education in respect of laws, and to borrow the concept of the late John Lewis, education of the “righteous resistance.“ Let’s begin with the context of the movement.

Indeed, the Black Lives Matter movement is one of the most powerful civil rights movements since the “big six.” It expresses the failure of the public authority to enforce the equality of rights for African Americans in particular. The blatant, unnecessary police brutality leading to the systematic murder of African Americans like Eric Garner, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and Daunte Wright, to name a few, is a sad illustration of it. Although important, street protest solves nothing, the damage is done. Education prevents damage and it is the best way to protest.

First, family education is the tool for the development of all human beings because the family is the basic unit of society. The Black Lives Matter movement should be sufficiently organized to encourage and influence African American parents to teach their children the history of the environment in which they live and the responsibilities that will be theirs to change things for the future generations. For that, families must be on solid foundations, which is not always the case. Some African American families are very weak and separations from parents break them even more. Many families are single parents whose mother raises the children alone.

Second, school education is one of the best social answers to those who use religion, law, words and ideas as tools of oppression. During slavery in Africa or the United States, or even during the extermination of Jews in Germany, the first action that western executioners undertook was to eliminate intellectuals so as not to have any more equal interlocutors in knowledge. This is because they knew these elements are factors that raise human beings and where we learn values of equality to be able to confront properly everything similar. That's why the above expression, “Similia similibus curantur.” If the Black Lives Matter movement deploys the same energy to promote and to fight for education and instruction in the Black community that is deployed to protest against police brutality, I think there will be effective, palpable change. Many envy celebrities because they look powerful and live splendid life. But those who have the power are judges, deputies, senators.

Third, the Black Lives Matter movement should actively work on promoting the respect of law in the African American community. It is unproductive to use violence or have an inappropriate attitude toward police forces as a reaction against their abuse of power without reasoning. It is always better to obey the law as best as you can and be prepared to display the wisest reaction in the case of abuse. The truth fight should be in front of the judge, in the legislature, inside the government, etc. That is where the Black Lives matter movement should deeply reconsider this fight with the same energy for substantive results. All fights are not necessarily to be responded to. Some should simply be avoided as there is no interest in raising it as said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But, a wise sense of “the righteous resistance” is necessary.

Fourth, “the righteous resistance” or “good trouble, necessary trouble.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis worked together but had a significant difference. The first was an unwavering pacifist and the second considered necessary “the righteous resistance.” Lewis said, “When you see something that’s not right, not fair, not just, stand up, say something, and speak out.” Avoiding violence and obeying the law does not mean accepting oppression nor letting yourself be victimized. The law is the law when it is just for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. Following that, “one has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey the laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws,” which means resisting injustice is not being violent, but being moral. The Black Lives Matter movement should combine these two ideologies to be both effective in the streets, if necessary, but especially in everyday life where inequalities are silent. It is fundamental work, very complex, but the best answer can be reached only through education.

It is a natural right to react to any kind of injustice that happens to you or of whom you are a witness. But when injustice stems from a system fortified for centuries against different races, far-reaching actions must be thought through with finesse for long-term results through education.

Tshimbombu Eric Wa Tshimbombu, aka Eriq Tshhims, lives in Cedar Rapids.