Black Lives Matter Lauded Fidel Castro
Upon hearing of the passing of Fidel Castro, Cuba’s dictator-emeritus, leftist politicians and celebrities wasted no time taking to social media to sing their sweet elegies for the Western Hemisphere’s most notorious tyrant.
Yet these tribute tweets, brimming with unwarranted admiration, soon encountered fierce resistance. There were those who quite sensibly pointed out Castro’s litany of human rights abuses. To speak approvingly of Castro, to eulogize him through euphemism, is to sanitize the legacy of a man who, in addition to committing egregious human rights violations, also tanked one of Latin America’s most historically prosperous economies.
But the Castro enthusiasts were also rebuked by a different sort of argument: the eruption of pure, unbridled celebration on the streets of Miami, the place where many exiled Cubans now call home.
While headlines and hashtags seemed to center mostly on the remarks of Barack Obama, Enrique Peña Nieto, Narendra Modi, and Justin Trudeau, one of the most benighted responses came from the feed of Black Lives Matter.
On Sunday, the organization published an essay, “Lessons from Fidel: Black Lives Matter and the Transition of El Comandante,” in which the leaders of the movement encourage their own to “push back against the rhetoric of the right and come to the defense of El Comandante” as they “aspire to build a world rooted in a vision of freedom and the peace that only comes with justice.”
Lessons from Fidel: Black Lives Matter and the Transition of El Comandante https://t.co/CYTcy6ReIa— Black Lives Matter (@Blklivesmatter) November 27, 2016
Of course, there is much else wrong with Black Lives Matter.
But this whole business raises a question: while conservative politicians are required to renounce white supremacist organizations, and when they do (as Donald Trump did) are hectored for not denouncing them in sufficient feverish language, it’s just fine for liberal politicians to cozy up to Black Lives Matter.
As Barack Obama did.
And of course, the same corporations that engaged in smarmy virtue signalling about the Charlottesville riots (placing all the blame on the white nationalists, and none on Antifa) have pandered to and funded Black Lives Matter.
Of course, the hatred of police that Black Lives Matter engenders among blacks is ultimately harmful to the black community. But the liberal politicians and the corporate panderers don’t care. They have gotten the protection they wanted.
Labels: Barack Obama, Black lives matter, Charlottesville, Fidel Castro, Huffington Post
6 Comments:
I don't mean to sound cynical, but Americans are just going to have to learn the hard way. They have internalized the commands of their oppressors. It will take them losing their jobs, their freedom (imprisonment ) and yes perhaps their lives to awaken them to the fact that their oppressors aren't the pitiful victims they've portrayed themselves to be.
Trump praises Erdogan, Duterte, Putin, Jingping.
@KeynesianPacker: And you think that is bad, right? Then you ought to feel about Black Lives Matter the way you feel about Trump.
Yes, I think it's wrong for BLM to praise Castro. The rest of your comment doesn't logically follow. I can generally support a civil rights movement while objecting to a few specific tweets. I also hold the President to a higher standard than an activist group.
@KeynesianPacker: You can "support a civil rights movement," but that begs the question of whether BLM is a "civil rights movement" or a hate group. Encouraging hatred of cops is not a good strategy for helping black America. Remember, while black commit proportionately much more crime than whites, they are also (by virtually the same proportion) disproportionately the victims.
@KeynesianPacker: as for "holding the President to a higher standard:" Why? Aren't there activists groups that can be held to a high standard? And saying that Trump did something bad is not a good excuse for BLM to do something bad.
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