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Christians Take On Black Lives Matter with New Anti-Marxist Organization: 'Every Black Life Matters'

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It all began with the 2014 police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Despite the fact that a 2015 Department of Justice report debunked the popular “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative and showed that Officer Darren Wilson was justified in his actions, left-wing political activists declared it to be yet another example of systemic bias against African-Americans.

From the outcry that followed, the Black Lives Matter organization was born.

Led by a group of Marxist activists, BLM grew steadily for years, until the organization was propelled into the mainstream following the death of George Floyd in 2020.

According to The Economist, following Floyd’s death in May, BLM and BLM-related causes amassed as much as $10.6 billion in donations, as of Dec. 13.

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BLM’s increased prominence was met with alarm from many on the right. Conservatives argue that the organization’s Marxist, anti-family, anti-police aims will inevitably contribute greater additional impediments to black economic and social improvement.

Two prominent Christian leaders, Neil Mammen and Kevin McGary, responded by taking a course of action no conservative had seriously pursued before.

They created their own competitor to BLM — Every Black Life Matters.

Posted by Every Black Life Matters on Friday, October 9, 2020

Listed on the Every Black Life Matters website are the organization’s pillars and talking points, which all stand in stark contrast to the values of BLM.

According to said pillars, EBLM supports the lives of the unborn, free-markets, school choice, non-violence, fatherhood initiatives, “real justice,” law and order and colorblind equality.

In addition to forwarding those values, EBLM pushes back against many of the philosophies driving the BLM movement, such as critical race theory, black liberation theology and Marxism.

In order to achieve these goals, EBLM offers various resources and services — including workshops and trainings for churches and companies, informational resources in the form of videos and newsletters, research on the importance of fatherhood as well as news stories addressing relevant issues.

According to Mammen, the EBLM organization — and more specifically the phrase “Every Black Life Matters” — was created as a way to specifically counter “Black Lives Matter.”

“Well, I think what’s really exciting about the whole concept of what we’re doing is that you don’t need to attack people, you just bring them along. And it’s the beauty of the idea is that we decided that we want to use something called aikido. And you need to understand that the Japanese martial art aikido is where you take the energy, the energy of your opponent, and you deflect it and you direct it to your purposes,” Mammen told The Western Journal.

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“So, the idea here is, for instance, what do you say to somebody who’s yelling Black Lives Matter at you? You’re at a rally or something, there’s a bunch of BLM people and they’re yelling at you or maybe you’re in a restaurant and they’re yelling at you and they’re asking you to say black lives matter. And, you know you can’t because BLM is fundamentally a Marxist, anti-God organization.”

“So, the way that we say that you can answer that is you use this aikido technique. And what we say is you go to them and you say, ‘Look, I agree black lives matter, but my question to you is, do you think that every black life matters?’ Now, what are they going to say? They can’t say no, they have to say yes, every black life matters.”

From there, Mammen explained, proponents of EBLM can argue that, if BLM protesters truly value every single black life, they would support fatherhood initiatives, school choice and the right to life of unborn black children.

Is Every Black Life Matters a good alternative to BLM?

“And then you ask the final thing, you say, ‘Well, let me ask you this. Did you know that 36 percent of all African-Americans have been killed before they were born? They were killed in the womb. It would be actually 36 percent more African-Americans. If you want to do a genocide and kill all African-Americans, that’s where you start. So those young, unborn African-Americans, do those lives matter?'” Mammen told The Western Journal.

When asked what message he hopes to share with those interested in his organization, McGary called on Christians and conservatives to “come alongside us.”

“We are doing the work. We are here to combat culture. We’re here to, as much as God will allow us, to combat reprobate theologies as being preached in our churches,” McGary told The Western Journal.

“We’re the only African-American-led organization that I’m aware of that’s literally going out and pushing back with these very controversial subjects within our church communities and doing the hard work.”

In McGary’s view, there are plenty of competent “black-led and conservative” organizations out there. Those organizations, however, “don’t necessarily have the capacity to go out and do the workshops and trainings that we do.”

“That’s why we’re here. We’ll gladly do it. And we’re going, we’re confronting all of these areas on your behalf as a partner of ours. So, please come alongside us and help us in that,” McGary said.

The Every Black Life Matters organization and the resources it offers can be found at everyblm.com.

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Michael wrote for a number of entertainment news outlets before joining The Western Journal in 2020 as a staff reporter. He now manages the writing and reporting teams, overseeing the production of commentary, news and original reporting content.
Michael Austin graduated from Iowa State University in 2019. During his time in college, Michael volunteered as a social media influencer for both PragerU and Live Action. After graduation, he went on to work as a freelance journalist for various entertainment news sites before joining The Western Journal in 2020 as a staff reporter.

Since then, Michael has been promoted to the role of Manager of Writing and Reporting. His responsibilities now include managing and directing the production of commentary, news and original reporting content.
Birthplace
Ames, Iowa
Nationality
American
Education
Iowa State University
Topics of Expertise
Culture, Faith, Politics, Education, Entertainment




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