Taleeb Starkes is brave to have written Black Lies Matter: Why Lies Matter to the Race Grievance Industry. Starkes is a conservative African-American who, as the title of his book suggests, has little patience for much of the activism of his fellow blacks. He takes issue with what he calls the "Race Grievance Industry" whose "sole purpose is to profit from racial strife under the guise of pursuing racial peace." The RGI promotes "a lie that refuses to die: blacks are permanent victims of racism, and no amount of effort will overcome it."
Starkes writes about the "hypocritical, not Hippocratic oath." The RGI perpetuates misleading narratives about race while ignoring more crucial problems. Starkes examines some of the most violent cities in the United States, providing crime statistics for some of the black neighborhoods. Contrasting stories of innocent blacks killed by "urban terrorists" with the causes that black activists get behind. If black lives really matter, he argues, Black Lives Matter would focus on who is really killing black people in urban America.
If Black Lies Matter were written by a white writer, it would probably be dismissed as racist garbage. Many will still dismiss it as racist garbage, but the author is a black man who grew up in poor conditions. Maybe some of the RGI should give him a listen. . . .
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