By Andre Perry
In 2020, people around the globe rallied behind the slogan Black Lives Matter, making it the largest and possibly most diverse set of protests in history. While the goals varied, the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis energized demands for everything from police accountability to support for Black-owned businesses to addressing the black-white wage gap. Each activation was worthy on its own merits.
By design, the demonstrations did not put any single group or leader at the forefront, in part to avoid creating an individual target for the opposition. The tradeoff, however, is that the energy after each respective rally became less sustainable, particularly after the protests ended and news cameras departed than if it had been held together by a durable set of policies. Eventually, people went back to work, parents sent their children to school and life returned to normal.
We as Black people need a long-term movement that is part of people’s daily lives.
Acts of civil disobedience, when targeted, are effective, but they eventually dissipate, and interest in that cause always wanes particularly if it is not held together by a durable set of policies. Protests must be connected with demands for substantive, measurable, sustainable, long-term change.
While the summer of 2020 held the promise of such a change, yielding more than an estimated $340 billion in investments in racial equity, it lasted just a few years. By 2025, corporate leaders and college presidents, under pressure from the Trump administration’s anti-DEI crusade, clawed back much of those commitments. Now, the silence of today is louder than the protest chants of 2020. Five years after Floyd died beneath a white officer’s knee, begging for his mother and igniting worldwide protests, police still kill Black people today as often as they did in 2020.
As we acknowledge the fifth anniversary of Floyd’s killing, we must mobilize in a systematic, organized manner. Back then, we witnessed the power of taking to the streets. Now we are witnessing its limitations. As we acknowledge the fifth anniversary of Floyd’s killing, we must mobilize in a systematic, organized manner.
To make real, lasting change, Black people need a movement that is resilient, comprehensive, and welcoming to all who wish to join. More importantly, the movement must carry legislation and substantial policy change from the present into the future. To achieve this, the focus of our demands must become something different.
When we unite around issues that foster thriving rather than emphasize suffering, we empower more individuals to engage. Civil unrest must be transformed into civic action, driving meaningful change, demanding justice, and promoting substantial legislation that emphasizes thriving, not merely survival.
Putting the slogan Black Lives Matter in research terms, we must ask what the most important factors are that influence Black life expectancy. The answers are the foundation of an agenda that people can rally behind.
My colleague, Jonathan Rothwell, and I processed hundreds of variables from a wide variety of data sources, such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Reserve, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Facebook, and the real estate agency Redfin. We ran these variables through Lasso, a machine-learning algorithm, to select variables and rank their importance.
The result is the 13 most influential factors affecting life expectancy and pinpointed the locations where people are living the longest. My book, “Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It,” identifies areas where Black people have longevity and examines the socioeconomic conditions that enhance it.. The analysis spotlights the necessary systemic changes Black communities need for similar outcomes.
Consider: in Manassas Park, Virginia, and Weld County, Colorado, the mean life expectancy for Black residents is 96 years — a national high. In Jefferson County, Ohio, however, the average Black person lives 33 fewer years. In academic terms, that lifespan gap translates to roughly 100 years of progress in living standards, medical science, and public health.
The economic, educational, social, and political conditions that help Manassa Park residents thrive should be the scaffolding of our movement. The most influential factors include home and business ownership, income, education, gun violence, family structure, and healthy and clean environments. Most, if not all, of these factors are kitchen-table issues that usually aren’t among the acronyms and obtuse academic jargon that academic elites and social media influencers like to use when discussing the “Black agenda.” Yet they must be part of any conversation or political protest aimed at protecting or improving Black people’s lives.
We need to rally for more than our suffering.
Civic action must be driven not only by the injustices of the past and present but also by our aspirations, hopes, and visions for a brighter future. We can draw invaluable lessons from the civic actions that have successfully fostered better outcomes at the local level. Although less dramatic, cooperative real estate practices in Baltimore, STEM programs in New Orleans, unionization efforts in Michigan, and other mundane actions positively affect people’s lives. The life-affirming initiatives that address quality of life issues relatable to all must become the cornerstone of a robust Black agenda. Together, we can harness this momentum to create lasting change and uplift our communities.
The daily news, as well as our reactions to it, both contribute to a dominant narrative of racial disparity, suffering, and pain. Black people know what we are fighting against. It’s past time that we know what we are fighting for.
Source: Seattle Medium
