Hello,

These are my final thoughts.

About the Black Lives Matter movement, (and honestly other movements in general) yes people should research the policies of the movement before donating or supporting said movement(s). Frankly that’s step one. But as one who went to protests myself, I wasn’t there for the BLM movement, I was there to support a whole race who have had a very painful history in this country, and continue to struggle today. This was the case for I’m sure the majority of protestors from last summer. When people chanted “Black Lives Matter”, it was speaking to the literal meaning of those three words. Black Lives Matter. When people chanted “Black Lives Matter”, they weren’t talking about the BLM movement. They weren’t talking about “self-avowed marxists” nor stating their support to policies that “run counter to everything American”. When people chanted “Black Lives Matter”, it was to say that black lives matter. Simple, yet with simple things it’s easy to get caught in the particulars.

I find it ironic that you preach about one-sidedness, since when it comes to the condemnation of violence, you seem to paint a very one-sided picture. Stating only what Trump has done while juxtaposing that with what figures on the left haven’t done. When in reality, there’s two sides to that coin. Many on both sides have condemned violence in both situations. Yet, and I think we can both agree, there are outliers on both sides, hypocrites you might call them, that refuse to condemn violence in either the BLM riots or the Capitol Hill riots.

But anyways, I feel like this continuing this conversation is futile. We’re not going to change each other’s views on anything so here’s a proposal: let’s start the healing between the bipartisan divide. You’re a thoughtful guy, I’m a thoughtful guy, at the end of the day we both believe in equal rights and both condemn the violence that has happened in the past. Instead of arguing about our differences let’s put our focus instead, on our similarities. This would seem to be the first step to healing would it not? After all when there’s already wounds, a continuation of clashing does no ultimate good.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

-Leo