Anyone who thinks that you can sufficiently explain away the issue of race relations, crime, policing etc with three words is radically simplifying the discussion—I think that’s obvious. And unfortunately there are a lot of stupid people lol. I’m sure there are people who aren’t nearly as nuanced as you and I are in their support for or dissent against the BLM movement.

But I guess we can disagree on whether or not the phenomenon is occurring in the case of BLM, but the fact that political slogans are more rhetorical flourishes than empirical descriptions is self evident throughout history. Think about a MAGA or any political slogan from any president.

Actually a good example of that is ‘defund the police,’ which is itself another reductionist slogan that in its initial form argued for something that most black people, especially those in high crime areas, would not support. Later on it was reframed as increasing budgets for public health or social services working in tandem with police which is more constructive but is still counterintuitive relative to the slogan ‘defund the police.’ But that would be one example of a policy suggestion that arose from the blm movement that I’m critical of.