Malcolm Gladwell: Black Lives Matter is about the ‘restoration of the American ideal’

The Mothers of the Movement, a group of black mothers who lost their children to gun violence, endorsed Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.

As seven mothers walked across the stage to discuss their children’s deaths, several at the hands of police, chants of “black lives matter!” erupted in south Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center.

Earlier that day, demonstrators took to the streets of Philadelphia to protest police brutality.

Well-known companies like Google and Facebook, as well as individuals like President Barack Obama, Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Lin-Manuel Miranda, have spoken out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Meanwhile, others decry the movement with their own “all lives matter” mantra.

Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell, who’s biracial, says he is rallying behind Black Lives Matter, which was created in 2012 after George Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder for shooting and killing an unarmed 17-year-old named Trayvon Martin.

“Black Lives Matter is not a symptom of what’s wrong with this country,” Gladwell told Yahoo Finance at the Ozy Fusion Fest in New York City. “That’s a symptom of what’s right with this country. That’s not things falling apart, that’s things coming together.”

He says the movement, which describes itself as a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-black racism that permeates our society, is “the most positive thing that’s come along in a very, very long time.” Gladwell believes that this indignation, often manifested in marches and protests, has been brewing within the American populace for 200 years.

“We are finally saying, ‘Wait a minute, that shouldn’t happen.’ We have finally evolved to the point where we think it’s an outrage and want to talk about it. People who think this is part of some conflicted, disintegrated fabric of American society, have it totally backwards. This is about the restoration of the American ideal — that we are all created equal.”

It’s imperative to differentiate the Black Lives Matter movement from the general sentiment of unrest and discontentment in the US, says Gladwell. Earlier this month, five police officers were killed by a lone attacker at a Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas.

“There are other angry, unhappy people doing all kinds of things. I don’t lump the BLM stuff with any of that,” Gladwell says. “To me, that is something beautiful and pure, and anger directed in the appropriate direction which is in restoring fundamental American ideals of justice.”

Despite his rhetoric supporting Black Lives Matter, Gladwell is often criticized for being an armchair analyst, pontificating on issues like capitalization (the measure of how well America is making use of its human potential), the exorbitant cost of higher education, and misguided philanthropy. He often makes compelling arguments through his writing and podcast, “Revisionist History,” but readers may wonder how exactly he is affecting change.

He told Yahoo Finance that though he may not be hitting the streets (“I’m too old,” he says in jest), he still considers himself an activist. “I think everybody has a different role to play. I have a platform through my writing and my podcast that I have built over the past 20 years. I think that I am most useful to the world if I speak out through those kinds of platforms.”

In fact, he says he views his primary role as illuminating issues like police brutality in an intellectual manner. “My role is to be the one providing people with arguments, with data, with exhorting them to various forms of action. I absolutely think of myself as being part of these social movements but there are many ways to participate in social movements beyond marching in the streets.”

When asked whether he plans to vote for Clinton, Gladwell said, “Well, I’m a Canadian. I can’t vote. Hypothetically, I suppose I would vote for her.”

Melody Hahm is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Read more from her:

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