With headlines and social media constantly buzzing with something new, here is a quick cheatsheet for all the answers.
1. What is Black Lives Matter?
Black Lives Matter is a movement created after the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin. It is a movement to get others to notice that black people are not just "black people." They're people. It is a movement to acknowledge that black stereotypes are incorrectly labeled as "less than." It doesn't mean only black lives matter. The movement is for people notice them as people, without the negative stereotypes that have been created around the color of their skin.
For example, a poor white man comes up to someone asking for directions. They give directions and do not think much about it.
But, if it's a poor black man, 9 times out of 10, the pedestrian is suspicious and thinks the black man has malicious intentions. The color of his skin makes him come off as threatening.
Black Lives Matter is to get others to see them as people.
2. What is transgender?
Transgender is a term used for people going through a change in gender. Just because someone is transgender doesn't mean they are gay or lesbian either. It is a term for someone changing genders. It isn't crossdressing. It's a physical change.
It usually goes with someone that doesn't feel like they fit their normal gender stereotypes. The behaviors, roles and activities of their birth gender do not match them (usually paired with bullying and harassment), so they want to change genders: Transgender.
How does this go with the bathroom controversy?
"Transgender-friendly" bathrooms are bathrooms that are labeled as "welcoming" for transgender people to use. If a bathroom wasn't "transgender-friendly," you would see women in men's bathrooms.
Let me explain, if a man transitions to a woman and then had to use the birth gender bathroom, it would be a woman (with woman parts) using the men's bathroom. "Transgender-friendly" bathrooms would prevent that from happening.
A crossdressing man going into a woman's bathroom for perverted reasons is not a "transgender-friendly" bathroom.
Also note: This has been happening for years; we just haven't been talking about it. Transgender people have been using bathrooms of their new gender without anyone noticing.
3. What is a Muslim?
A Muslim is someone who follows the religion of Islam.
What do they believe in?
Similar to Christianity, they believe in the Gospels and the Torah from the Bible. In addition, they believe in Muhammad, a self-proclaimed prophet for God.
Allah is the Arabic word for God.
They do not believe that God has given himself into three forms as Christianity does: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They believe in Jesus and claim He was sent from God, but they do not believe he saved everyone on the cross.
Christians do not believe in additions to the Bible, where Muslims take Muhammad's additions as truth.
There are interpretations of violence from the Quran, but most Muslims do not believe in those teachings. In fact, it has been proven that 93% of Muslims do not believe in violence.
4. What are the differences between Hispanic and Mexican?
Hispanic is simply someone relating to origins in Spain, or other Spanish-speaking countries.
"Mexican" is a term for someone that is from Mexico and a citizen of Mexico.
The people in this photo are not Mexican. They are American.
There are all kinds of political uproars about all kinds of things. These are just a few recent talking-points: Black Lives Matter, Transgender, Muslims, Mexicans, etc.
I did not include any real political views with any of these things on a policy and regulation level; I am just simply explaining things that the media seems to neglect.
I have one final question and explanation:
5. How do we survive the political "hot mess" we are in?
We do one simple thing: Love.
God commands us to Love God and Love Others. As Christians, we must love. We just simply need to seek Jesus and love.
The answer is love.
Sources:
Black Lives Matter Movement: http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/
Transgender Identification: http://www.livescience.com/54949-transgender-defin...
Muslim beliefs: http://www.christiananswers.net/islam.html
Muslim violence percentages: http://time.com/4128647/radicalization-of-muslims/
Hispanic: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Hispanic
