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Patrisse Khan-Cullors, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, has highlighted what we already knew about Marxism: despite its best intentions, it always has and always will benefit society’s elites at the expense of the poor.

The New York Post reported over the weekend that Khan-Cullors, who describes herself as a “trained Marxist”,

Last month purchased a $1.4 million home on a secluded road a short drive from Malibu in Los Angeles, according to a report. The 2,370 square-foot property features “soaring ceilings, skylights and plenty of windows” with canyon views.

But this was not her only property purchase:

As protests broke out across the country in the name of Black Lives Matter, the group’s co-founder went on a real estate-buying binge, snagging four high-end homes for $3.2 million in the US alone, according to property records.

Fellow Black Lives Matter activists were reportedly taken aback by these revelations, with one from New York City calling for an “independent investigation” to uncover how the BLM global network manages its finances.

Perhaps the greatest injustice of Khan-Cullors’ real estate purchases is that they followed on the heels of $2 billion in property damage unleashed in conjunction with the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

African American and other minority neighbourhoods were among the most impacted by the arson, looting and property destruction that followed the death of George Floyd last May.

Like so many materialist and secular philosophies, Marxism promises the world but delivers little. It was conceived by Karl Marx (1818-1883) to explain why and how a society’s economic underclass might rise up to overthrow existing capitalist systems.

As Marx’s ideas were applied in the socialist and communist experiments of the 20th century, leading to the destruction of some 150 million lives, these theories rightly faded in popularity.

Through the tyranny unleashed in Russia, China, Vietnam, Romania, Cuba, and many other nations, it became clearer than ever that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. These tragedies were stark reminders of the safety provided by democratic restraints on human power.

In recent years, however, the popularity of Marxist theories has been rapidly gaining ground. Many social justice movements of the last decade have coalesced around the Marxist-inspired ideologies such as Cultural Marxism and Critical Race Theory. Black Lives Matter is perhaps the most prominent of these. (“Wokeness” is sometimes used as a catch-all term to encompass these various movements).

These ideologies can be a dangerous trap for Christians. At a surface level, they can resemble the compassion of Christ, who was known to take a just stand against entrenched power structures and reach out to the poor and marginalised.

But as is evident from the recent spending sprees of Patrisse Khan-Cullors, unless a heart transformation takes place, manmade ideologies may tear down current systems, but in the end, they only perpetuate injustice.

There is indeed systemic sin in the world, and there are very practical ways for Christians to act on this in the name of Christ. But what is most needed is redemption from the sin in our own hearts. From the inner transformation that Jesus brings, our lives are filled with love and humility — rather than grievance and a love of power. And this makes all the difference.

Materialist philosophies will inevitably pit humans against each other, with their emphasis on the “might equals right” mentality of an evolutionary worldview. By contrast, true justice, liberty and impartiality are actually possible under a Christian framework, in which each of us are made in the image of God.