The news media has singled out the anti-racism Black Lives Matter movement as being behind the issuance of the statement that details six demands and about 40 other “suggested” policy changes in the U.S., but Black Lives Matter is just one of the 60 organizations making the demands under the Movement for Black Lives.
The movement’s demands call for criminal justice reforms and reparations for slavery in the United States. a reconstruction of the economy to ensure that black people have a collective ownership, more control of their own communities and full and independent black political power.
The platform is the result of over a year’s work, being released just days before the second anniversary of the death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown’s death and other fatal shootings of unarmed black men over the past two years sparked a national debate over racism in the criminal justice system.
“We seek radical transformation, not reactionary reform,” Michaela Brown, a spokeswoman for Baltimore Bloc, one of the group’s partner organizations, said in a statement, according to CBS News.
While the agenda of the Movement for Black Lives primarily focuses on black communities in the U.S., the words are inclusive and meant for all marginalized people, worldwide. The statement says that while it is recognized “that not all of our collective needs and visions can be translated into policy,” policy changes are one way to reach those needs and visions.
The statement also touches on clean water, the decriminalization of drug offenses and prostitution, an end to capital punishment, free tuition to public universities, and human-made climate change. It also talks about sharing the movement’s agenda by working together, but how will the message be perceived?
As with any movement, especially one claiming to represent a large group of people, mainly the black community, how many of those individuals will embrace the platform? The movement cites growing police antagonism against members of black communities but fails to address the unwarranted gun violence seen in many cities across the country, where black individuals are killing their fellow community members, including little children.
Both political parties and the racial justice movement’s lack of specific policy proposals is the major reason the platform was published. And it is needed. It is a place to start in getting a nationwide discussion started, by both the black community and policy makers on how we can fix what has been broken for such a long time.
