Black Lives Matter Issues Demands
[guest post by JVW]
Black Lives Matter, a movement which sprung up in the wake of some high-profile deaths of young black men at the hands of police officers and other security personnel, has long been criticized for lacking both a unified front and any concrete agenda items that they want to see implemented. Yesterday they attempted to address this problem by releasing a list of demands on their website which they intend to use as a policy platform going forward.
The demands themselves consist of six overarching themes:
1. End the war on black people.
2. Reparations for past and continuing harms.
3. Divestment from the institutions that criminalize, cage and harm black people; and investment in the education, health and safety of black people.
4. Economic justice for all and a reconstruction of the economy to ensure our communities have collective ownership, not merely access.
5. Community control of the laws, institutions and policies that most impact us.
6. Independent black political power and black self-determination in all areas of society.
But lest you think that these six items — broad and overarching though they may be — makes up their entire demand list, you should know that each of these six themes contains between three and ten sub-demands, and that even some of the sub-demands can be broken out into further sub-sub demands so that the entire effect is a manifesto that is as long as witless as a spoiled child’s letter to Santa.
You will note that reparations is naturally on the list. The whole document is a recitation of Marxist cant leavened with a dollop of whiny grievance-mongering and subtle racism (the adjective “black” is spelled with a capital letter as in “Black people” while the adjective “white” always remains lower-case). It curiously contains a great deal of special pleading on behalf of the LGBTQ movement and a few overtures to other supposedly maligned groups, most prominently Latinos. The entire compendium reeks of radical academic claptrap, and indeed, it would appear that by and large the authors of the manifesto come from the world of higher education or from the various nonprofits which house the even less-accomplished subset of the racial/ethnic/sexual studies credential holders. For what it is worth, too, the vast majority of them have women’s names (though, to be fair, I haven’t asked any of them for their preferred gender identification), suggesting that the more rancid ideas of angry hard-left feminism have worked their way into the document as well.
The drafters and supporters of this list of demands acknowledge that their chief aim is to influence the 2016 elections, but I don’t see why any Republican candidate would read this litany of self-involved griping and feel any need to address it, nor does it seem that anyone who would support this misguided mess could ever be persuaded to vote GOP. Instead, this seems to be a marker thrown down at Hillary! and her Democrats, to see how far left they are willing to drift in order to keep their huge share of the black vote. It will be interesting to see if the Clinton Machine is forced to take these petitioners seriously. The ball is now in her court.
– JVW
When Concerned Student 1950, the group of black activists at the University of Missouri, issued a similar list of demands it was left to the interim vice-chancellor for diversity (who also happens to be black) to inform them that threats and demands were no way to begin a dialogue. Let’s see if Hillary! has the stones to do the same.
JVW (f97acd) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:04 pmTheir demands sound like Communist ideals mixed with Jim Crow stances
Dejectedhead (c21a67) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:19 pmWe demand reparations for past and continuing harms. The government, responsible corporations and other institutions that have profited off of the harm they have inflicted on Black people — from colonialism to slavery through food and housing redlining, mass incarceration, and surveillance — must repair the harm done. This includes:
Reparations for the systemic denial of access to high quality educational opportunities in the form of full and free access for all Black people (including undocumented and currently and formerly incarcerated people) to lifetime education including: free access and open admissions to public community colleges and universities, technical education (technology, trade and agricultural), educational support programs, retroactive forgiveness of student loans, and support for lifetime learning programs………….
Reparations for the wealth extracted from our communities through environmental racism, slavery, food apartheid, housing discrimination and racialized capitalism in the form of corporate and government reparations focused on healing ongoing physical and mental trauma, and ensuring our access and control of food sources, housing and land.
For the record I have never owned a slave. Sounds like a bunch of crying babies wanting free stuff so they don’t have to work for anything.
MSL (a8c328) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:26 pmEnd the war on black people….well, BLM, tell that to the people who are killing black people. Hint:it’s not LEOs
Reparations: in the spirit of human brotherhood, I hereby sign over to BLM the reparations due me from the Czarist Empire for the oppression suffered by my 19th century ancestors. Discussion of payment of those reparations should be addressed to the heir and successor in interest to the Czarist Empire, Vladimir Putin, The Kremlin, Moscow.
I will let others come up with appropriate responses to the rest….
kishnevi (b9b7a2) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:27 pmSounds like a bunch of crying babies
Well, Donald certainly knows how to handle crying babies
kishnevi (b9b7a2) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:33 pmhttp://www.cnn.com/2016/08/02/politics/donald-trump-ashburn-virginia-crying-baby/index.html?sr=fbCNN080216donald-trump-ashburn-virginia-crying-baby0522PMVODtopVideo&linkId=27204391
In some ways I welcome this,
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:35 pmit shows that BLM is not some common sense response to perceived unfairness in lethal encounters with police.
Is food aparthied keeping my corn and peas from mixing?
Pinandpuller (c16705) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:39 pmit never was, it began with the dream defenders, which was white house agitprop all the way, coordinated through the crump julian network which reached to coates, blow, alvarez, robles,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:41 pm(my own fishwrap’s part of the picture, through msnbc (sharpton, reid), abc (gutman) nbc, (luciano, one other guy) all fanned by the community resource service,
Fyi
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:41 pmhttp://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/02/mother-police-shooting-suspect-calls-black-lives-matter-irresponsible.html
Though one notes parents are dodging responsibility,
Who knows, they may have tried real hard to raise their children
I know it never was,
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:42 pmBut lots of others don’t
it shows that BLM is not some common sense response to perceived unfairness in lethal encounters with police.
Great point. Mitch Daniels once said that the Obama Administration used the 2008 crisis to enact every single item on the spending wish list that David Obey, the liberal chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, had kept in his desk drawer ever since the GOP took control of the House 14 years earlier. It looks like the radical black academic and political establishment is hoping to use the deaths of young men in a similar fashion by trotting out their own wish lists here.
JVW (f97acd) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:45 pmIf you compare a “poor” person from say South Central Los Angeles with a poor person from say Haiti. You will find the “poor” person from South Central Los Angeles is likely obese. That is not a dig against us fat people, but you cant be fat and “poor” when most of the world’s poor struggle just to find enough food to survive. Poor is a struggle to just eat, not a struggle for the newest X-Box or the bigger flat screen.
MSL (a8c328) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:46 pmyou know one of the most discouraging thing, it’s a prompt for more dysfunctional behavior, the martin and browns of the world are held up as heroes to the young, the narrative paints them as victims, hence raising a crop of wannabe freedom fighters like the one in new york, and the dallas and baton rouge shooters,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:47 pmThis is the usual agitprop that shows up every four years like clockwork. BLM is not a movement, it is an astro-turfed campaign financed by left-wing oligarchs and abetted by a complicit media. I’m not sure why, after all these years and campaigns, people still fall for this Potemkin village.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:50 pm#12 MSL,
You may have made the quote of the century regarding poverty; “Poor is a struggle to just eat, not a struggle for the newest X-Box or the bigger flat screen.“
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:57 pmI want my reps first: for africans enslaving my peops in portugal spain france and italy from 700-1490. That’s 700+ years. Where are my damn reps, africans?
jb (c78c88) — 8/2/2016 @ 7:22 pmBall Of Confusion (That’s What The World Is Today)Mall of Contusions (That’s Where Teh Sale Is Today)The
TemptationsLamentationsOne, two, one, two, three, four, ow
People shoutin’ out, people makin’ scenes
Why, because of the color of teh green
Shout, shout, shout and they sure tell lies
An eye for an eye, an’ blood for some blood
Vote for me and I’ll set you free
Rap on, ‘bama, rap on
Well, the only person talkin’ ’bout love thy brother is teh Milo
And it seems walkin’ a beat wearin’ blue right now’s suicidal
Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration
Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation
Mall of Contusions
Oh yeah, that’s where teh sale is today
Woo, hey, hey
The sale of weed is at an all time high
Young folks walkin’ round with their heads in the sky
Obama plays golf in the summer time
And oh, the beat goes on
Constitution, revolution, gun control, sound of soul
Flyin’ drones in teh sky, Pantload Clinton tellin’ lies
Politicians say more taxes will solve everything
And the band played on
So, it’s down and down and down we go
Where the world’s headed, damned if I know
Oh, great ooga-booga, can’t you hear me talkin’ to you
At teh Mall of Contusions
Oh yeah, that’s where teh sale is today
Woo, hey
Drones in the air, tension I-Phones everywhere
Unemployment rising fast, Chris Matthews’ head is up his ass
And the only safe place to live is on an Indian reservation
And the band played on
Eve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectors
Gratification on demand, pinandpull got pud in hand, suicide, too many thrills
‘billies movin’ to the hills, people all over the world are shouting, what teh fu*k!
And the band played on
Great ooga-booga, can’t you hear me talkin’ to you
Sayin’ Mall of Contusions
That’s where teh sale is today, hey, hey
Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/2/2016 @ 7:29 pmSayin’, Mall of Contusions
That’s where teh sale is today, hey, hey
Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya
Mall of Contusions
Sadly, the Dems will probably agree to it. In fact, I would say it’s a Democrat organization. Funny how they didn’t show up at the RNC, as they realized it would only make Trump look better.
Patricia (5fc097) — 8/2/2016 @ 7:33 pmCommunity control of the laws, institutions and policies that most impact us.
Don’t we have that now? And somehow I doubt that this “community control” involves any voting.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 8/2/2016 @ 7:47 pmno it’s more like forcing bratton’s resignation, so the big apple can go full deathwish/escape from new york,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 7:49 pmbut don’t cry for bratton, not that one would really care to,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3720141/Bill-Bratton-surprises-officials-decides-hand-resignation-NYPD-commissioner.html
yes, the same firm that huma was contracted for, in the state department,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 7:56 pmWhat? No football team?
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today. (YouTube)
Graduates all from the Michelle Obama School of fund raising.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:02 pmbut remember when this mob jeered a moment of silence for the fallen dallas cops, not that it matters a farthing,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:03 pmthat’s actually not the aphorism, it’s the pursuit of money is the root of all evil, exhibit a red queen,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:06 pmDon’t we have that now? And somehow I doubt that this “community control” involves any voting
Perhaps the usage is peculiar to Florida, but “community control” is often a term used for probation, especially with juvenile cases.
kishnevi (b9b7a2) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:12 pmNothing surprising here, hate groups often make irrational demands to match their bigoted ideas, usually based on skin color.
I mentioned this on another blog: The KKK, Black Lives Matter, Islamic terrorists, Black Panthers, Westboro Baptist Church, Neo-Nazis, Democrat leftists, etc — they are all hate groups. They hate people depending on skin color and/or religion.
As JD said:
Pons Asinorum (49e2e8) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:15 pmthat was a long standing panther demand, the notion is black cops wouldn’t arrest as many black suspects, has baltimore or new orleans born that out,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:15 pmSpeaking of color, this Hillary woman needs to trade in her white pantsuit for an orange jumpsuit.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:16 pmLock her up!
Mall of Contusions! You have outdone yourself, Colonel.
Who knew BLM were 10th Amendment aficionados?! “Community” control of keeping the peace? Why, Sheriff Joe couldn’t say it better!
Can I get reparations from the trillions wasted in the War on Poverty?
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:20 pmyes, that was inspired, phil collins might complain though, snorfle,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:22 pman another sad example is the korryn gaines case,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:25 pmnarciso, I think you’re thinking of the Genesis song, “Land of Confusion.”
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:38 pm“Ball of Confusion” was a song by The Temptations, which was then covered by Love and Rockets in the ’80s.
I stand corrected, probably apropo,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmRsWdK0PRI
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:40 pmThx, Ed!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:56 pm1. In defense of the original (small m) movement, all meaningful causes are inevitably co-opted by academic sh*theads.
2. In critique of the subsequent (capital M) Movement, all political power is taken, not given. So if you want power, Movement, you’re gonna have to take it.
Leviticus (3010ff) — 8/2/2016 @ 8:56 pmactually no, this is a movement that at best torments students and interrupts diners and at worst looks askance at the murder of law enforcement,
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 9:00 pmDo you have an iPhone? There’s your reparations. Do you own a car? There’s your reparations. Have you ever been given an antibiotic? There’s your reparations? Do you have air conditioning, or at least a refrigerator? There’s your reparations. Have you ever read a printed book? There’s your reparations.
The list is actually a thousand miles long.
hunson abedeer (80144e) — 8/2/2016 @ 9:02 pmIf we ever get around to enacting this absurd idea of reparations, then exactly half the cost, whatever it turns out to be, must be paid by the nations of West Africa, who were willing (one might even say eager) partners in the transaction, and who profited by selling their own people into the condition, in exchange for good and valuable considerations.
hunson abedeer (80144e) — 8/2/2016 @ 9:04 pmWhen the Muslim Crimean Tatars raided Imperial Russia for captives to be sold as slaves (and often the immense, unthinkable cruelty of galley slavery) the Russian government levied a special tax (the word for it escapes me) in order to create a fund to ransom back their countrymen, one by one. Western Europeans, whose people were enslaved by African pirates, did the same.
What is the African word for such a concept?
Oh, right, there isn’t one.
hunson abedeer (80144e) — 8/2/2016 @ 9:09 pmthere is a sad history to this peculiar institution
https://www.academia.edu/27040060/The_Black_Sea_and_the_Slave_Trade_The_Role_of_Crimean_Maritime_Towns_in_the_Trade_in_Slaves_and_Captives_in_the_Fifteenth_to_Eighteenth_Centuries
narciso (732bc0) — 8/2/2016 @ 9:18 pmDid anyone hear if BLM made any demands upon Chicago, due to all of the shootings of black people over the weekend?
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 8/2/2016 @ 9:24 pmIf there is any group that deserves reparations from slavery, it is the descendants of slave owners who had their property expropriated by President Lincoln. The wealth transfer from slave owners to slaves, measured in 1865 dollars, is something north of $1B, which is roughly $20B current dollars. Who cares about the Fifth Amendment when you are doing God’s work.
You may choke on my comment, above, but those who want to take away our guns, as well as our other freedoms, will wrap themselves in the same moral cloth.
ThOR (c9324e) — 8/3/2016 @ 12:02 amblack booty maters
mg (31009b) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:35 amt
mg (31009b) — 8/3/2016 @ 1:35 amfunny, I thought A.Lincoln gave them the chance at self governance? Didn’t he offer passage to Liberia to all who wanted to go? And isn’t that a black paradise now?
sd Harms (c7dded) — 8/3/2016 @ 2:45 amhttps://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/08/03/wisconsin-cd1-august-9th-2016/
mg (31009b) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:19 am“End the war on black people.”
pst314 (ae6bd1) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:39 amIf they were using honest language, they would say “never arrest black criminals, no matter how vicious they are”.
I no longer have any f***s to give. Let them become civilized or be excluded from civilization.
my thinking is we should all get together and have ice cream
and we could have one of them millennial chicks come and tell us all about the benefits of essential oils
this is how you unite people
happyfeet (28a91b) — 8/3/2016 @ 4:46 amPost 45: The American Colonization Society in the 1820’s embarked on the repatriate of slaves to Liberia.
mike191 (bf652f) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:02 amOne could be more nuanced,
that it is not so much the pursuit of money,
but the love of money,
when pursuing it overrules all else.
The legitimate pursuit of money in order to use it wisely is not an evil in itself.
I’ve said it before, though ridiculed,
MD in Philly (03a257) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:03 amI think the legitimate case for reparations could be made for the families of those “lynched” after the civil war, when the government did not adequately protect civil society.
But that is what should have happened 50 years ago,
not the creation of the welfare state.
Hillary will approve them in her first 100 days.
cedarhill (dec9ad) — 8/3/2016 @ 5:41 am“The ball is now in her court.”
Jim (a9b7c7) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:21 amInteresting that you refer to “court” and hillary in the same sentence as though she is ever likely to appear there considering that rules and laws don’t apply to her.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 8/2/2016 @ 6:50 pm
they don’t want to accuse people claiming to speak for victims of crime (which is what they claim to speak for) of lying, especially if they can’t say exactly how.
What nobody * is questioning is their bona fides.
Contrary to MD in Philly @6, I think this list of demands won’t change things because:
A) Nobody understands it.
OR
B) Nobody understands what they are getting at.
AND
C) Nobody’s really paying any attention to it.
* By “nobody” I mean at least 90% of the people writing about them.
Sammy Finkelman (7fce49) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:31 amI can see that the Clinton people are trying to get New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio replaced by somebody worse. They just persuaded Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to quit by offering a much better paying job at a Clinton connected company. (Bratton was hiding this.. He had said about a week ago that he wouldn’t stay for a de Blasio second term, but he had already told de Blasio on Juy 8 that he wass planning to quit Yesterday he resigned, effective next month.)
Bratton was coming up with innovative crime reduction strategies that defeated all the attempts to increase crime by putting restrictions on the police. Whatever they came up with, he handled. Some of the things that resulted may even have been good. It’s always good to de-escalate, if you can.
Now this move may not succeed in getting crime to go up, because de Blasio may have picked a good successor, but the new Police Commissioner is still not somebody who has a reputation for keeping the crime rate down, so it may damage him politically.
Sammy Finkelman (7fce49) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:42 amMake no mistake about it: The goal of the Black Lives Matter is increasing crime rates in order to make drug dealing more profitable by not locking up addicts who steal, and most of them must steal to pay for drugs, and in order to keep communities safely all black, and poor, for the benefit of black political hacks. Not locking up people who steal, or interfering with their lives in any other way, is an openly admitted goal!
This means don’t spend money on police, courts and jails -but spend money, or rather waste money, on education, medical care and government contracts for fraudulant operations.
This means they want to be above the law, and have the right to commit crimes, both violent and non-violent.
Is any other interpretation possible? Not to me.
Sammy Finkelman (7fce49) — 8/3/2016 @ 7:48 amSammy says,
“This means they want to be above the law, and have the right to commit crimes, both violent and non-violent.”
I strongly agree.
As a matter of fact, I think that’s what the Demorat -pardon, DemoCrat- Party as a whole wants:
“We want to run things according to our whims and fancies and Visions of Progg-topia, and we DON’T want you harshing our happy-happy mellow with facts and results and stuff. We really LIKE the pretty world that lives in our heads. We don’t want to have to disengage from our Hopium-smoke and really LOOK at what choosing JungleBall over Rule-Of-Law does out there In Real Life. {fingers in ears} Weee Cannn’t Hearrrr You!!!! Go away!!! ‘K? Thx, Bye. {Big inhale.} Mmmmmm…. {Exhale.} Ahhhhh…… “
A_Nonny_Mouse (e83387) — 8/3/2016 @ 3:25 pmI’ll kick in a carton of Kool menthols and we can call it even. You feel me?
Joe Mama (aca7e3) — 8/5/2016 @ 4:36 pm