[News] Movement for Black Lives releases Platform - calls for an end to the war against Black people in the US

Anti-Imperialist News news at freedomarchives.org
Tue Aug 2 10:59:44 EDT 2016


http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Black-Lives-Matter-Movement-Releases-First-Ever-List-of-Demands-20160802-0004.html 



  Black Lives Matter Movement Releases First Ever List of Demands

August 2, 2016

A collective of Black organizations under the banner of the Movement for 
Black Lives <http://policy.m4bl.org> have called for an end to the war 
against Black people in the U.S. in the first unified Black Lives Matter 
platform released Monday.

“In response to the sustained and increasingly visible violence against 
Black communities in the U.S. and globally, a collective of more than 50 
organizations representing thousands of Black people from across the 
country have come together … to articulate a common vision and agenda. 
We are a collective that centers and is rooted in Black communities, but 
we recognize we have a shared struggle with all oppressed people; 
collective liberation will be a product of all of our work,” the 
platform began.

The six demands and roughly 40 policy recommendations touched on topics 
ranging from the decriminalization and dehumanization of Black youth, 
the reduction of U.S. military spending and “reparations for past and 
continuing harms.”

The program was released days before the second anniversary on August 9 
of the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teen in Ferguson, 
Missouri by a white police officer, who was never charged for Brown's 
death.

"We seek radical transformation, not reactionary reform," Michaela 
Brown, a spokeswoman for Baltimore Bloc, one of the organizations that 
worked on the platform, said in a statement.

As part of its first demand to end the war against Black people, the 
M4BL Policy Table, which developed the platform over the past year, 
called for an end to capital punishment; an end to the war on Black 
immigrants, trans, queer and gender nonconforming people; and the 
demilitarization of law enforcement.

In its call for reparations, the platform stated, “The government, 
responsible corporations and other institutions that have profited off 
of the harm they have inflicted on Black people—from colonialism to 
slavery … must repair the harm done.” It further demanded full, free 
access to education and a livable wage.

As part of its economic justice platform, the activists called for 
federal and state job programs; the right to organize; and an end to the 
Trans Pacific Trade deal.

The BLM has stated that it will not back any presidential candidate and 
instead called for community control, “We demand a world where those 
most impacted in our communities control the laws, institutions, and 
policies that are meant to serve us—from our schools to our local 
budgets, economies, police departments, and our land—while recognizing 
that the rights and histories of our Indigenous family must also be 
respected.”

The M4BL concluded that "neither mainstream political party has our 
interests at heart," adding, "By every metric—from the hue of its prison 
population to its investment choices—the U.S. is a country that does not 
support, protect or preserve Black life.”

-- 
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