[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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