Black Lives Matter: from a lie to a revolution

The Black Lives Matter movement emerged as a force just about a year ago, following the killing of Ferguson, Missouri thug Michael Brown by a white police officer who was defending himself. The movement was predicated on a lie, namely that Brown was murdered without justification after he declared “hands up don’t shoot.” The Obama Justice Department would demonstrate the falsity of this claim.

The larger lie behind the Black Lives Matter movement is that American police officers are “executing” Black men. The evidence does not support this slander. Indeed, the evidence apparently doesn’t even support the more plausible claim that police officers, as a result of overreaction to perceived threats, are killing more Blacks than a completely race-neutral response would cause them to.

But the biggest lie of all is that the Black Lives Matter movement is a reaction to the loss of Black lives at the hands of the police. This was pretty evident from the outset. As a longtime observer of, and one time participant in, left-wing protests, the unrest in Ferguson seemed to me to have all the markings of generalized left-wing agitation opportunistically grafting on to the understandable protest over an unfortunate event.

Now, more than 60 organizations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement have made scores of demands. The demands confirm that Black Lives Matter isn’t about reforming the police in order to reduce shootings by cops, but rather about transforming America across-the-board in the interests of Black-centric socialism.

The demands, which you can read here, are prefaced by this proclamation:

Black humanity and dignity requires black political will and power. 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 with renewed energy and purpose 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.

Right of the bat, then, we see two remnants of late 1960s radicallism: the “Black Power” movement and worldwide “liberationist” ideology.

Many of the demands also hark back to 1960s leftism; others are contained in this year’s Democratic platform. Some fit both categories.

The demands are organized into six categories:

1. End the “war” on Black people.

2. Reparations (aka show us the money)

3. Invest/Divest

4. Economic “justice”

5. Community control

6. Political power

Read the specific demands under any of these headings, and you will see that killings of Blacks by police officers have all along been the pretext for left-wing organizing.

Here are the reparations demands:

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 continued divestment from, discrimination toward and exploitation of our communities in the form of a guaranteed minimum livable income for all Black people, with clearly articulated corporate regulations.

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.

Reparations for the cultural and educational exploitation, erasure, and extraction of our communities in the form of mandated public school curriculums that critically examine the political, economic, and social impacts of colonialism and slavery, and funding to support, build, preserve, and restore cultural assets and sacred sites to ensure the recognition and honoring of our collective struggles and triumphs.

Legislation at the federal and state level that requires the United States to acknowledge the lasting impacts of slavery, establish and execute a plan to address those impacts. This includes the immediate passage of H.R.40, the “Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act” or subsequent versions which call for reparations remedies.

John and I wrote about reparations here.

Here are the demands under “Invest/Divest.”

A reallocation of funds at the federal, state and local level from policing and incarceration (JAG, COPS, VOCA) to long-term safety strategies such as education, local restorative justice services, and employment programs.

The retroactive decriminalization, immediate release and record expungement of all drug related offenses and prostitution, and reparations for the devastating impact of the “war on drugs” and criminalization of prostitution, including a reinvestment of the resulting savings and revenue into restorative services, mental health services, job programs and other programs supporting those impacted by the sex and drug trade.

Real, meaningful, and equitable universal health care that guarantees: proximity to nearby comprehensive health centers, culturally competent services for all people, specific services for queer, gender nonconforming, and trans people, full bodily autonomy, full reproductive services, mental health services, paid parental leave, and comprehensive quality child and elder care.

A constitutional right at the state and federal level to a fully-funded education which includes a clear articulation of the right to: a free education for all, special protections for queer and trans students, wrap around services, social workers, free health services (including reproductive body autonomy), a curriculum that acknowledges and addresses students’ material and cultural needs, physical activity and recreation, high quality food, free daycare, and freedom from unwarranted search, seizure or arrest.

A divestment from industrial multinational use of fossil fuels and investment in community- based sustainable energy solutions.

A cut in military expenditures and a reallocation of those funds to invest in domestic infrastructure and community well-being.

(Emphasis added)

Prostitutes of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your criminal record.

It’s a long way from the justified killing of one Black man in Missouri to this sort of agenda. But in reality, of course, the agenda came first. The few unfortunate police shootings in recent times are just an excuse — a recruiting tool — for assorted leftists to exploit.

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