Within hours of the media’s coronation of former Vice President Joe Biden as the 46th U.S. president-elect, Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network penned a letter to “the Honorable Joseph Biden and the Honorable Kamala Harris” congratulating them on their victory.
Cullors wasted no time in telling Biden and Harris they owe their (media declared) victory to BLM and that it was now payback time.
In the first paragraph, Cullors requested a meeting “to discuss the expectations that we have for your administration and the commitments that must be made to Black people.”
“In short, Black people won this election. Alongside Black-led organizations around the nation, Black Lives Matter invested heavily in this election,” Cullors wrote. “Vote and Organize” became our motto, and our electoral justice efforts reached more than 60 million voters. We want something for our vote.”
Of course they do.
“We want to be heard and our agenda to be prioritized.”
“We issue these expectations not just because Black people are the most consistent and reliable voters for Democrats, but also because Black people are truly living in crisis in a nation that was built on our subjugation. Up until this point, the United States has refused to directly reckon with the way it devalues Black people and devastates our lives. This cannot continue. Black people can neither afford to live through the vitriol of a Trump-like Presidency, nor through the indifference of a Democrat-controlled government that refuses to wrestle with its most egregious and damnable shame.”
Very diplomatically, Cullors pointed out their “past missteps.” For Biden, this was a reference to his support of the crime bill during the Clinton Administration. For Harris, it was a reminder of the heavy-handed tactics she favored during her time as San Francisco’s district attorney and then California’s attorney general.
All of that happened, you know, before Harris became “woke,” but Cullors just wanted to put that out there.
“The best way to ensure that you remedy past missteps and work towards a more just future for Black people – and by extension all people – is to take your direction from Black grassroots organizers that have been engaged in this work for decades with a legacy that spans back to the first arrival of enslaved Africans. We would like…
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