So, Black Lives Matter released their platform demands a while ago. They follow below:
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.
There are a few issues with this. The most obvious being that they make demands without offering solutions. They don’t have any.
But let’s look at these demands one at a time.
1. End the war on black people.
Okay, great. Point me to the “war on black people” and I’ll aid you in fighting it. But first, you should probably define what this “war” is, who’s leading it, and how you think it should be stopped.
2. Reparations for past and continuing harms.
No one is going to argue that slavery was terrible. No one is going to argue that the way black people were treated prior to the Civil Rights movement was terrible. But perhaps you could educate me on what these “continuing harms” are? I prefer to take Morgan Freeman’s words to heart.
3. Divestment from the institutions that criminalize, cage, and harm black people, and investment in the education, health and safety of black people.
Right. Name me a law or policy that is racist against black people in intent, and I will agree with you. Shouting “Institutionalized Racism!!” accomplishes nothing.
4. Economic justice for all and a reconstruction of the economy to ensure our communities have collective ownership, not merely access.
No. Your communities should not be the only ones with collective ownership. That’s not equality, that’s asking for a specific privilege.
5. Community control of the laws, institutions, and policies that most that most impact us.
The federal government has few actual responsibilities, one of them is policing. Having a community be in direct control of the laws and policies is like the city of Detroit. Awful. Broken. Crap.
6. Independent black political power and black self-determination in all areas of society.
So…we have a black President. But since that’s never enough, we also have cities run by almost all blacks. Baltimore for example. Although I suppose that’s not a great example, as it was a city decimated by black riots…against a majority black local government….right….
As far as independent black self-determination: Let me get this straight…you want someone else…to give you….self-determination…I don’t think that’s how it works.
As you can see, these demands are as you should have expected: A publicity stunt. A bunch of meaningless demands without a single solution being offered.
