Its agenda is plain for all to see: cop-killing.

With another two police officers shot at the Black Lives Matter riot in Louisville on Wednesday, its time to lift the veil on the whole movement: Its a haven for unrepentant cop-killers.

These arent isolated incidents. It has been fewer than two weeks since supposedly peaceful BLM radicals chanted, We hope they die, while blocking the entrance to a hospital where two Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies were undergoing life-saving surgery. An assailant had walked up to their patrol vehicle and opened fire from point-blank range without provocation.

Those chilling words echo the rhetoric we hear from BLM founders and members, who make clear that a prime objective of BLM is to Kill Cops. Up until now, this has been kept well enough under wraps to deceive major corporations, professional sports leagues and countless well-meaning Americans.

Joe Biden has made propagating this movements lies a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, waiting months before condemning the wanton violence perpetrated by BLM. Staff members on the Biden campaign contributed money to secure the release of rioters charged with crimes. Meanwhile, progressive Democratic prosecutors refused to even charge some of the worst rioters.

Some people try to separate BLM the organization from the movement that goes by the same name, but at most they are two sides of the same coin. From the start, both the organization and the movement BLM writ large have been about hatred and violence that extends beyond police and includes all white people, all blacks who are conservative and the United States of America.

We saw this in 2014, when BLM first attained national prominence. After months of anti-police rioting, a man pledging revenge for Michael Brown and Eric Garner traveled to New York City, stuck a pistol through the window of a squad car and opened fire. Detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu died on the scene.

I mourned the officers like the rest of New York did. And when I met with the Ramos and Liu families, I was aghast. I reiterated my call for politicians to abandon their reckless anti-police rhetoric. Maybe, I suggested, they should spend the next four months not talking about police hatred, but talking about what they are going to do about bringing down crime in the community.

Nineteen months later, a man opened fire at a BLM protest in Dallas, murdering five officers. BLM disavowed responsibility, but the killer had deep links to the movements radical ideology, stating that he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers. BLM supporters certainly didnt stop chanting Pigs in a blanket, fry em like bacon in the aftermath, either.

BLM counts on a legion of journalists who believe BLM will help advance a progressive agenda. They will never admit that violence against police isnt an unfortunate outgrowth of the BLM movement but the central point.

Black Lives Matter isnt about black lives. It ignores the 8,000 to 9,000 black lives taken by other blacks every year in minority communities across the nation. Those black lives, and the lives of African American police officers, dont matter.

Black Lives Matter isnt about holding police accountable, and it isnt a good-faith call for reasonable reform.

If we had a functioning mainstream media, this would be common knowledge by now. Instead, people are learning the real nature of BLM by watching protesters scream We hope they die outside a hospital where two cops are fighting for their lives.

The time has come to face the facts. If you ever supported Black Lives Matter, then you are either a left-wing radical or you got duped. There is no shame in the latter. By design, the relentlessly repeated cry of Black lives matter is an unassailable moral truism, calculated to bully people into supporting a radical, revolutionary, anti-order movement.

The good news is that it isnt too late to make the right decision. You can be a good person who decries racism and condemns police misconduct yet still reject violent left-wing radicalism unequivocally. You can stand for the safety and human dignity of black people and of all people and simultaneously stand with the police officers who maintain law and order.

It starts with rejecting BLM and every politician who has been cynical enough to enable the radical forces intent on tearing this country apart. When you see Black Lives Matter, realize they are dedicated to killing cops. Too much blood has been spilled already. It has to stop.

Rudolph Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City.

Excerpt from:

Face facts: Black Lives Matter is all about hate

" Black Lives Matter" is more popular than either President Trump or Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, according to recent polling. The online research firm Civiqs found in June that voters approved of the movement by a 28-point margin. Rasmussen found 62% of likely voters viewed it favorably and 32% very favorably.

This demonstrates that there is a national consensus that the lives of black fellow citizens matter, which has not always been the case in our history. It also suggests strong support for better, fairer policing in minority communities. But that seems far more likely to be because large majorities believe in the principle of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal rather than because they support the agenda of the organization with the innocuous-sounding name, Black Lives Matter.

Fact is, "black lives matter" is a matter of common decency entirely separate from the activist, ideological, left-wing agenda of the BLM group. That organization has stated aims that go far beyond addressing police brutality. Its goals include, without apology, the upending of American society. Yet it has gained massively more attention, support, and money since the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in Minneapolis police custody. It is therefore important that the public, much of which thinks that by supporting BLM, they are backing obviously decent and humane reforms, knows enough to make the distinction between the idea and the ideologues hijacking it.

The co-founders of Black Lives Matter are avowed Marxists. At least one names a convicted cop killer among her heroes. A key mentor in building and shaping the group is a two-time vice presidential candidate for the Communist Party USA. The national organization is financially supported through a leftist group whose board of directors includes a convicted terrorist. A 2017 report from Black Lives Matter describes its founders, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, and Opal Tometi, as three radical Black organizers. The women espouse Marxism and openly push radical identity politics.

Susan Rosenberg was listed as vice chair of the board of directors for Thousand Currents, BLM's financial sponsor, until the website was pulled down in late June. She had been a member of a radical leftist revolutionary militant group known as the May 19th Communist Organization, which was affiliated with the Weather Underground terrorist group and the radical Black Liberation Army. She was convicted on weapons and explosives charges and sentenced to 58 years in prison, serving 16 years behind bars before being pardoned by President Bill Clinton at the end of his second term in January 2001.

Rosenberg was a radical in the 1960s and 1970s who landed on the FBIs Most Wanted list for a number of crimes. She was caught in 1984 while unloading hundreds of pounds of dynamite and weapons, including a submachine gun, from her car at a New Jersey storage facility. She was believed to have been part of politically motivated bombing plots. Rosenberg and her associates were also charged with bombings during the 1980s that detonated at the Capitol and the Navy War College, among other targets. They were tied to a 1981 Brinks armored car robbery in which a guard and two police officers were killed. She wrote an autobiography in 2011 titled An American Radical: Political Prisoner in My Own Country about her own radical escapades.

Garza has repeatedly talked about how convicted cop killer and wanted domestic terrorist Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, is one of her main inspirations. Rosenberg was suspected of helping Shakur escape from prison after murdering a police officer.

Garza wrote an article for Feminist Wire in 2014 claiming that hetero-patriarchy and anti-Black racism within our movement is real and felt and explaining that when I use Assatas powerful demand in my organizing work, I always begin by sharing where it comes from, sharing about Assatas significance to the Black Liberation Movement, what its political purpose and message is, and why its important in our context. Garza has repeatedly tweeted approvingly about Shakur.

Shakur is on the FBIs Most Wanted Terrorists list with a $1,000,000 reward for information directly leading to her apprehension. She is believed to be hiding in Cuba. Shakur, a member of the revolutionary extremist group the Black Liberation Army, is wanted for escaping from prison in New Jersey in 1979 while serving a life sentence for murdering a police officer. In 1973, Shakur and two accomplices were stopped for a motor vehicle violation on the New Jersey Turnpike by two state troopers. She was wanted at the time for her role in a number of serious crimes, including bank robbery. When pulled over, Shakur and her comrades opened fire on the officers, wounding one trooper and killing Werner Foerster execution-style at point-blank range.

The BLM website is operated under an umbrella group known as the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, chaired by Cullors, who said she and Garza are trained organizers and trained Marxists during a 2015 interview with the Real News Network, noting: We actually do have an ideological frame. We are super versed on, sort of, ideological theories, and I think what we really try to do is build a movement that could be utilized by many, many black folk.

Black Lives Matter states that it was founded in 2013 in response to George Zimmerman being acquitted of the killing of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman argued hed acted in self-defense. President Barack Obamas Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder found insufficient evidence to pursue any federal civil rights charges.

Cullorss memoir, When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, includes a foreword written by Angela Davis and an opening epigraph from Shakur. In the book, Cullors writes that we do this work today because on another day work was done by Assata Shakur, Angela Davis, [transgender activist] Miss Major, the Black Panther Party, and others. In describing her move toward activism, Cullors wrote, I read, I study, adding Mao, Marx, and Lenin to my knowledge of hooks.

Mao Zedong, founder of the Peoples Republic of China, was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of his own people, including 45 million or more during the Great Leap Forward, and millions more during the Cultural Revolution. Vladimir Lenin, the first leader of the Soviet Union, presided over the Red Terror, which killed many tens of thousands as he launched one of the most repressive regimes in history.

Cullors told Teen Vogue in 2019 that Angela Davis is a mentor of mine. The duo have coordinated on BLMs strategies, and they appeared together at a TimesTalks event put on by the New York Times in 2018. During that discussion, Cullors called the poverty she grew up in a setup imposed upon her by a capitalist society and remarked: If this is a setup, then I can set it up differently. Davis, seen as a hero and mentor to the BLM co-founders, is another Marxist and was the Communist Party vice presidential nominee in 1980 and 1984. She was a leading apologist for the Soviet Union during the Cold War, even praising the East German and Soviet tyrannies while in East Berlin. Davis was the winner of the Soviet Unions Lenin Peace Prize and repeatedly praised the USSRs October 1917 Revolution.

In the United States, Davis was affiliated with the Black Panther Party and connected to violent, murderous radicals. Firearms registered to her were used in the takeover of a California courtroom in 1970 where four people were killed. Davis detests Israel and has been dogged by accusations of anti-Semitism for decades. She has been a fervent supporter of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement waging economic warfare against the state of Israel in recent years. Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz wrote in his 1991 book Chutzpah that hed asked Davis if shed be willing to speak up on behalf of Jewish prisoners of conscience in the Soviet Union when she went to Moscow to receive a prize and claims she told him that they are all Zionist fascists and opponents of socialism and would urge that they be kept in prison. But she has pushed for political prisoner Marwan Barghouti to be released from an Israeli prison. Barghouti, one of the leaders of the First and Second Intifada and a founder of the al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, was convicted on 21 counts of murder for attacks carried out by Palestinian terrorists.

Davis recently endorsed Biden on Moscow's state-owned Russia Today.

Garza and Davis appeared on Democracy Now! in 2017, with Garza effusive in her praise of Davis and repeatedly thanking her for helping guide the BLM leaders.

I have to say, Angela, one of the things I appreciate so much about you is that youre not waxing poetic about things that happened; youre still very much in relationship to all of us and still teaching us, Garza said. Thank you for being a constant presence for us. You are always 100% available and paying attention, and it means a lot to all of us. You are one of my greatest teachers.

Garza explained how thoroughly shed been shaped by Daviss radical ideology: I have a bookshelf full of your writings. And theres something very special and powerful about what you have offered to all of us this unapologetic way of making sure that we understand how intricately connected race and class and gender is, and then pushing that up against the state and the state apparatus and having us understand how we need to fight that with the relationship between race and class and gender in shaping our strategies and our movements is unmatched, so I want to thank you for that. Thank you for shaping not just our ideas, but the fights that we have on the ground.

Garza spoke at a leftist Net Impact Conference in 2016, where she made it clear that BLM was a wider agenda than police brutality, also pointing to the wage gap, climate change, the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at the Standing Rock Reservation, and much more, arguing that at the root of these alleged problems was the capitalist system.

The closely affiliated Movement for Black Lives claimed in 2016 that Israel was an apartheid state committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Cullors has repeatedly talked about the importance of solidarity with Palestine, leading a delegation to Palestine. Cullors was one of the signatories of 2015s Black Solidarity Statement with Palestine, a thoroughly anti-Israel screed that stated in part: Out of the terror directed against us from numerous attacks on Black life to Israels brutal war on Gaza and chokehold on the West Bank strengthened resilience and joint-struggle have emerged between our movements. The statement also said that the signatories reject Israels framing of itself as a victim and, hand-waving away the countless terrorist attacks and thousands of rocket bombardments against Israel, falsely claimed that anyone who takes an honest look at the destruction to life and property in Gaza can see Israel committed a one-sided slaughter.

In the wake of Floyds death and the subsequent protests, Black Lives Matter quickly set up a petition on its website to #DefundThePolice.

We call for an end to the systemic racism that allows this culture of corruption to go unchecked and our lives to be taken, Black Lives Matter said. We call for a national defunding of police. We demand investment in our communities and the resources to ensure Black people not only survive, but thrive.

The Black Lives Matter website explains this proposal with a July post declaring: We know that police dont keep us safe and as long as we continue to pump money into our corrupt criminal justice system at the expense of housing, health, and education investments we will never be truly safe. Thats why we are calling to #DefundPolice and #InvestInCommunities.

The group argued that George Floyds violent death was a breaking point an all too familiar reminder that, for Black people, law enforcement doesnt protect or save our lives. They often threaten and take them.

BLM is clear about its opposition to President Trump and Republicans. A letter from BLMs organizing director Nikita Mitchell has lamented that we face blatant anti-Blackness, capitalist values, and imperial projects, and she decried a rise of conservatism that has resulted in a fascist president.

BLM says that it is looking to influence Novembers election, arguing that Black voters tipped the balance in the 2018 midterm elections and that moving towards 2020, we seek to increase the power of our voices and votes. The group recently launched a #WhatMatters2020 campaign aimed to maximize the impact of the BLM movement by galvanizing BLM supporters and allies to the polls in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. The campaign says that it is focused on racial injustice, police brutality, criminal justice reform, Black immigration, economic injustice, LGBTQIA+ and human rights, environmental conditions, voting rights and suppression, healthcare, government corruption, education, and commonsense gun laws.

Beyond their Black Lives Matter work, Cullors calls herself the self-described wife of Harriet Tubman and works on radical Los Angeles jail reform, while Tometi also spent years as executive director of the leftist Black Alliance for Just Immigration. Garza, Cullors, and Tometi were named three of Time Magazines 100 Women of the Year for 2013.

Black Lives Matter raises money through the ActBlue donation platform, though claims that this makes it a "shell company" for the Democratic Party are unfounded. Black Lives Matter appears to make up the majority of the donation work that Thousand Currents does, with the 2019 public audit statement for the latter group showing just over $6.4 million in total financial assets, including holding more than $3.3 million in assets for Black Lives Matter as of the end of last June. The audit shows Thousand Currents released nearly $1.8 million in donations to Black Lives Matter during the year ending on June 30, 2019.

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has pulled in huge amounts of cash since Floyds death, telling the Associated Press that it had received more than 1.1 million individual donations as of mid-June, with each donor giving an average of $33 per donation meaning the group brought in more than $33 million in less than a month. Donations have continued to roll in since then.

BLM announced funds totaling $12.5 million in recent weeks. It first unveiled a $6.5 million fund to support its grassroots organizing work on June 11, stating in a press release that it was grateful for the generosity and support of donors and that the fund would be available to all chapters affiliated with the BLM Global Network Foundation. Beginning July 1, affiliated chapters may apply for unrestricted grant funding of up to $500,000 in multi-year grants," the group said, later adding that another $6 million will go to helping black-led grassroots organizers.

In the upcoming year, we will provide resources to those new to the movement and interested in Black Liberation strategies by developing curriculum, Cullors said when announcing the new fund. In this stunning moment in American history, we will honor those lost, and those who have come before us in the fight for Black Liberation.

Radicals attempting to co-opt otherwise constructive social movements are nothing new. The far Left participated in, and in some cases infiltrated, civil rights groups without discrediting the just and necessary fight against Jim Crow. But the arguments that won the day against segregation were rooted in the best American traditions, not in overthrowing those traditions. Distinguishing Black Lives Matter the group from the growing sentiment in favor of racial justice driving the phrase's popularity is a necessary first step in repeating that history.

Jerry Dunleavy is a Justice Department reporter for the Washington Examiner .

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Who Is Black Lives Matter? - Washington Examiner

The campaign for African American rights in the United States has evolved over the years, first getting widespread attention after World War II. Also called the Civil Rights Movement, it took hold in the 1940s and 1950s when the NAACP challenged discrimination in public recreational facilities, segregation, and restrictive covenants in transportation and housing. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed public school segregation, but white citizen councils down South fought back, using economic pressures, legal maneuverings, and, sadly, violence. There is a long road still ahead for African American justice and equality.

Martin Luther King, Jr.s (MLK) first significant success was the 1955-56 bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. This nonviolent protest began when Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus. In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was unconstitutional. This led to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, which Reverend King helped establish.

The Reverends other major accomplishments included leading sit-ins and marches in Birmingham, Alabama, and Washington, D.C. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 when he was just 35 and donated his prize money to the Civil Rights Movement.

Black Power leader Malcolm X founded the Organization of Afro-American Unityin the early 1960s but was assassinated in 1965. MLK fell to the same fate in 1968. After the Vietnam War, black politicians made some gains on local and national levels as the years passed, but racism and discrimination against blacks remain in the fabric of U.S. society up until this day. There are many organizations that fight against this, and one of the newer ones is #BlackLivesMatter.

On February 26, 2012, a 17-year old African American boy, Trayvon Martin, was walking home when he was fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who is white and Hispanic. Zimmerman stated that he was acting in self-defense, but the nation protested in anger. There were no eyewitnesses, but Zimmerman did have cuts on his head and a bloody nose. He was charged with second-degree murder, and a high-profile trial followed. He was later acquitted of all charges.

#BlackLivesMatter (BLM) was formed in 2013 in response to Zimmermans acquittal. This Black-centered political movement is the brainchild of three women: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. It has grown into a global organization, the Black Lives Matter Foundation. It is based in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

According to their website, their mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. They work to improve Black lives by stopping violent acts and advocating for Black innovation, imagination, and joy. This is done through political and ideological intervention, with a focus that also includes women, and members of the LGBTQ+ as well as all others who were not represented by other organizations. #BlackLivesMatter does not have a central structure of a hierarchy and works through local chapters. The organizations regularly hold protests to combat police brutality, inequality, racial profiling, and killings of blacks.

#BlackLivesMatter had a significant presence in August of 2014 after an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Eighteen-year-old Mike Brown had allegedly stolen a pack of cigarillos from a shop and pushed a store clerk. The police officer who responded stopped Brown and a friend, and there was an altercation. Although reports vary, the officers gun was fired; the incident was filmed on CCTV.

Browns death created a nationwide controversy, and The Black Life Matters Ride took place the following Labor Day weekend. More than 600 people participated. On June 3, 2020, KMBC News reported that Ferguson elected their first black female mayor, Ella Jones.

BLM participated in two critical events in 2018. That June, activists gathered at the San Diego, CA border to protest the inhuman treatment of refugees and migrants who were seeking asylum in the United States. In September, BLM marked the sixth-month anniversary of Stephon Clarks murder with 175 caskets. This event included members of the NAACP, Immigration Coalition, BSU Sacramento City, and other organizations.

In February of 2019, BLM joined a group of almost 60 celebrities plus human rights organizations to get Shyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph released. Their actions were aimed at the alleged targeting of Black immigrants. Abraham-Joseph was being detained by Immigration Customs and Enforcement.

After George Floyd was killed on May 25 in Minneapolis, protests erupted in different countries, and along with countless others, BLM members took to the streets. Demonstrators gathered at Londons Hyde Park and marched towards Victoria Station, and others were at Trafalgar Square, kneeling in solidarity. Additional demonstrations took place in Berlin, Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, and of course, the U.S.

Signs reading Black Lives Matter and Racism is a Pandemic could be seen everywhere. While most of the protests started out peacefully, many degenerated into riots, with violence, arson, and widespread looting. Major U.S. cities have had to set up curfews; others have called in the National Guard. A Las Vegas police officer was shot on June 2 and is in grave condition. There have been several deaths reported as well:

Dozens of other incidences like this are flooding the media, and many calls for peaceful protests are being ignored. On June 2, a social media post claimed that Black Lives Matter riots would be taking place in Fresno, California. Black leaders there spoke out to let people know this was fake.

In light of what happened and the ongoing protests, #BlackLivesMatter has a new goal, a national defunding of police. They are calling for people to advocate for investing in communities and resources to help Black people not only survive but thrive.

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What Is The Black Lives Matter Movement? - WorldAtlas

Speaking from Madrid, President Obama said the Black Lives Matter movement shouldn't be judged by the actions of a few non-peaceful protestors.

Black Lives Matter rally in Oklahoma City, Sunday, July 10, 2016.(Photo: Sue Ogrocki, AP)

After a week of conflict in the United States that included the police-involved shooting deaths ofAlton Sterling andPhilando Castile,and the subsequent sniper attack thatleftfive Dallas police officers dead,the Black Lives Matter movement once again hasbeen at the center of controversy.

But lost in the discussion is a sense of what Black Lives Matter isand what it stands for.

What is Black Lives Matter?

Black Lives Matter was founded by PatrisseCullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi as botha hashtagand a political projectaftertheacquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin. Distraught at the verdict, Oakland, Calif., community activist Garza wrote an impassioned Facebook plea ending with the words "black lives matter." Cullors, a community organizer from Los Angeles, shared the Facebook post and put a hashtag in front of those three words. The ideals expressed the economic, political and socialempowerment ofAfrican-Americans resonated nationwide.

Since 2013, Black Lives Matter has movedfromsocial media platforms to the streets, morphing into an organization andamovement that gainednationalrecognitionduring demonstrations after the 2014 police-involved killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

How does Black Lives Matter work?

What setsBlack Lives Matter apart from other social justice groups, however,is its decentralized approach and reliance almost solely on local, rather than national, leadership. Cullors said organizing is often spontaneous and not directed byone person or group of people.

We dont get (people) onto the streets, they get themselves onto the street, she said.

Black Lives Matteris made up of a network of local chapters who operate mostly independently. Chelsea Fuller of the Advancement Project, a nonprofit that works with grassroots justice and race movements, said that local organizing is a powerful way to address poverty, access to housing and jobs, community policingand other issues that intersect with systemic racism.

We cant affect national narrative, we cant affect national legislation that comes down and affects local people if local people dont push back and take a stand about what's happening in local communities, Fuller said.

Black Lives Matter founder Patrisse Cullors shares her thoughts about race in America.

What does Black Lives Matter stand for?

Themost important directive of Black Lives Matter,Cullors said,is to deal with anti-black racism,to push for black peoples right to live with dignity and respect and be included in theAmerican democracy that they helped create.

This is about the quality of life for black people, for poor people in this country, said Umi Selah, co-director of Dream Defenders in Miami. Though not officially affiliated, Dream Defenders and similar social justice groups often align themselves with Black Lives Matter.

The conception that all were mad about is police and policing is a strong misconception, Selah said.In fact, Black Lives Matter released a statement last weekcondemning the shooting in Dallas as counter to whatthe movement is trying to accomplish.

Ralikh Hayes of Baltimore BLOC echoed Selah, saying that Black Lives Matter is not inherently anti-police or anti-white, nor does the phrase Black Lives Matter means other lives aren't important.

We are against a system that views people as tools, Hayes said.

Cullors also hears claims that Black Lives Matterlacks direction or strategy. But Cullors said the strategyis clear -- working to ensure that black people live with the full dignity of theirhuman rights.

We are not leaderless, were leader-full, she said. "We're trying to change the world...developing a new vision for what this generation of black leaders can look like."

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Black Lives Matter: A primer on what it is and what it ...

Many see the slogan Black Lives Matter as a plea to secure the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all Americans, especially historically wronged African Americans. They add the BLM hashtag to their social-media profiles, carry BLM signs at protests, and make financial donations.

Tragically, when they do donate, they are likely to bankroll a number of radical organizations,founded by committed Marxists whose goals arent to make the American Dream a reality for everyonebut to transform America completely.

This might be unknown to some of the worlds best-known companies, which have jumped on the BLM bandwagon. Brands like Airbnb and Spanx have promised direct donations.

True, others like Nike and Netflix have shrewdly channeled their donations elsewhere, like the NAACP and other organizations that have led the struggle for civil rights for decades. These companies are likely aware of BLMs extreme agenda and recoil from bankrolling destructive ideas. But it requires sleuthing to learn this.

Companies that dont do this hard work are providing air cover for a destructive movement and compelling their employees, shareowners and customers to endorse the same. Just ask BLM leaders Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal TometiIn a revealing 2015 interview, Cullors said, Myself and Alicia in particular are trained organizers. We are trained Marxists. That same year, Tometi was hobnobbing with Venezuelas Marxist dictator Nicols Maduro, of whose regime she wrote: In these last 17 years, we have witnessed the Bolivarian Revolution champion participatory democracy and construct a fair, transparent election system recognized as among the best in the world.

Millions of Venezuelans suffering under Maduros murderous misrule presumably couldnt be reached for comment.

Visit the Black Lives Matter website, and the first frame you get is a large crowd with fists raised and the slogan Now We Transform.Read the list of demands, and you get a sense of how deep a transformation they seek.

One proclaims: We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear-family-structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and villages that collectively care for one another.

A partner organization, the Movement for Black Lives, or M4BL, calls for abolishing all police and all prisons. It also calls for a progressive restructuring of tax codes at the local, state and federal levels to ensure a radical and sustainable redistribution of wealth.

Another M4BL demand is 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.

This agenda isnt what most people signed up for when they bought their Spanx or registered for Airbnb. Nor is it what most people understood when they expressed sympathy with the slogan that Black Lives Matter.

Garza first coined the phrase in a July 14, 2013, Facebook post the day George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin. Her friend Cullors put the hashtag in front and joined the words, so it could travel through social media. Tometi thought of creating an actual digital platform, BlackLivesMatter.com.

The group became a self-styled global network in 2014 and a fiscally sponsored project of a separate progressive nonprofit in 2016, according to Robert Stilson of the Capital Research Center. This evolution has helped embolden an agenda vastly more ambitious than just #DefundthePolice.

The goals of the Black Lives Matter organization go far beyond what most people think. But they are hiding in plain sight, there for the world to see, if only we read beyond the slogans and the innocuous-sounding media accounts of the movement.

The groups radical Marxist agenda would supplant the basic building block of societythe familywith the state and destroy the economic system that has lifted more people from poverty than any other. Black lives, and all lives, would be harmed.

Theirs is a blueprint for misery, not justice. It must be rejected.

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The Agenda of Black Lives Matter Is Far Different From the ...

Black Lives Matter protests on June 6

Sources: Crowd Counting Consortium, Edwin Chow and New York Times analysis | Note: The Times partnered with Edwin Chow, an associate professor at Texas State University, to count the protesters based on available aerial images from June 6 and added those estimates to data from the Crowd Counting Consortium. Counting efforts are still ongoing, so the map is not comprehensive and totals shown are an average of high and low estimates.

The recent Black Lives Matter protests peaked on June 6, when half a million people turned out in nearly 550 places across the United States. That was a single day in more than a month of protests that still continue to today.

Four recent polls including one released this week by Civis Analytics, a data science firm that works with businesses and Democratic campaigns suggest that about 15 million to 26 million people in the United States have participated in demonstrations over the death of George Floyd and others in recent weeks.

These figures would make the recent protests the largest movement in the countrys history, according to interviews with scholars and crowd-counting experts.

Note: Surveys are of the adult population in the United States

Ive never seen self-reports of protest participation that high for a specific issue over such a short period, said Neal Caren, associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who studies social movements in the United States.

While its possible that more people said they protested than actually did, even if only half told the truth, the surveys suggest more than seven million people participated in recent demonstrations.

The Womens March of 2017 had a turnout of about three million to five million people on a single day, but that was a highly organized event. Collectively, the recent Black Lives Matter protests more organic in nature appear to have far surpassed those numbers, according to polls.

Really, its hard to overstate the scale of this movement, said Deva Woodly, an associate professor of politics at the New School.

Professor Woodly said that the civil rights marches in the 1960s were considerably smaller in number. If we added up all those protests during that period, were talking about hundreds of thousands of people, but not millions, she said.

Even protests to unseat government leadership or for independence typically succeed when they involve 3.5 percent of the population at their peak, according to a review of international protests by Erica Chenoweth, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School who co-directs the Crowd Counting Consortium, which collects data on crowd sizes of political protests.

Precise turnout at protests is difficult to count and has led to some famous disputes. An amalgam of estimates from organizers, the police and local news reports often make up the official total.

But tallies by teams of crowd counters are revealing numbers of extraordinary scale. On June 6, for example, at least 50,000 people turned out in Philadelphia, 20,000 in Chicagos Union Park and up to 10,000 on the Golden Gate Bridge, according to estimates by Edwin Chow, an associate professor at Texas State University, and researchers at the Crowd Counting Consortium.

Source: EarthCam

Across the United States, there have been more than 4,700 demonstrations, or an average of 140 per day, since the first protests began in Minneapolis on May 26, according to a Times analysis. Turnout has ranged from dozens to tens of thousands in about 2,500 small towns and large cities.

Protests against racism and

police violence per day

Protests against racism and

police violence per day

Protests against racism and

police violence per day

Source: Crowd Counting Consortium

The geographic spread of protest is a really important characteristic and helps signal the depth and breadth of a movements support, said Kenneth Andrews, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

One of the reasons there have been protests in so many places in the United States is the backing of organizations like Black Lives Matter. While the group isnt necessarily directing each protest, it provides materials, guidance and a framework for new activists, Professor Woodly said. Those activists are taking to social media to quickly share protest details to a wide audience.

Black Lives Matter has been around since 2013, but theres been a big shift in public opinion about the movement as well as broader support for recent protests. A deluge of public support from organizations like the N.F.L. and NASCAR for Black Lives Matter may have also encouraged supporters who typically would sit on the sidelines to get involved.

The protests may also be benefitting from a country that is more conditioned to protesting. The adversarial stance that the Trump administration has taken on issues like guns, climate change and immigration has led to more protests than under any other presidency since the Cold War.

According to a poll from The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation, one in five Americans said that they had participated in a protest since the start of the Trump administration, and 19 percent said they were new to protesting.

More than 40 percent of counties in the United States at least 1,360 have had a protest. Unlike with past Black Lives Matter protests, nearly 95 percent of counties that had a protest recently are majority white, and nearly three-quarters of the counties are more than 75 percent white.

Percentage of population that is white

in counties that had protests

Percentage of population that is white

in counties that had protests

Percentage of population that is white

in counties that had protests

Percentage of population that is white

in counties that had protests

The New York TimesSource: 2018 Census via Social Explorer; Crowd Counting Consortium protests database; New York Times protests database

Without gainsaying the reality and significance of generalized white support for the movement in the early 1960s, the number of whites who were active in a sustained way in the struggle were comparatively few, and certainly nothing like the percentages we have seen taking part in recent weeks, said Douglas McAdam, an emeritus professor at Stanford University who studies social movements.

According to the Civis Analytics poll, the movement appears to have attracted protesters who are younger and wealthier. The age group with the largest share of protesters was people under 35 and the income group with the largest share of protesters was those earning more than $150,000.

Half of those who said they protested said that this was their first time getting involved with a form of activism or demonstration. A majority said that they watched a video of police violence toward protesters or the Black community within the last year. And of those people, half said that it made them more supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The protests are colliding with another watershed moment: the countrys most devastating pandemic in modern history.

With being home and not being able to do as much, that might be amplifying something that is already sort of critical, something thats already a powerful catalyst, and that is the video, said Daniel Q. Gillion, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has written several books on protests and politics.

If you arent moved by the George Floyd video, you have nothing in you, he said. And that catalyst can now be amplified by the fact that individuals probably have more time to engage in protest activity.

Besides the spike in demonstrations on Juneteeth, the number of protests has fallen considerably over the last two weeks according to the Crowd Counting Consortium.

But the amount of change that the protests have been able to produce in such a short period of time is significant. In Minneapolis, the City Council pledged to dismantle its police department. In New York, lawmakers repealed a law that kept police disciplinary records secret. Cities and states across the country passed new laws banning chokeholds. Mississippi lawmakers voted to retire their state flag, which prominently includes a Confederate battle emblem.

It looks, for all the world, like these protests are achieving what very few do: setting in motion a period of significant, sustained, and widespread social, political change, Professor McAdam said. We appear to be experiencing a social change tipping point that is as rare in society as it is potentially consequential.

Continued here:

Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S ...

Backlash against Black Lives Matter includes branding it as Marxist.

The attack has been made in recent weeks by Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trumps personal lawyer; Ben Carson, Trumps secretary of Housing and Urban Development; conservative talk show host Mark Levin; and PragerU, which has more than 4 million Facebook followers.

Arent sure what Marxism is, actually? It was developed by 19th century German philosopher Karl Marx and is the basis for the theory of communism and socialism. "Marxism envisioned the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism by the proletariat (working class people) and eventually a classless communist society," Encyclopedia Britannica and Oxford Reference say.

These days, Marxism usually means analyzing social change through an economic lens, with the assumption that the rich and the poor should become more equal.

In a recently surfaced 2015 interview, one of the three Black Lives Matter co-founders declared that she and another co-founder "are trained Marxists."

But the movement has grown and broadened dramatically. Many Americans, few of whom would identify as Marxists, support Black Lives Matter, drawn to its message of anti-racism.

"Regardless of whatever the professed politics of people may be who are prominent in the movement, they dont represent its breadth," said Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Princeton University African American Studies professor and author of "From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation."

"There are definitely socialists within the movement, as there have been in every single social movement in 20th century American history and today. But that does not make those socialist movements, it makes them mass movements," she said.

Trained Marxists

In a Facebook post labeling Black Lives Matter as a Marxist movement, PragerU included a video interview with Carol Swain, a Black conservative and former professor at Vanderbilt and Princeton universities. She said, "Now, the founders of Black Lives Matter, theyve come out as Marxists."

Swain alluded to Black Lives Matters three co-founders, who are still featured prominently on the groups website Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi. Their primary backgrounds are as community organizers, artists and writers. Swain, though, was referring to a newly surfaced interview Cullors did in 2015, where she said:

"We do have an ideological frame. Myself and Alicia, in particular, are trained organizers; we are trained Marxists. We are superversed on, sort of, ideological theories. And I think what we really try to do is build a movement that could be utilized by many, many Black folks."

We didnt find that Garza and Tometi have referred to themselves as Marxists. But the book publisher Penguin Random House has said Garza, an author, "describes herself as a queer social justice activist and Marxist."

What Black Lives Matter says

Black Lives Matter was formed in response to the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in Florida. The group calls its three co-founders "radical Black organizers."

The project started with a mission "to build local power and to intervene when violence was inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes," the groups website says. "In the years since, weve committed to struggling together and to imagining and creating a world free of anti-Blackness, where every Black person has the social, economic and political power to thrive."

Included on its list of beliefs is one that has drawn criticism as being consistent with Marxism:

"We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and villages that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable."

A spokesperson for Black Lives Matter; Kailee Scales, managing director at Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation;and the three co-founders did not reply to our requests for information.

"On one level, these are just put downs," University of Massachusetts Amherst economics professor Richard Wolff, author of "Understanding Marxism," told PolitiFact about the attacks on Black Lives Matter.

If people declare themselves Marxists, they are in effect Marxists, but "there really is no standard" of what Marxism is, "theres no way to verify anything."

Black Lives Matter today

Its important to recognize that movements evolve.

Noting Cullors declaration of being Marxist trained, "one has to take that seriously: if the leadership says it is Marxist, then there's a good chance they are," said Russell Berman, a professor at Stanford University and a senior fellow at its conservative Hoover Institution who has written critically about Marxism.

But "this does not mean every supporter is Marxist Marxists often have used useful idiots. And a Marxist movement can be more or less radical, at different points in time," he said.

Black Lives Matters "emphatic support for gender identity politics sets it apart from historical Marxism," and the goals listed on its website "do not appear to be expressly anti-capitalist, which would arguably be a Marxist identifier," Berman added.

The groups support is broad.

Even as some Americans express support for socialism, most view it negatively, and few of the supporters would identify themselves as Marxist.

Meanwhile, 50% of registered voters support Black Lives Matter as of mid-July, up from 37% in April 2017, according to Civiqs, an online survey research firm.

In July, the New York Times reported that Black Lives Matter may be the largest movement in U.S. history, as four polls suggest that about 15 million to 26 million people in the United States have participated in demonstrations over the death of Floyd and others in recent weeks. (That does not account for similar protests overseas.)

"I am fairly convinced these are mostly attempts to smear anti-racist activists. I think in some media, Marxist is dog-whistle for something horrible, like Nazi, and thus enables to delegitimize/dehumanize them," Miriyam Aouragh, a lecturer at the London-based Westminster School of Media and Communication, told PolitiFact.

Black Lives Matter "is not an organization, but a fluid movement; it doesnt actually matter if one of its founders was a liberal, Marxist, socialist or capitalist."

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PolitiFact | Is Black Lives Matter a Marxist movement?

BLM activists: Meet 9 people behind the Black Lives Matter movement - CNN

Story by Chris JamesVideos by CNN Digital Productions

Updated 7:00 AM ET, Sat February 6, 2021

Summer 2020 saw a paradigm shift in America's ongoing struggle for racial justice. In the midst of a deadly pandemic and historic levels of unemployment, people from all walks of life took to the streets to protest the deaths of Black citizens by police.

From George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020, to Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and many others before them -- countless names in recent memory have been transformed into hashtags, human representations of a public safety system that time and time again has shown brutality and indifference toward Black lives.

But in the process of turning that devastating pain of untimely death into a purposeful rallying cry to "say their names," millions of peaceful and passionate voices have banded together in solidarity to demand a better society. These proud voices are inspiring hope, building community and breaking barriers.

The Tipping Point

The world watched in horror as then-Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against the neck of George Floyd for more than seven minutes -- killing him while being filmed in front of horrified bystanders.

This single incident on May 25, 2020, would soon reverberate around the world. In a matter of days, Minneapolis became the epicenter of a reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement.

City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, 31, an artist turned politician, said he saw the crisis as an opportunity to reimagine public safety while actively listening to the concerns of constituents who felt victimized by an increasingly militarized system of policing.

For many residents, anger toward the status quo boiled over into what Kandace Montgomery, 30, founder of the Black Visions collective in Minneapolis, calls "righteous rage." As calls for equitable change are being rooted in reinvestment toward housing, education and health care, Ellison said he hopes Minneapolis can serve as an example for cities around the country.

Life of Activism

Over generations in America, the movement for civil rights and racial progress has been carried and organized by legions of dedicated Black women.

After the killing of Breonna Taylor by police in Louisville, Kentucky, in March 2020, it was largely the work of Black women that brought the case nationwide attention, as they took to the streets imploring as many people as possible to "say her name."

Nupol Kiazolu, 20, is one of these women, a self-described member of the "Trayvon Martin Generation."

As a sixth grader, she led a silent protest at her middle school. Armed with a bag of Skittles and a bottle of iced tea -- which Trayvon was carrying when he was killed nearly nine years ago -- and wearing a hoodie with the message "Do I Look Suspicious?" written on the back, Kiazolu said she understood at an early age the mere act of existing while Black could be deadly.

Nearly a decade later, she's become one of the most well-known activists in the Black Lives Matter movement and a member of the so-called Louisville 87.

After being arrested at a sit-in on the lawn of the Kentucky attorney general and fearing for her life in jail, she said she felt further emboldened to continue loudly and unapologetically spreading her message for justice.

A Social Movement

One fundamental difference between 2020's protest movement and others that have come before has been the increasingly sophisticated presence of social media.

With its growing influence over young people across the globe, the TikTok app became a particularly unlikely yet massive tool for activism and education.

Prior to the summer of 2020, TikTok influencer Jackie James, 17, said she had never felt the need to post about politics or social justice. But watching the video of George Floyd's death changed everything.

She began opening up about the racism she'd experienced as a Black teenager in Fargo, North Dakota -- urging her audience of 2.6 million to understand the devastating realities of inequality.

Across the country in Santa Clarita, California, Sofia Ongele, 20, was also employing TikTok to help her peers understand the Black Lives Matter movement. Using her expert coding skills as a so-called "hacktivist," she's created web apps and automatic email templates to help people more seamlessly lobby for change, helping mobilize thousands of her followers in calling for racial justice.

The Ally

One of the defining aspects of 2020's protest movement was its sheer diversity. At rallies around the country, people of all different races united in defense of Black lives.

Amid the pandemic, the very act of attending a demonstration in itself represented physical sacrifice. But for undocumented immigrants who joined the protest, they were taking on an entirely different level of risk by adding their voice for change.

Getting arrested at a protest could quickly jeopardize immigration status.

Mxima Guerrero, 30, is a DACA recipient who was taken into custody after attending a protest in Phoenix. If it weren't for the mobilization of her fellow activist community and quick-acting legal representatives, she could have been deported to Mexico.

While some might wonder why anyone would choose to risk so much just to attend a protest, Guerrero is adamant that she was doing the right thing. She said she sees the struggles of Black and brown people as interconnected, and is working with young organizers to inspire the next generation of leaders.

A Political Future

For some members of Generation Z, the death of George Floyd gave birth to an impassioned and unexpected sense of activism.

Chi Oss, 22, had never attended a protest until the summer of 2020.

Unable to forget the horrific video of Floyd's death, he said he found a therapeutic outlet for that pain and sadness on the streets of New York.

Protesting helped Oss process underlying trauma that he said had built up over his years living as a Black man in America. Within just a few weeks, he became one of the loudest voices calling for systemic change. And after months of organizing and engaging with community, he decided to take his activism a step further by announcing his candidacy for the New York City Council. If elected, Oss would be the youngest elected official in the city's history. In deciding to engage in democracy, he said he hopes to inspire others to realize the power of claiming a seat at the political table.

Going Viral

Within social movements of the digital age, there are often specific moments caught on camera that encapsulate much larger issues.

Whether they spark agreement or outrage, the raw emotion captured in these viral videos resonates with the millions of people who watch, share, debate and analyze.

In 2015, Kwame Rose, now 26, ascended to this viral fame after a confrontation with Fox News' Geraldo Rivera that was filmed by a bystander. Rivera had gone to Baltimore in the wake of Freddie Gray's death in police custody, in April 2015, which prompted massive protests and unrest.

Rose was livid that so many news outlets had come to his city to report on the burning buildings and not the millions of people living in poverty for generations.

This video would catapult Rose to the forefront of activism, changing his life in both positive and negative ways. Today he is dedicated to a guiding principle of helping people in his city, working with World Central Kitchen to provide meals for those in need during the Covid-19 crisis.

Creating Community

At a New York Pride Month protest called Brooklyn Liberation, thousands of people stood together wearing all white to call attention to the epidemic of violence against the Black trans community.

One of the attendees of that rally, Vanessa Warri, 29, said she sees her mere existence as a Black trans woman in America as a form of resistance in a society that has historically failed to ensure her safety. She's using her platform as a social welfare MSW/PhD candidate at UCLA to give a voice to a community that has long been silenced.

Warri said she is committed to this work not just for her own future, but to help improve the lives of an untold number of transgender people who continue to face immense challenges in a predominantly transphobic society.

The Survivor

Inner-city Black communities were hit particularly hard in 2020, and not just by the deadly coronavirus pandemic and an unprecedented economic crisis.

Aalayah Eastmond, 19, is a college student in DC who has experienced the terror of gun violence firsthand. As a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, she witnessed the murder of her classmates and managed to escape death herself.

In the aftermath of that mass shooting, she discovered her voice as a gun violence prevention activist. She's made it her mission to advocate for increased investment in inner-city communities, and says she sees it as the only way to effectively stop the disproportionate impact of gun violence on Black Americans.

Video producers: Chris James, Isabela Quintero, Alice Yu and Allison BrownEditors: Nick Blatt, Jesse Threatt and Amy Marino

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These BLM activists are fighting for the civil rights of the next generation - CNN

One of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, Patrisse Cullors, is joining the Boulder-based Motus Theater Thursday evening to read the story of an undocumented immigrant.

Cullors is the latest prominent American to participate in "Shoebox Stories: UndocuAmerica."

The Democratic freshmen are teaming up to tell the real stories of undocumented immigrants as part of a free online series for the Motus Theater, a Boulder-based nonprofit that creates dialogue around issues through creative expression.

She will read the personal story of Armando Peniche and his experience with racial profiling and the dangers that inflammatory rhetoric toward Mexican immigrants poses to him and his American-born son.

Cullors will be joined at 6 p.m. on Zoom by Afro-Latino musical theater star Carlos Heredia and slam poet Dominique Christina, whoholds five national poetry slam titles, including winning the National Poetry Championship and two Women of the World Slam Championships.

The series' programs are free.Registerby clicking here.

Joey Bunch: "Im not prone to say much about TV, but heres something worth talking about thats significant to Colorado and significant to the country: compassion in patriotism."

The series' first six episodes have featured, respectively, Colorado U.S. Reps. Joe Neguse and Jason Crow, actor John Lithgow, musicians Neil Young and Yo_Yo Ma, activist Gloria Steinem, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and celebrity chef Jos Andrs, who conservative commentator Ann Coulter called a "nut foreigner" in December over the New York chef's request that the Biden administration create a U.S. hunger relief czar.

On March 11, the series will hear from Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo.

After Thursday night's reading, Cullors and Peniche will talk about the stories of police brutality survivors, followed by a discussion with Nana Gyamfi, executive director of Black Alliance for Just Immigration, and Sydelle OBrien, an undocumented Black activist.

Miller Hudson: "Listening to their stories, which were filled with hope and aspiration far more than any anger or recrimination, the complexity and injustice of their undocumented status became apparent."

Read more here:

Boulder's Motus Theater to hear about immigration from Black Lives Matter founder - coloradopolitics.com

The five leaders named, Anthony Vickery, 21, Kongie Richardson, Keith Joseph, 24, Raelyn Person, 23, and Jason Bryson, were responsible for organizing one of Lompoc'slargestdemonstrations for social justice following the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a Caucasian police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes on Memorial Day.

The death of Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck for more than 8 minutes on Memorial Day, sparked a national response that also shook Lompoc.

The June 2 protest, which drew hundreds of participants from various racial, religious and political backgrounds, remained peaceful, according to officials, who reported that no vandalism occurred.

Both Joseph and Vickery, on behalf the their group, thanked prize sponsorsValley of the Flowers United Church of Christ, and Vickery acknowledged all the nominees for their own community outreach and acts of kindness.

"It goes beyond the award just knowing that the community can come together when it wants to," Vickery said. "Everybody is so scared to make that change, but once one person does it, it's like a ripple effect. Things can happen."

Joseph explained that although brutality is nothing new, for him the death of Floyd tookmore time to process.

"To watch someone dieslowly on camera," Joseph said, "that one was different."

In contrast to focusing on Black lives solely, Joseph said the group's efforts were meant to benefit the community as a wholeand serve as a powerful reminder that the nation's not-too-distant history was plagued by racial segregation.

While the aim to improve mental health resources for local schools remains central to his campaign, Murkison, who is Black, said he also hopes to cast a wider net on youth representation and diversity while serving on the school board.

"We just spoke from the heart," he said, recalling the intensity of the protest and the many challenges of organizing it. "It wasn't just Black lives; it's just wanting to help the community."

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Lompoc Black Lives Matter organizers awarded Valley of the Flowers Peace Prize - Lompoc Record

Black Lives Matter lives on digital oxygen. Since the movements broad inception in July 2013, the reliance on social media has been an important component of the movement. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter predates any particular organized group bearing that name, and the usage of Twitter, Instagram, and Change.org to spread information and garner support have always been central to the movements survival.

Yet in 2020, something shifted. In the months following the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, a younger generation of the American public became more involved than ever in fighting against the plights of Black, Indigenous, and people of color. And while in general this has resulted in new air for the movement, there have been those who have expressed concern over what broader implications this aestheticization has had.

Now, putting #BLM and #ACAB in ones Twitter bio is as commonplace as putting ones astrology signs there. The posting of black squares on Instagram on and after June 2nd, as well as the obligatory protest selfie, have become staples in our visual-heavy culture. TikTok perhaps the largest new platform to emerge between BLMs inception and today became the site of numerous sounds, skits, and other short visual media dedicated to the movement. Some have begun to voice concern that these actions have turned the movement and its aims into an aesthetic as opposed to a movement of pure ideology.

It absolutely has, but theres a silver lining to be seen here. In America, ideas and political movements have two fates: They either become aesthetics, or they die.

Americas Always Been A Circus

It is important to recognize that this phenomenon is nothing new. The aestheticization of political movements in America both in the sense of creating visual artwork in reference to political movements and in the sense of a group banding together under commonly held aesthetic signifiers in reference to that movement, such as mottos dates back to the movements that started this country. As the Stamp Act was enacted and then quickly repealed by the British parliament in the 1760s, teapots were made and sold to reference and show support for the anti-Parliament cause. Considering the broadly important social aspect of tea drinking in colonial America, the parallels to modern-day activist aesthetics are closer than one may initially think.

We see this pattern repeat throughout American history. The phrase Votes for Women and related pieces of wearable propaganda surrounding it, from sashes to pins to buttons, had become so synonymous with the idea of womens suffrage that the suffragette and her related clothing had become an actual character in the public zeitgeist. Abolitionism also shared in this usage of public images by private citizens, such as in the case of William Hackwoods kneeling slave cameo and related images being placed on everything from pinholders to sugar bowls; similar images and slogans appeared during the Black civil rights movements of the 20th century. This happens again and again, from 1960s Black civil rights movements to 1970s queer liberation to modern day leftist movements and queer movements.

There are, of course, reasons for this. It allows people to unite easier, under common signifiers of cause. In general, catchy images and slogans work better than long, wordy, purist arguments, and this political aestheticization became increasingly effective as our nation became more image-heavy and image-conscious, especially during times when it was fashionable to be in favor of these movements and their adherents, just like today.

Trumpism vs. Romneyism

For a modern-day example, we can look at the difference in aesthetic viability and longevity between President Donald Trump and Sen. Mitt Romneys followings. The circumstances surrounding eachs presidential bidsare relatively similar. Neither one of them was necessarily the most popular pick heading into the Republican primaries, and neither had held federal office before. Furthermore, both had previously run for president, and both had downplayed their party affiliation, putting themselves as candidates for a broader American populace Most importantly, however, both Trump and Romney ran for president in the age of Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram the same environment that ignited the Black Lives Matter movement..

Yet for some reason, President Trump was able to cultivate an aesthetic around his campaign. From #MakeAmericaGreatAgain to the red MAGA hat to catchy, repeatable slogans like Fake News, the president was able to create such a powerful aesthetic around his movement to the point that the Trump supporter, much like the suffragette in decades past, is an identifiable character in the American zeitgeist. This aesthetic, perhaps as much as the presidents ideas, has allowed vastly different kinds of people to unite under one flag, even when the presidents concrete legislative initiatives remain unclear. Even the Trump rally selfie has become a nationwide phenomenon, not to mention the increasingly frequent Instagram bio tagline of #MakeAmericaGreatAgain.

There is no analogue to this within the Romney campaign. Romneys campaign slogan, Believe in America, is technically more original than Trumps Make America Great Again (which was used in the past by Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and even Bill Clinton), but it does not nearly have the longevity that MAGA boasts. The Romney supporter or the Romney campaign as aesthetic beings may exist within the broader aesthetic of moderate conservatism, but theyre not as ubiquitous or as well known as their Trumpist counterparts.

This difference shows in their longevity. When Romney lost, he had no steam to keep him in politics and didnt re-enter office until 2019. Trump, by contrast, has enough sustainable support now that he could simply run in the primaries again in 2024 and have a good chance at winning. One could say that Trump is a more interesting candidate than Romney, or that he had an easier opponent, but the Trump aesthetic has gone a long way towards keeping the movement alive, regardless or whether everyone who wears a red hat truly believes all that its inventor says.

A Silver Lining

Do not misunderstand: Turning Black Lives Matter into an aesthetic has had a lot of negative consequences. It has resulted in people being more preoccupied with how they are perceived by the digital public than their impact on the movement itself. It has resulted in some protestors not really knowing or caring about why they march and other protestors feeling like their voices are being stifled. The supreme aesthetic signifier of Black Lives Matter, the black square on your Instagram feed, actually ended up being detrimental to the activists trying to spread information. All of these effects need to be mitigated as soon as possible.

There is, however, a silver lining to all this. It means the movement survives. In our cancel-culture world, people, especially celebrities, posting black squares to seem woke retroactively reinforces in the public consciousness the idea that Black Lives Matter is correct and should be supported. It means that #BlackLivesMatter gets that much more widespread airplay. It means that more and more people will be forced to reckon with their biases and racist beliefs they hold because they have no choice but to see it. It means we are able to hold people accountable when they simply pretend to fight for equality and further engage in conversations about that equality.

We live in a nation where, for better or for worse, the image is mightier than the word. We live in a decade where, even more so than before, the country has begun to recognize the plight of the African-American in particular, and of American Black, Indigenous and people of colour in general. Black Lives Matter, as a movement, came into existence at the confluence of that nation and that decade. One could argue, as was the case with previous movements that attempted to solve the racism, sexism, bigotry, and aggression that has pervaded this nation, that Black Lives Matter was going to end up as an aestheticized ideal from the get go. The nature of the American activist, however, is that of unrelenting resilience. Hopefully, the aesthetic along with hard work of activists and protestors will allow the movements aims to eventually be more fully realized.

Image by Clay Banks is licensed under theUnsplashed License.

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#BlackLivesMatter: A Silver Lining to the Movement's Aesthetic - Harvard Political Review

LIVINGSTON, NJ In celebration of Black History Month, the Livingston Committee for Diversity and Inclusion (LCDI) recently announced a line-up of events that began on Saturday with the dedication of a Black Lives Matter banner that is now displayed on S. Livingston Avenue in the pergola in front of Roosevelt Plaza.

Although February has been recognized as Black History Month by U.S. presidents since 1976 to honor the achievements of African Americans and their central role in U.S. history, this is the first time the Township Livingston will be showcasing events. Following Saturdays kickoff event, the LDCI will continue to host programs throughout the month that include virtual presentations for residents of all ages, features about local black-owned businesses and more.

In attendance for the outdoor ceremony on Saturdaywhich was organized by LCDI Black History Month sub-committee co-chairs Amy Ipp and Keith Hineswere Livingston Mayor Shawn Klein; Deputy Mayor Ed Meinhardt; Councilman Michael Vieira, council liaison to the LCDI; council members Al Anthony and Rudy Fernandez; Livingston Board of Education members Vineeta Khanna and Seth Cohen; Darryl Jefferies, president of the Orange and Maplewood branch of NAACP; Essex County Commissioner Patricia Sebold; and a handful of Livingston residents.

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Black history is American history, said Klein, acknowledging that Black Americans should be credited with building much of this country. The Black experience has been under-described. We need to cast a spotlight on Black history and struggle [] as well as on the accomplishments of African Americans.

Although she recognized that Livingston has always been a welcoming town, Ipp state that this banner says it loud and clear while also raising awareness about the systemic racism that exists within the community and beyond.

One of our members, Simone Anthony-Brown, showed us a photo of the same banner, which they have in Maplewood, said Ipp. Our committee enthusiasticallyadopted this idea and proposed it to the town council, which approved it unanimously

There is unfinished work to be done, and the banner is one small contribution to the effort to fully include all people by recognizing basic human rights.

LCDI co-chairs Alyse Heilpern and Saba Khan thanked the Black History Month committee for their hard work, stating that the banner will demonstrate the townships commitment to ensuring that all community members are valued and accepted.

According to Ipp, the dedication of the banner was the first of several events for Black History Month that have been in the works since early January.

We are excited to bring these events to Livingston and look forward to honoring the rich history and culture African-Americans have contributed, she and Hines said in a joint statement.

Anthony-Brown, a local artist and owner of Express Yourself Studios in Maplewood, will present a virtual series showcasing the artwork of African-American Master Artists, including Faith Ringgold on Feb. 9, Jacob Lawrence on Feb. 16 and Howardena Pindell on Feb. 23. Each one-hour program will start at 5 p.m. and include a discussion and art project geared toward children ages 6 to 10. The links to register for these sessions will be posted on the LCDI Facebook page.

A cooking demonstration with Kai Campbell, local chef and owner of Newark restaurants Walla Burger, The Yard and Bragmans Deli will take place on Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m. and will be moderated by Livingston High School graduate Shaylah Brown, a reporter at The Bergen Record.

The Healing Power of Hip Hop with Dr. Raphael Travis will be presented on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. The program is based on his book by the same title.

Professional storyteller Shirley Johnson of Sankofa Stories will share African folktales on Friday, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m.

Additionally, a series of readings appropriate for various ages will be recorded and posted on the LCDI Facebook page throughout the month, beginning with Mayor Klein oratingThe Undefeatedby Kwame Alexander. The Black Student Union at Livingston High School will be reading additional selections.

Also throughout the month, LCDI will be featuring local black-owned businesses, and residents will be able to test their knowledge with the Black History Month Facts of The Day that will run on the two electronic bulletin boards located in front of the Livingston Public Library on S. Livingston Avenue and the Livingston Senior and Community Center on Hillside Avenue.

Ahead of Black History Month, members of LCDI recently served as moderators and guest speakers during a virtual presentation about systemic racism.During the event, panelists defined systemic racism, discussed the history of systemic racism and shared their personal experiences with systemic racism.CLICK HERE to view the presentation on the Livingston Education! Facebook page.

For additional details about upcoming LCDI Black History Month events, refer to the LCDI Facebook page BY CLICKING HERE or contact LCDI atlcdi.livingstonnj@gmail.com.

The full Black Lives Matter banner ceremony can be viewed BY CLICKING HERE.

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Livingston Kicks Off Black History Month Events with Black Lives Matter Banner Dedication - TAPinto.net