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BLM’s Two-Step Strategy
Abolish was always the aim
After a white Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, an unarmed black man, riots broke out across the United States during the summer of 2020. Black Lives Matter immediately advocated for the defunding of police departments.
Democratic city councils across the country became interested in developing strategies to implement BLM’s demand. This was a sudden reversal because BLM shouted — Defund the Police — as early as 2014, but the demand was ignored because traditional black leadership was advocating for “police reform”.
Then, in 2016, a coalition of several dozen organizations affiliated with BLM wrote out their agenda for the first time since BLM was created in 2012.
BLM’s coalition leaders made two bold statements.
Statement One
BLM seeks radical transformation, not reactionary reform.
“Radical transformation” means dismantling the systems of oppression.
The next question is: What are the systems of oppression? These can be any network, framework, structure, organization, institution, or hierarchy that produces outcomes that are disproportionally harmful to black people.