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When We Say BLM, We Mean The Movement, Not The Organization
A new slogan but is the distinction possible?
After the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter demonstrators took over urban streets demanding city councils to defund the police. After months of civil unrest and unfavorable news footage, a different mantra appeared in certain circles insisting: When we say Black Lives Matter, we mean the movement, not the organization.
Sounds like dissension.
Weeks after George Floyd’s death, Rev. Al Sharpton called the — defund the police — slogan “misleading without interpretation”. Supporters claimed it meant transferring police funds to social services that are needed in black communities and it wasn’t punitive. Sharpton said, “I don’t think that anyone, other than far extremes, are saying we don’t want any kind of policing at all, any kind of public safety.” But at most BLM demonstrations there were extremist with signs that said “Abolish the Police”.
Two months after Sharpton’s comments Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot seven times by the police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Blake lived, but was paralyzed. Days after the shooting there was a — Justice for Jacob — rally in Kenosha. Thousands attended, including the Lt. Governor of Wisconsin, but one of the speakers said…