The Black Lives Matter movement will not let up on pressuring a Biden administration, she said. Tlaib, who supports Black Lives Matter, said she is optimistic about the chances of police reform passing under a Biden administration. In the meantime, Cullors said she’s yet to hear back from Biden or Harris. Any stimulus bill Congress passes, they argue, should specifically provide relief to the Black, Latino and Native communities disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus. Leaders with the Movement for Black Lives say they plan to push the Biden-Harris administration to immediately end cash bail and grant amnesty to protesters targeted by the National Guard under President Trump. “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.” “We want to be heard and our agenda to be prioritized,” Cullors wrote. In it, Cullors made it clear that she and movement leaders intended to hold their administration accountable to their demands. Hours after the presidential race was called, Cullors sent Biden and Kamala Harris a letter requesting a meeting. If he won, they would spend the first 100 days of his administration urging him to enact reforms that millions of protesters had been calling for in the streets. If Joe Biden lost, leaders and strategists said, they planned to focus on local races, fighting to elect reform-minded mayors, city and county commissioners. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, lead organizers with the Movement for Black Lives strategized how they would respond to its outcome. And we’re not going to allow people to tinker around the edges and tell us that it’s progress.” “We want to be heard and our agenda prioritized” “We aren’t going to take our eyes off of that. “The idea that you need to make murder illegal when murder is already illegal, is ridiculous,” Byrd said. Jessica Byrd, a political strategist and lead organizer with the Movement for Black Lives, said the bill is a positive sign but “not enough,” because it does not address police budgets or the harm wrought on overpoliced communities, which tend to be communities of color. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Subscribe on Google Podcasts ![]() It passed the House in June and is unlikely to pass the Senate, which drafted its own unsuccessful version. ![]() The bipartisan bill, introduced by Congressional Black Caucus chair Karen Bass (D-Calif.), would end qualified immunity in civil rights suits against police, form national standards for officers’ use of force and establish a database to track officer offenses. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, drafted in response to the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, represents Democrats’ efforts to meet protesters’ demands halfway. It remains atop the movement’s list of legislative priorities. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), but efforts to get it on the DNC platform in August failed. In July, leaders with the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of more than 50 social justice organizations affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement, unveiled the four-part legislative proposal, which calls for mitigating police violence through divestment from law enforcement and investment in communities of color. The BREATHE Act is one example of this dynamic in play. “However, can Black Lives Matter get a bill passed in the House of Representatives? No, I don’t think so.” “Black Lives Matter, through media and social media, can organize marches all across the world,” said Illinois Rep. ![]() Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter leaders argue Democrats aren’t pushing hard enough with criminal justice reform, coronavirus relief and a major police funding overhaul. ![]() Many blame calls to defund the police - one of activists’ central talking points - for their down ballot losses. It doesn’t help, either, that there is growing animosity among Democrats toward the movement. As an organization, Black Lives Matter deliberately eschews a central leadership infrastructure, which makes forming consensus around their policy goals more complicated.
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