The radical black power group Black Lives Matter is feeling slighted after Joe Biden assembled several civil rights groups to talk about Justice Department issues and didn’t invite them.
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Rep. Cedric Richmond met with several civil rights groups yesterday.@blklivesmatter—as the largest social and justice movement in history—was not invited.
https://t.co/RYdoXmvSpw via @politico— Black Lives Matter (@Blklivesmatter) December 9, 2020
Biden and the Democrats created this monster and empowered it. And now, they’re going to have to see if they can control it.
Actually, BLM is experiencing some growing pains. There’s a struggle going on between some of the more radical BLM chapters and the national leadership. The issues are familiar: goals, direction, and money. But the crux of the matter is who’s going to have the power. And as radical as the leadership of Black Lives Matter might seem, they’re relative moderates compared to some of the street thugs, grifters, and radical revolutionaries in various BLM chapters across the country.
But for the moment, BLM leaders want to play the Washington game. To do that, they need a seat at the table. They rightly believe that the riots last summer energized the black community to get out and vote for Joe Biden. Now they want power as a reward for getting Biden elected.
Underscoring the intraparty tension, BLM co-founder Alicia Garza recently responded to former President Obama’s concerns about the movement alienating voters.
“What I want to hear from former President Barack Obama if he’s going to use his vast platform for these conversations, what I want to hear from President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, is: What are you going to do?” she asked. “And that’s what we haven’t heard amid all this hoopla about ‘defund the police.’”
The bill has come due and now it’s time for BLM to collect.
She added that “[t]his movement, which really helped to push [Biden’s] campaign over the finish line, was used as a political football all throughout this election cycle and that was true in 2016 as well.”
“There’s a lot of valuable airspace that was used to be condescending to the very people who have opened the imagination of what this country can be — and how we can get closer to the promise that this country has offered to so many,” she said.
Biden probably resents the idea that BLM pushed his campaign “over the finish line.” He thought he won because of his brilliant strategy of hiding in his basement. The last thing he needs right now are radicals pounding on his door wanting to be invited to dinner with the other big kids.
Not only is BLM craving recognition in Washington, but they’re also looking to reorganize and become more what they imagine a “mainstream” group should be.
That’s changing. After a summer of protests that made Black Lives Matter a household name, those atop the movement are making a series of moves to alter its power structure: organizing a political action committee, forming corporate partnerships, adding a third organizing arm and demanding an audience with President-elect Joe Biden.
The moves have triggeredmutiny in the ranks. Ten local chapters are severing ties with the Black Lives Matter Global Network, as the national leadership is known. They are furious that Patrisse Cullors, its remaining co-founder, named herself executive director of the group and made these decisionswithout their input. That’s a move, that, to some, signaled a rebuke of its “leaderful” structure, which gave every member an equal say and kept any one — including a founder — from overreaching.
The fracturing of the coalition shows the group’s growing pains. Resentment is natural as Cullors and others seek to cash in on their success. They’ve got corporations rattled and now is the time to hit them up. And a political action committee will make them a player in the political field as well.
They can put on all the lipstick they want to, but they’re still just radical pigs. And Biden will try his best to keep them at arms length throughout his entire presidency.
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