Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Nearly one year after protests that rocked America\u2019s cities and helped propel Joe Biden\u2019s ride to the White House, Black Lives Matter activists aren\u2019t the Washington power players they envisioned themselves to be.<\/p>\n
The Biden administration has neither granted them a meeting months after they requested one, nor have any names of activists been listed in White House visitor logs<\/a>. (Those logs, it should be noted, just cover the first couple of weeks in office.) Their leaders are absent from police reform discussions on the Hill. And their legislative proposal, the BREATHE Act<\/a> \u2014 which codifies the reallocation of funds from law enforcement to communities of color \u2014 has yet to catch on outside of a small circle of progressives in Congress, including Democrats Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, who have backed it.<\/p>\n The issues that brought Black activists into the streets \u2014 and the national spotlight \u2014 have not gone away. Far from it. Police continue to kill Black and Latino Americans at higher rates than white Americans<\/a>. Since November, 47 state legislatures have proposed or passed<\/a> bills that effectively limit access to the ballot for low income, Black and Latino voters. And a growing number of Republican-led legislatures have passed bills limiting protesters\u2019 rights \u2014 and absolving those who antagonize or harm them.<\/p>\n Now, leading Black activists say those issues aren\u2019t getting the hearing they deserve.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was grassroots and base building organizations that put our issues at the forefront. That\u2019s who delivered this win to the administration,\u201d said Amara Enyia, policy director for the Movement for Black Lives. \u201cAt minimum, those folks should be given an audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of the disconnect may be the cultural gap between activists \u2014 for whom justice is an absolute, but attainable ideal \u2014 and politicians, who deal with the messy realities of governing, forging compromise, and accepting incremental wins. Many BLM leaders, for instance, pushed to \u201cdefund\u201d city police departments, only to find little appetite among lawmakers for what was widely seen as a politically suicidal position.<\/p>\n On Sunday, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) signaled that he was willing to water down<\/a> qualified immunity, which currently shields officers from civil liability for misdeeds, in order to pass some sort of policing reform legislation.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I will never sacrifice good on the altar of perfect. I just won’t do that,\u201d Clyburn told CNN. \u201cI just won\u2019t do that. \u2026 Sometimes you have to compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n So while, at the outset of the new Congress, movement leaders stressed they wanted to play a role in enacting policy change, and insisted they weren\u2019t interested in empty rhetoric or piecemeal reforms, they\u2019re now reassessing that approach as frustration sets in.<\/p>\n Now, where there was once more momentum behind the push for sweeping systemic change, bureaucratic policy hurdles and political calculations have pushed activists with the Movement for Black Lives back to the sidelines.<\/p>\n While this has forced activists to refocus their efforts, they maintain that their organizing is multi-dimensional. And they\u2019ve amassed a sizable war chest. The Black Lives Matter Global Network, armed with more than $90 million in fundraising following last summer\u2019s protests, has channeled those funds into initiatives and campaigns. One, launched in February, targets police unions and police budgets–efforts that have the most heft at state and local levels.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve also used that funding to publicize their assessment of Joe Biden\u2019s performance as he passed the 100-day mark. A recent advertisement<\/a> paid for by the Black Lives Matter Global Network, criticized the administration\u2019s handling of police reform. The ad, which aired in Washington, D.C., for a limited time, specifically condemns what they see as Biden\u2019s lack of action on the transfer of military equipment to law enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are the people who elected Biden,\u201d the ad says. \u201cIt\u2019s time he started acting like it.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked for comment, a White House official did not specify where talks with movement leaders stand. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly explain the administration\u2019s stance, said there is an \u201copen and ongoing dialogue\u201d between senior White House officials and leaders of the movement as well as with legacy civil rights organizations.<\/p>\n Movement leaders also met with members of Congress early in the planning stages for the Justice in Policing Act last summer and asked for a platform to outline the BREATHE Act, several activists said. However, even those they view as allies on the Hill \u2014 including Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), who is spearheading police reform discussions \u2014 were unwilling to diverge from the bill\u2019s core tenets.<\/p>\n As members of Congress continue to hash out a bill to pass with enough Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, activists say they have not been included in any of those discussions.<\/p>\n Melina Abdullah, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and one of the movement\u2019s first lead organizers, said movement leaders have not abandoned their national advocacy work.<\/p>\n She pointed to a number of allies in Congress like Bass with whom she and other leaders have had \u201ccritical conversations” in the past about the movement’s role in policymaking.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things we’re looking at moving forward is having a better relationship [with lawmakers],\u201d Abdullah said. \u201cSo rather than lawmakers making laws without the input of a movement that gives traction to them, we want to do a better job of coordinating on the front end.\u201d<\/p>\n But complicating things is the fact that movement leaders stand vehemently against the Justice in Policing Act<\/a>, which Congress drafted as a response to their protests. They argue that instead of holding officers accountable, the bill \u2014 which passed the House in March \u2014 actually gives more funds to law enforcement. Moreover, activists say, police de-escalation training, universal body cameras and data to track use of force, all provisions of the Justice in Policing Act, don\u2019t go far enough.<\/p>\n The bill \u201crequires that police be the fixers of their own problems,\u201d said Karissa Lewis, national field director for the Movement for Black Lives. \u201cAnd we know that that just has not been a successful strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the Movement for Black Lives has come out in favor of some national policies that have implications for the work they do on the state level. Activists point to both the For the People Act<\/a> and John Lewis Voting Rights Act<\/a> as critical to their work. If passed, the bills would curb a number of the provisions in state laws that limit access to the ballot.<\/p>\n Organizers said they were happy to hear Senate Majority Leader \u00b4 say that he would like to pass a major voting rights bill by August, though it’s not clear how he would do so without reforming Senate rules.<\/p>\n And there are activists who are continuing their work locally. A national platform, they say, was never one of their chief goals. Following an unsuccessful effort to reallocate police funds in Minneapolis last summer, activists there say they\u2019re doubling down on their push for more comprehensive public safety plans that give community members more power.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know the history of the failure, where we’re expecting [police] to reform themselves,\u201d said D.A. Bullock, a lead organizer with the Minneapolis-based group Reclaim the Block. \u201cWe know that’s not possible. We’re looking to a more fundamental change in the way we do public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Nor do they see Derek Chauvin\u2019s conviction as the final chapter following last year\u2019s organizing against police violence and systemic racism under the umbrella of a \u201cracial reckoning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are still asking this question of, \u2018is anything coming?\u2019 Yes, it’s coming. It’s happening on the local and state level,\u201d said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party and lead organizer with the Movement for Black Lives.<\/p>\n Still, Mitchell added that he and other lead organizers feel they are \u201cduty bound to ensure that [police reform] happens on the federal level.\u201d<\/p>\n Mitchell called for Biden to issue more executive orders and make full use of the bully pulpit to pressure Congress to act quickly on criminal justice reform as discussions around the Justice in Policing Act seem unlikely to conclude in time for Biden\u2019s May 25 consensus deadline.<\/p>\n Federal legislation, activists argue, should address the root causes of the issue: A system of law enforcement that disproportionately harms communities of color. And that means they\u2019ll continue to push for a public safety overhaul — and lobby those members of Congress willing to hear them out.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re not interested in easy solutions, and we’re not interested in nibbling around the edges,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cThis is an urgent and real crisis for us.\u201d<\/p>\n