Black Lives Matter calls for economic justice in their list of demands.

[Luminous Animal]

And we will advocate for a decrease in law-enforcement spending at the local, state and federal levels and a reinvestment of that budgeted money into the black communities most devastated by poverty in order to create jobs, housing and schools. This money should be redirected to those federal departments charged with providing employment, housing and educational services.

They also call on the demilitarization of the police.

We will also demand, through the network, that the federal government discontinue its supply of military weaponry and equipment to local law enforcement. And though Congress seems to finally be considering measures in this regard, it remains essential to monitor the demilitarization processes and the corporate sectors that financially benefit from the sale of military tools to police.

http://blacklivesmatter.com/demands/

[99th_Monkey]

1. I'm liking this. BLM rocks!

This sets stage for the whole Democratic Party and ALL it's POTUS Candidates
to stand tall WITH Black Lives Matter and their entire list of demands.
... rather than using BLM to divide Democrats AGAINST one another on
the issue of race, civil rights and police murdering Blacks on our streets.

THIS ^ will tell the entire nation and the world, one of the most glaring
differences between the Democratic and GOP parties -- and it will NOT look
good for the GOP.

[lovemydog]

7. Same here 99th Monkey.

[Hydra]

2. Oh oh..

I don't think someone get the memo that we're going to be talking about economic inequality again...they were busy trying to separate the issue and throw the economics in the closet again...

[uponit7771]

3. separate the issue from what? tia

[Hydra]

14. Racism from econonic inequality. n/t

[lovemydog]

8. I don't throw either issue in the closet.

They are both important to me.

[JustAnotherGen]

27. I posted this after the protests

Remember - and a Sanders supporter was upset because they were still referencing Holder on their web site.

[lovemydog]

30. Yes, I remember.

The stuff that gets some folks upset, I laugh to keep from crying.

[frylock]

36. that was probably me..

and I see they still have yet to update their website. And despite demands to #sayhername, I still see no mention of Sandra Bland, let alone Freddie Gray, Eric Garner or any number of black people who have been murdered by the police since Mike Brown.

[JustAnotherGen]

52. Yeah but you are already against them

They could hop up and down on one leg while barking like a dog at your request and you would point out they were only hopping 15 times a minute.

And that's OKAY. You don't have to agree with them, like the movement, etc etc. I don't agree with some in the labor movement (the whole tax everyone down to making $15 an hour, don't allow people to rent, etc. etc.) I've seen - but no one is taking my Democratic Party membership away.

I'm sure we both probably agree the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, educations, and the environment. . . that's generally where I find commonality on the left with those who are not members of minority or maligned groups.

[nc4bo]

15. But they ARE separate.

But we're supposed to be Democrats, the party that can walk and chew gum at the same time.

Let's work at both.

[Hydra]

18. There's a difference between seperate and seperated

Racism/Discrimination and economic inequality have quite a few intersecting points. One of our candidates is highly invested in not dealing with the economic aspect, so tried to force the dialogue into dealing only with the racism/discrimination.

[lovemydog]

31. Thank you.

[YoungDemCA]

23. Here ya go....

[Ken Burch]

4. Does anyone here really think any candidate other than Bernie would agree to the first point?

I mean...really?

[elleng]

6. A REINVESTMENT & REHABILITATION FRAMEWORK FOR AMERICA’S CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

https://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/273156687?access_key=key-5MCeZw4hBJNNb6bQtlQM&allow_share=true&escape=false&view_mode=scroll

[bigtree]

13. you'd need to look up from your navel

from Martin O'Malley's 'Reinvestment and Rehabilitation Framework for America’s Criminal Justice System' :

Actions to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system should be accompanied by a wide range of policies that help to alleviate deeply rooted disparities in economic security and opportunity among communities of color.

Today, too many families are hurt by active discrimination. What’s more, the legacy of institutionalized discrimination—such as redlining—has amplified the disproportionate harm that the recession inflicted on communities of color. As a result, our nation has endured 30 years of worsening economic inequality.

As a nation, we must strive to remove barriers to full participation in the social, economic, and political life of our nation, once and for all. Legal equality is absolutely necessary but not sufficient – we must strive for equal opportunity and a fair shot for everyone. That means helping to ensure good jobs that provide stable incomes; universal, high-quality childcare; affordable housing and homeownership; and greater equity in our education and health care systems—for all Americans.

Governor O’Malley has already called for a number of actions that would support greater economic security and opportunity for communities of color, including:


•Raising the minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour.
•Empowering labor unions.
•Greatly expanding access to national service and job opportunities for young people.
•Ensuring young people can attend public colleges and universities debt-free.
•Passing comprehensive immigration reform.
•Investing in universal childcare.

In the coming weeks and months, Governor O’Malley will lay out comprehensive plans to address poverty and support the millions of American families striving to join the middle class, as well as put forth agendas to reform K-12 education, address homeownership and the rental crisis, and improve access to affordable healthcare.

more here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251484008

[Ken Burch]

37. OK...so you're for O'Malley.

That's what all of this has been about. What's so special about him? This is the same guy who did nothing to stop police violence against blacks the whole time he was mayor, just because he thought dealing with that would cost him some white votes in the governor's race(never mind that he never did anything significantly anti-racist or anti-police violence as governor).

Also, we're talking about the same O'Malley who gets no support at all in the polls(which means he's not going to get any in the future.

Your whole agenda is now clear...you're obsessed with knocking Bernie out of the race because, for some inexplicable reason, you think O"Malley deserves progressive votes and Bernie doesn't-even though O'Malley is sharply to Bernie's right on every issue other than guns.

[bigtree]

41. you obviously don't know (or care) jack about his efforts in Baltimore

...pretending to care about the black lives in Baltimore - crying crocodile tears about arrests for petty crimes while ignoring the lives saved and defended against the rampant violence O'Malley found and acted against in those predominately black neighborhoods. Those same black residents in those neighborhoods you're pretending to care so much about supported O'Malley repeatedly and overwhelmingly in each of his successive elections to office.

What critics fail to acknowledge is the 'abusive' impact on communities which resulted from unabated violent criminal activity in those communities as a consequence of open-air drug markets and the categories of crimes which plagued residents. Most of those arrests under 'zero-tolerance' were for petty offenses and mostly un-prosecuted.

Conflating those with the issues of violent crime and police brutality, as critics seek to do, misrepresents the challenges those communities faced and the impact of those arrests for loitering, public drunkenness, and other petty offenses which were found unconstitutional by courts. Little attention is given to sharp reductions in violent crime during his term, or the lives saved by policing efforts related to THOSE violent offenses.

There should be an equal and fair concern for the lives impacted by the criminality and killings which made Baltimore one of the most violent and deadly cities in America before he took office. In that effort to reclaim communities from the open-air drug markets which plagued the lives of citizens forced to work, school, and live there, the totality of O'Malley's administration's policing efforts reduced violent crime by over 40% -well above the national average decrease at the time of 11%. That represents 100's of lives saved. He oversaw and fought for the ending of the death penalty, commuting sentences still on death row; signed into law the decriminalization of small amounts of pot; increased drug treatment, reclaiming lives in the process...

His police dept. changed the way incidents of police misconduct was reported and handled by establishing an active review board and a hotline for reporting police abuse or misconduct. Under his term there were over 100 'reverse integrity' stings of police conducted a year. They fully staffed the civilian review board including detectives on the board to investigate claims against police. They used technology to flag abusive officers who racked up complaints.

As O'Malley said in a response to criticisms, if those had been white-majority communities, there would be no question of the swift and thorough response to drug-related crime and violence which threatened and cost black lives, many young black lives. During his time as governor, recidivism was cut significantly, and incarceration rates were actually REDUCED in his terms to 20 year lows; and voting rights were restored to 52,000 individuals with felonies.


O'Malley has a far more extensive record in office than Sanders (including as Mayor to Sander's term in that position) of successfully ACTING on the progressive issues he advocates; making real lives better and not just shouting about them from a podium.

True that your candidate has name recognition in this campaign from his years entrenched in Washington politics. That's not something I'd think would distinguish him, given the inability of D.C. politicians to make good on their rhetoric.

[Ken Burch]

45. For the record, I actually like O'Malley's proposal there.

Last edited Wed Aug 5, 2015, 11:51 PM - Edit history (1)

It doesn't make up for his let-the-cops-do-whatever-the-hell-they-want-to-young-black-men policies while mayor, but its good.

[Ken Burch]

46. You are actually defending the drug war and "zero tolerance"?

Please tell me I'm reading you wrong on that.

Do you have any idea how many lives, especially black lives, that were destroyed by treating drugs as a criminal justuce issue rather than a public health and social justice issue? How many black people lost their rights as a result of trivial "three strikes" felony convictions? How many PoC have been relentlessly harassed by white cops in the name of "fighting drugs"? How nany hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted militarizing the police in the name of the drug war?

Why do you think the drug war is now called "The New Jim Crow?

You fight drug use through education, with drug treatment centers spreading hope...not by looking the other way while the cops beat the shit out of innocent kids just because they were standing on street corners and throwing tens of thousands of mainly black people into federal prisons(a step that always destroys the lives of any it is done to.

And you especially don't defeat drug addiction by approving the police rules that killed Freddie Gray.

[bigtree]

50. you're posting things which you know little about

...and I don't think you care enough to find out the truth.

The issue behind the zero tolerance arrests was that people got arrested for petty crimes like loitering and public drunkenness; nothing to do with 'three strikes and you're out' because the complaint was that the majority were just thrown out of court and not prosecutable.

It had nothing to do with the issue of police brutality or police shootings. In fact ALL police shootings, fatal and otherwise, dropped sharply during his administration. Police were held more accountable due to the measures you so conveniently ignored that I listed above. The record under O'Malley is that drug treatment was increased dramatically. Lives were saved by the totality of his administration's policing efforts which involved much more than 'zero-tolerance' arrests.You're talking out of your ass about police brutality under his administration. None of the court actions about his zero-tolerance policy had anything to do with 'beating the shit out of innocent kids,' but you present that argument here like it's some documented fact.

This has NOTHING to do with Freddie Gray or anything related to his killing, and it's a sad reflection on your efforts in this thread and others defending your politician that you'd exploit his name here for your cheap and false political attack on O'Malley.

As for the rest of your nonsense, you have absolutely no idea what living in a drug-ridden neighborhood with the associated violence is like for the folks who have to live, work, shop, attend school...I just don't think you give a shit about those neighborhoods in my state beyond your petty politics, so...you're wasting my time.

[oasis]

48. Hard to argue with those facts, but they will anyway.

[lovemydog]

32. Martin O'Malley, for one.

See posts above mine if you don't have us all on ignore.

[Ken Burch]

38. O'Malley has no support in the polls at this point.

And there's no good reason for any progressive to switch from Bernie TO O'Malley, since that would mean switching sharply to the right and backing a candidate who is now at less than 1% support.

[romanic]

5. *bzzzzt *

The sound of malfunction from the social justice crowd saying economic justice doesn't matter is ringing in my ears.

[lovemydog]

9. LOL

Just so you know, romanic, I think they both matter a great deal. I think they are separate issues. And I think they are both extremely important.

Have a good day!

[romanic]

40. You too

And yes, both economic and social justice matters highly and equally. To choose between the two is self-defeating and quite frankly, stupid. Glad you see the importance of both.

[bobbobbins01]

10. I've been following the tweets of a lot of people associated with BLM

And regardless of what you may have heard, economic justice is pretty much the #1 topic that I see. I also see plenty of Bernie supporters(and a lot of outright disdain for Hillary). Some are wary of Bernie, but recently it looks like he's starting to connect with them as well.

[appalachiablue]

20. Thanks for reporting this.

[bravenak]

11. They have always said so.

[Bobbie Jo]

12. Key word: LIST

Last edited Thu Aug 6, 2015, 07:36 AM - Edit history (1)

What a dishonest, backhanded post.

[NCTraveler]

16. Of course they did. nt.

[ibegurpard]

17. if you're trying to play "gotcha"

With the Black Lives Matter movement then you're no better than the people on this board trying to use it to prop up Hillary Inc.

[99th_Monkey]

19. I think you're missing the most important thing about this for Democrats

This sets stage for a unified Democratic Party and ALL it's POTUS Candidates
to stand tall WITH Black Lives Matter and their entire list of demands.

THIS ^ will alert the entire nation and the world, one of the most glaring
differences between the Democratic and GOP parties -- and it will NOT look
good for the GOP.

What is it that bothers you about this again? I'm not seeing any problem
here

[Sheepshank]

21. "This sets stage for a unified Democratic Party"

ahhh yeah, this is exacatly what this thread is about...unifying jack shit. There's no unification crappola going on on this thread. It's all about finding a gotcha moment and finally finding an excuse to suppress and set aside Social reform...yet again.

FWIW, no one ever said that economic justice is not a desirable aspect of politiking. The problem is when it is the primary focus (and it's not for BLM), it's too often used to ignore, downplay and misrepresent social justice. It's presumed and assumed that economics will magically fix incareration rates among black folks, it will stop the PD from pulling over black drivers at a rate of 2:1, it will stop unarmed black youth being killed in the streets and in their churches. We all know it's not going to fix those issues.

The responses on this thread poking a stick at those you are pushing for a reform that has been ignored and set aside is disgusting.....unified, my ass.

BUT...I must admit I like the idea of pressing all candidate on BLM issues and how will likely hurt the GOP.

[99th_Monkey]

24. The only "stick" I see being used on this thread is yours

Why keep this up, when the Party is quickly unifying to fully embrace
BLM's excellent list of demands, in stark contrast to the Clown Car's
overt racism?

[Sheepshank]

25. perhaps a little read up thread will inform you of the "gotcha" comments

poor horse. Probably tired of being told that just a little more money will fix his situation...he died waiting.

[ibegurpard]

22. I have been seeing

Sentiments calling into question the authenticity of the movement because of them bringing up economic issues when certain political hacks have been trying to stoke divisions along those lines. That is how I interpreted this OP.

[JustAnotherGen]

26. I posted this after the protests

And all I got was . . .

But other things are out of date on their web site.


Folks don't want to hear it/read it because it destroys the narrative that they are paid shills for Hillary Clinton and deep in her back pocket.

Me? I thank you for posting this. It needs to be said over and over - but I suspect that the reinvestment in the black community part is going to get some folks in a twist. Me - I'm all for it. These are three black women who live, work, play, and 'activist' in the black community. Of COURSE they are going to focus on those who have black lives.

[TM99]

28. I posted this as well.

And I got nothing from Clinton supporters. A few Sanders supporters yes, did nitpick. And O'Malley supporters got it.

[Scootaloo]

29. BLM are not paid shills for Clinton

But make no mistake, there's no shortage of Clinton "supporters" who are running constantly to commandeer and exploit BLM for their candidate. Which has the unfortunate effect of creating the appearance, at times.

[jwirr]

43. What we need to watch for is that any money directed toward economic justice actually gets to

the black people and other POC. Almost every economic push for justice from the New Deal on worked for a lot of people but did not actually work in the inner city and the reservation. Out here on the reservation it is not unusual to hear that "the New Deal did not reach us."

That cannot happen again and that is were BLM and other activists can make a real difference.

[JustAnotherGen]

49. The playing field wasn't level then

And it is NOT level now.

And you are absolutely correct.

And re the Reservation - the original gate keepers of America have been left behind by everything - and that ain't right! I don't identify with my native heritage even though my grandmother and her mother learned the art of the medicine woman from her Cherokee grandmother. Miss Gracie was a Seminole - but a slave (dad's paternal great grandmother). He grew up with both of those women. They were in his heart.

So when I speak to people of color - I include you. And I ally with the gay man who could lose his home if his landlord finds out he and his "room mate" have married, and the Jewish child bullied in upstate NY, and the Latina woman making even less on the dollar than black women.

If we don't start with a level playing field - all plans fail.

[jwirr]

51. Yes. The only thing that I have seen work out here as far as economics is concerned is when we

were allowed to borrow the money for the Casino. And that only worked because we were allowed to control the whole deal. That did not happen on all reservations because some immediately hired some white person to run their casino. That defeated the whole purpose.

Here we still run it and we have become the jobs provider in the community for all races. And because we know what it is like to not have the right kind of help our wages are set at union level even though we do not have a union and all employees have health care. We proved that we could do it. Since we have money to spend in town they now hire our kids - especially after they saw us hire their kids.

We are for the most part respected here now. Our children are treated better in the schools and they graduate and go on to college. My granddaughter is on President Obama's advisory committee for Indian Health and traveled to all the reservations to teach them how to implement the ACA.

The kids are on the sports teams and welcomed by everyone. One of the benefits we have over other communities of color is that we have our own police force. That came as a result of federal law having jurisdiction over tribal land. That of course does not mean that the family that is crippled by alcohol and drug use is respected but they are not respected by the tribe either.

All of this is why I am so determined not to leave economic justice behind. In our community they came together. I have seen first hand what both can do. That is not to say that we do not still have problems with both. In the 70s one man out here had a job that was not a government works program like CETA.

Self rule is a vital part of this. In communities like Ferguson MO the vote is one of the most important tools they have. They need to take over that community and then they can hire the police, teachers and deal with many aspects that are not in the hands of the state or federal government. Our change came from being able to determine that direction for our own community. That is what a level playing field looks like.

BTW my family is also both black and Native with a few other races thrown in. I have a very Native looking grandson who is the local rapper.

[Comrade Grumpy]

33. Now we can talk about economic justice?

This is pretty rich after the shellacking economic justice people took here.

[Ken Burch]

39. Yeah....we're owed an apology for the "economic justice supporters don't care about racism" meme.

There's never been any justification for that implication.

[arcane1]

34. Agreed 100%, on all counts

[WillyT]

35. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[jwirr]

42. Excellent - very reasonable. Thank you for the post. Hits all the things that are very important to

my family.

[Doctor_J]

44. My advice would be to stop attacking Sanders then

Focus instead on republicans and dinos