Put it in writing and do something about it—that’s the message from Black Lives Matter, a movement spurred by the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin. Following recent high-profile cases of police brutality against blacks, the invigorated cause continues to gain momentum as the presidential election approaches, demanding that hopefuls in both parties recognize and vow to fight racial injustice.
On the national level, activists confronted Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders during public speeches, successfully pushing Sanders to release a racial injustice platform within a day of the protest. Locally, activists drove Republican candidate Jeb Bush from the stage last week by chanting “black lives matter” when he dodged a question about police reform during his town hall meeting in historically black West Las Vegas.
“We’re at this point of, ‘I need to get in your face and stay in your face for you to hear me,’” says Erika Washington, who attended the town hall as a Las Vegas Urban League executive board member. “The main goal [for Black Lives Matter] thus far would be for the black agenda to be at the top of the political platforms. We’re talking about policing, we’re talking about prison reform, we’re talking about underserved urban communities in every city.”
Laura Martin of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada attended the Bush meeting as a Black Lives Matter activist with others from Unity Vegas, Fight for $15, Planned Parenthood and the immigration rights movement. In Las Vegas, the cause is loosely organized, she says, but the message is the same. “It’s about raising awareness and making the presidential candidates put into writing a plan to address injustices. We don’t just want them to say words that they’ve been coached on.”
Blacklivesmatter.com lists five national demands, mostly focused on police reform. The undated statement calls for justice for Michael Brown of Ferguson, Missouri; for the U.S. Attorney General to release the names of all officers who have killed black people within the past five years; for a national policy to redress anti-black law enforcement; for a decrease in spending on law enforcement; and for the federal government to stop supplying weapons to police.
According to an August 9 update, blacklivesmatter.com does not currently endorse a presidential candidate, nor is it affiliated with a political party. As for who might be the most agreeable candidate, “It’s too soon to say,” says Rafael Lopez, a pro-Black Lives Matter immigration rights activist who attended the Bush talk.
Protesters weren’t responding to a particular local tragedy, Lopez says, and he’d like to keep it that way. “We can’t just wait for a moment when something horrible happens here. We need to be proactive, not just reactive.”
