The Grind:
Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors requested a meeting with President-elect Joe Biden to discuss the movement”s agenda and lay out expectations for the incoming administration.
“Without the resounding support of Black people, we would be saddled with a very different electoral outcome,” Cullors wrote in a letter to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Saturday. “In short, Black people won this election.”
Cullors plans to hold Biden’s feet to the fire, saying that Black people “want to be heard and our agenda to be prioritized.”
The Details:
Despite making history by choosing the first female and Black vice president to be elected to office, it is yet to be seen if Biden can make good on campaign promises to create a police oversight board to combat police brutality, particularly against Black and minority people, within his first 100 days in the White House.
Police reform has been at the forefront of American politics this election season, especially after the death of George Floyd in May. Floyd died in police custody after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for over eight minutes.
His death caused a national reckoning, with some activists calling to “defund the police,” a notion that Biden has not thrown his weight behind completely, to the dismay of his more progressive supporters. Read more…