*A coalition affiliated with the Black Lives Matter Movement have called for criminal justice reforms and reparations for slavery in the United States in its first policy platform released on Monday.
Last week, over 60 independent Black Lives Matter organizations released a platform addressing issues facing African Americans: criminal justice reform (putting an end to the death penalty), education reform, jobs programs, overturn politics, more and better mental health services — and on top of all that, reparations.
The agenda was released days before the second anniversary of the slaying of Michael Brown, the unarmed black male who was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown’s death, along with other fatal police shootings of several unarmed black males over the past two years, have fueled the growing racial unrest across the nation, and sparked national debate about the racist criminal justice system in America.
“We seek radical transformation, not reactionary reform,” Michaela Brown, a spokeswoman for Baltimore Bloc, one of the organizations that worked on the platform, said in a statement.
“As the 2016 election continues, this platform provides us with a way to intervene with an agenda that resists state and corporate power, an opportunity to implement policies that truly value the safety and humanity of black lives, and an overall means to hold elected leaders accountable,” Brown said.
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Baltimore Bloc is among more than 50 organizations that developed the platform over the past year, including Black Alliance for Just Immigration, the Black Youth Project 100 and the Black Leadership Organizing Collaborative, notes The Huff Post.
This is the first time these black-led organizations linked to the Black Lives Matter movement have come together to write a comprehensive policy platform.
