READ: The Movement for Black Lives’ Policy Platform

By Kenrya Rankin Aug 01, 2016

Just days after the Republican and Democratic parties held national conventions that put forward their respective plans for America, The Movement for Black Lives has released its own platform.

Released today (August 1), “A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice,” details the collective vision of the organizations that strategize under the banner of The Movement for Black Lives. Per the platform:

Black humanity and dignity requires Black political will and power. In response to the sustained and increasingly visible violence against Black communities in the U.S. and globally, a collective of more than 50 organizations representing thousands of Black people from across the country have come together with renewed energy and purpose to articulate a common vision and agenda. We are a collective that centers and is rooted in Black communities, but we recognize we have a shared struggle with all oppressed people; collective liberation will be a product of all of our work.

“A Vision for Black Lives” is organized around six top-line policy planks:

End The War on Black People: We demand an end to the named and unnamed wars on Black people—including the criminalization, incarceration and killing of our people.

Reparations: We demand reparations for harms inflicted on Black people: from colonialism to slavery through food and housing redlining, mass incarceration and surveillance.

Invest-Divest: We demand investments in the education, health and safety of Black people, instead of investments in the criminalizing, caging, and harming of Black people.

Economic Justice: We demand economic justice for all and a reconstruction of the economy to ensure Black communities have collective ownership, not merely access.

Common Control: We demand a world where those most impacted in our communities control the laws, institutions and policies that are meant to serve us

Political Power: We demand independent Black political power and Black self-determination in all areas of society.

Each point of the platform takes a deep dive into the issue, bringing in research and resources; individual targeted actions at the local, state and federal levels; links to work that is already being undertaken toward achieving the goal; and even model legislation, where it exists.

Demos Action and Mijente partnered with the coalition to create a Spanish version of the platform, which you can read here.

The group’s website encourages backers to voice their support of the proposed policies and start campaigns to address their aims. There are also more than 30 policy briefs available for download.

Colorlines’ publisher, Race Forward, is among the platform’s endorsing organizations.