Despite indications that the “Defund the Police” movement had a negative impact on Democrats’ election success, leaders of Black Lives Matter are petitioning for a meeting with an incoming Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration, and demanding that Biden support the “BREATHE Act,” which includes a “roadmap’ to abolishing law enforcement and a demand for reparations.
The Act, which BLM touts as “a radical reimagining of public safety, community care, and how we spend money as a society,” is its central legislative effort and represents a list of demands that align only with the aims of far-left legislators.
But, Fox News reports that BLM’s founders, including self-identified Marxist Patrisse Cullors and their “Squad” allies in Congress — notably Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) — are pressing for the BREATHE Act to pass Congress and receive a rubber stamp from any Biden White House.
“Black Lives Matter activists are pressuring Democrats to embrace the BREATHE Act, which includes a section requiring a ‘roadmap for prison abolition.'” the outlet reports Sunday.
“Cullors, who has written a letter to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris requesting a meeting, told The Hollywood Reporter she is requesting that the new administration work to pass the BREATHE Act within the first 100 days,” Fox notes.
Although the report only notes a “summary” of the BREATHE Act’s, the Act’s campaign website notes that it includes a full divestment of “federal resources” from law enforcement — defunding the police and immigration enforcement on a federal level — and ending incarceration, a priority that also includes the “full decarceration of federal detention facilities within 10 years and enacts a moratorium on all new federal prison, jail, immigrant and youth detention construction.”
The act suggests that any money saved by not enforcing the country’s criminal laws be rerouted to minority communities to address income inequality and other progressive pet issues.
Cullors penned an op-ed for “Teen Vogue” last week that makes it clear that she not only expects the Biden administration to pass the BREATHE Act, she believes Joe Biden and Kamala Harris should use the legislation as a means of “repaying” support from the black community.
“What is abundantly clear is Black voters tipped the scales in favor of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, especially in Rust Belt battleground states,” Cullors wrote. “It’s a testament to our communities that the same people who have been treated the worst by our democracy still showed up to save it. We congratulate President-elect Biden and particularly Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, on becoming the country’s first woman — a Black woman — to serve as Vice President. This historic win is a testament to the work Black women have been doing in the streets, in this campaign, and at every level of politics. On Jan. 20, 2021, the sun will rise on an America that is no longer a global embarrassment. New work will begin.”
Biden, at least, has been reticent to engage BLM. On the campaign trail, he dithered on the subject of defunding the police — and issue that, The Wall Street Journal reports, cost Democrats dearly in statewide and local elections — and his “transition team,” taking shape despite the contested election results, has yet to respond to Cullors’ demands.
“Black Lives Matter Global Network sent a letter to the Biden-Harris team to really ask for a seat at the table,” Cullors noted in her op-ed. “We have not heard back from them. I really hope my first fight with this administration isn’t whether they will meet with us.”