The Black Lives Matter movement that has come to be associated with recent race riots following the death of George Floyd has become an influential…
The Black Lives Matter movement that has come to be associated with recent race riots following the death of George Floyd has become an influential player in U. S. politics, as it has gained a following by claiming Blacks are systematically targeted for demise.
The radical left-wing movement, which calls for defunding the police and providing blacks with “reparations” because their ancestors were enslaved before the Civil War, has grown so powerful that Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser had its name painted in huge yellow letters on the asphalt of 16th Street NW in front of the White House in time for a large protest June 6. That sign has inspired imitation with such signs planned for all five New York City boroughs.
Black Lives Matter (BLM) commands respect for its political pull on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill, but Democratic lawmakers are vastly more supportive of it than Republicans. Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican and 2016 presidential candidate, stood out on the GOP side by marching with protesters from the movement recently.
The Democratic National Committee officially endorsed Black Lives Matter in 2015 and has becoming increasingly supportive of the identity politics-driven activism that became common during the Obama years. Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama honored the movement by repeatedly inviting its leaders to the White House.
President Donald Trump, like politicians across the country, has condemned the killing of Floyd. He said June 1 that he was “an ally of all peaceful protesters.”
But on the campaign trail in 2015 he made it clear he was not a fan of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I think they’re trouble. I think they’re looking for trouble,” he said. “I looked at a couple of the people that were interviewed from the group.”
“I saw them with hate coming down the street last week talking about cops and police, and what should be done to them. And that was not good. And I think it’s a disgrace that they’re getting away with it.”
This movement now at the center of often-violent protests in cities across the United States grew out of the death of black teen Trayvon Martin.
On April 11,2013 George Zimmerman was charged with the second-degree murder of Martin, but the case against him eventually fell apart as it became clear that Martin had been the aggressor. A jury acquitted Zimmerman in July 2013.
The case against Zimmerman was the “seminal race hoax of the Obama years,” said documentary filmmaker Joel Gilbert.
