Is Black Lives Matter turning socialist?
A new policy agenda puts BLM well to the left of Clintonite liberals
At the socialist caucus during the Democratic National Convention, various speakers emphasized that any left-wing movement must concentrate on racial justice. This is due not only to the fact that Bernie Sanders lost the Democratic primary because he did not win black voters, but also because American minorities make up a disproportionately large chunk of the working class. If any movement centered around providing justice to the bottom of the income distribution is to succeed, it simply must recruit black and brown people. Luckily, it already seems to have a willing partner.
A coalition of groups affiliated with Black Lives Matter, called The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), recently released a remarkably detailed platform that should be very familiar to Sanders' revolutionaries. The most comprehensive look yet at the very sharp policy thinking developing in Black Lives Matter, it consists of six major sub-topics: criminal justice reform, reparations, local control, political reform, investment, and economic justice. Not all are classical socialism, of course. The part on criminal justice will be familiar to anyone who has been paying attention to developments since Ferguson, as will the section on reparations for readers of Ta-Nehisi Coates. The sections on local control and political reform are interesting, but ancillary to this particular debate.
But the remaining sections all add up to a hugely aggressive — and firmly leftist — economic program. It's got big progressive tax increases, federal job programs, environmental rehabilitation, breaking up the big banks, land reform, renegotiation of trade agreements, an increase in federal worker protections, federal help for black-owned institutions, universal health care, protection of workers' right to organize, and more.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This last item is a significant one. As Douglas Williams points out:
Unions are the traditional foundation of left-wing politics — and were largely abandoned by the Democratic Party during the turn to neoliberalism in the 1990s. This platform goes well beyond Clinton-style liberalism; at times, it basically mainlines Bernie Sanders.
The point here, though, is not to claim victory in an internecine spat between liberals and leftists. This is good policy and good politics. As I have argued many times, while the data on police violence badly needs improvement, there is a virtually ironclad circumstantial case that economic deprivation is a big part of the reason black people suffer disproportionately at the hands of cops and prisons. Poor people are vastly more heavily policed than middle-class ones.
And it's not just the criminal justice system. As of 2014, the uninsurance rate for black Americans is 4 points higher than for whites. As Williams points out, some 15,000 blacks die from complications of diabetes alone every year. The black unemployment rate is reliably about twice that of the white one. Median black wealth is a mere 12 percent that of median white wealth. What we call "the economy" is what governs much of daily life, from where we live to what we eat. Any politics focused on justice must take that into account.
And while many of the economic planks are black-specific, such as federal investment in the most devastated black communities, many others are universal. Universal healthcare would be just that. And union rights in particular must be extended to the entire working class. Black workers were disproportionately not unionized even during the high tide of the New Deal, in large part because of the prejudice of white union bosses and members. This was a disastrous mistake that fatally undermined unions' strategic position. No broad-based union movement can survive with big chunks of the working class left unorganized — and hence able to serve as low-wage competition or scabs.
This also broadens the political appeal of the M4BL agenda. It is only right and proper for black Americans to receive special consideration in some respects. But in a country that is still over 60 percent white, there must be buy-in from a big fraction of the white population in order for such a program to have a chance of actual passage. Universal benefits and worker protection fit that role.
All in all, this is a highly promising development. Black Lives Matter is not fizzling out. On the contrary, it is maturing into an enduring movement with a set of sophisticated policies that would provide real benefits not just to blacks, but America as a whole.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.
-
LA-to-Las Vegas high-speed rail line breaks ground
Speed Read The railway will be ready as soon as 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel's military intelligence chief resigns
Speed Read Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva is the first leader to quit for failing to prevent the Hamas attack in October
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 23, 2024
Cartoons Tuesday's cartoons - Gen Z remonstrated, plastic recycling, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published