*After a slew of recent criticism directed at the Black Lives Matter movement, representatives of the effort have had enough.
Members of the Black Lives Matter Network responded to the negativity leveled at them from Fox News pundits and various right-winged TV personalities via a statement issued to Jet. In the release, the members encouraged the public to not be “fooled” by those who are “making false accusations that put Black lives at risk.”
“They are TV personalities sensationalizing tragedy to further their own agenda at the cost of reason, justice, and the democratic rights of Black people everywhere to demand an end to police violence and mass incarceration,” the members stated in the release while dispelling the notion that Black Lives Matter targets individual police officers.
“Don’t be fooled. We’re targeting the brutal system of policing, not individual police.
“The Black Lives Matter Network is a love group,” the statement added about the movement, which launched in 2013. “We seek a world in which ALL Black lives matter, and racial hierarchy no longer organizes our lives or yours. This is a vision of love. As Black survivors of White supremacy, our hearts go out to all victims of violence. We know all too well the pain and suffering of losing loved ones to interpersonal and institutional violence.
As the release concluded, members called for an “immediate end to the centuries of brutality against Black people by the police and by white vigilantes” while issuing “demands of love” that include economic policies to rebuild black families and communities affected by “violent and regressive rules that make the 1% wealthy and impoverish or indebt the rest of us.”
The members’ response comes amid barbs thrown at Black Lives Matter earlier this week from former “The View” co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In her eyes, the “Fox & Friends” co-host felt the (BLM) network should be classified as a hate group. Hasselbeck’s fellow Fox host Bill O’Reilly followed suit with vowing to “put an end” to the Black Lives Matter movement once and for all.
Scroll below to read what was said by the network, which has 26 chapters based around the country, in response to the criticism:
“Instead of reporting the news, FOX pundits and other right-wing TV personalities are making false accusations that put Black lives at risk. Those responsible for these distortions are not actual journalists. They are TV personalities sensationalizing tragedy to further their own agenda at the cost of reason, justice, and the democratic rights of Black people everywhere to demand an end to police violence and mass incarceration.
This is a typical Right Wing reaction to the growing influence of a movement for Black lives. There is no real story here, except the same old unsavory attempt by sensationalist right wing media to delegitimize a grassroots racial justice movement that is growing in power and influence.
Don’t be fooled. We’re targeting the brutal system of policing, not individual police. The Black Lives Matter Network seeks to end the system of policing that allows for unchecked violence against black people. Right-wing portrayals of this as targeting of individual police are deliberate distortions to derail growing public debate about white supremacy, the ongoing epidemic of violence against black people, and the need to end institutionalized racism in the policing and criminal justice systems.
The Black Lives Matter Network is a love group. We seek a world in which ALL Black lives matter, and racial hierarchy no longer organizes our lives or yours. This is a vision of love. As Black survivors of White supremacy, our hearts go out to all victims of violence. We know all too well the pain and suffering of losing loved ones to interpersonal and institutional violence. That’s why we call for an immediate end to the centuries of brutality against Black people by the police and by white vigilantes. We also demand economic policies that rebuild Black families and communities destabilized by violent and regressive rules that make the 1% wealthy and impoverish or indebt the rest of us. These are demands of love.
Black Lives Matter Network”
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