© Bria Webb / Reuters
"We demand that the government repair the harms that have been done to black communities in the form of reparations and targeted long-term investments. We also demand a defunding of the systems and institutions that criminalize and cage us," the Movement for Black Lives said in a statement released on Monday, highlighting six demands and 40 policy recommendations.
"The government, responsible corporations and other institutions that have profited off of the harm they have inflicted on black people — from colonialism to slavery through food and housing redlining, mass incarceration, and surveillance — must repair the harm done," the group said, calling for the passage of a bill designed to create a commission to study reparations for descendants of slaves.
The platform demands, among other things, reparations for the "wealth extracted from our communities through environmental racism, slavery, food apartheid, housing discrimination and racialized capitalism" as well as reparations for the "systemic denial of access to high quality educational opportunities in the form of full and free access for all black people (including undocumented and currently and formerly incarcerated people) to lifetime education."
Comment: Even if you don't call 911, you still can't be sure the cops won't shoot you. On the subject of 911 and mistaken addresses, the state the technology involved is deplorable: