In one of the funnier and most ironic misfortunes to come the way of the Democrats heading into the 2024 election season, on Tuesday, July 23, Black Lives Matter (BLM) released a statement demanding that the Democratic National Committee organize a national, virtual primary in the wake of President Joe Biden dropping out and appointing Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.
As background President Biden said, in a post on X announcing his decision, “My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
In any case, BLM, in its statement demanding a convention, said, “Black Lives Matter demands that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) immediately host an informal, virtual snap primary across the country prior to the DNC convention in August. We call for the Rules Committee to create a process that allows for public participation in the nomination process, not just a nomination by party delegates. The current political landscape is unprecedented, with President Biden stepping aside in a manner never seen before. This moment calls for decisive action to protect the integrity of our democracy and the voices of Black voters.”
Explaining what issues they had with the DNC processes, BLM then said, “While Joe Biden wasn’t our preferred candidate, we cannot ignore the troubling actions of the Democratic Party: The DNC refused to host debates during the primary, even though a vast majority of Democratic voters wanted them. This would have likely allowed America to see the decline of Joe Biden in 2023. The DNC changed the primary schedule and created rules that made it almost impossible for non-Biden candidates to appear on the ballot, effectively clearing the field of any challengers to the incumbent president. Following the primary where millions of Black voters weighed in, after one poor debate performance, the DNC Party elites and billionaire donors bullied Joe Biden out of the race.”
They then said that they see the attempt to replace Biden with Kamala as manipulation of Democrat voters, saying, “Now, Democratic Party elites and billionaire donors are attempting to manipulate Black voters by anointing Kamala Harris and an unknown vice president as the new Democratic ticket without a primary vote by the public. This blatant disregard for democratic principles is unacceptable. While the potential outcome of a Harris presidency may be historic, the process to achieve it must align with true democratic values. We have no idea where Kamala Harris stands on the issues, now that she has assumed Joe Biden’s place, and we have no idea of the record of her potential vice president because we don’t even know who it is yet.”
A bit later in the statement, BLM made a point many others have also made about “democracy” and the DNC, saying, “For the past few years, the Democratic Party has proclaimed that “democracy is on the ballot” in an effort to persuade Black voters to participate in the upcoming general election. They have presented this as the most serious election for democracy in our lifetimes. However, democracy isn’t just an ideal to be protected against Republicans; it must also be safeguarded from erosions within the Democratic Party. Calls for “unity” cannot come at the expense of democracy. The Democratic party, which has been the loudest in defending democracy, is now poised to commit some of the most undemocratic maneuvering to avoid listening to the will of the voters.”
Quoted in the statement was Shalomyah Bowers, a Black Lives Matter leader, who said: “This is not an attack on Kamala Harris or Black women, and right now we aren’t questioning Kamala’s qualifications or capabilities. This is about the nominating process. Those of us who care about the principles of democracy cannot be serious about installing Kamala Harris and an unknown vice president as the Democratic nominee without any semblance of a people-powered process. Not delegates and party elites, but actually asking communities across the country if they believe this should be the democratic ticket. Anything less is unserious in the quest for democracy. Democracies are stronger when political parties operate with primary systems that allow for genuine participation.”
On the other side of things, but also against Harris, was Team Trump, which recently released an epic anti-Kamala commercial. Watch the ad here:
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