Politics

BLM Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors Demands Biden-Harris Prioritize Their Agenda

(Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for Teen Vogue)

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
Font Size:

Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Patrisse Cullors demanded in a letter Saturday that president and vice president-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris need to prioritize the BLM agenda.

“Without the resounding support of Black people, we would be saddled with a very different electoral outcome,” Cullors wrote in the letter, according to Newsweek. “In short, Black people won this election.”

“Alongside Black-led organizations around this nation, Black Lives Matter invested heavily in this election … We want something for our vote. We want to be heard and our agenda to be prioritized,” she added, per the same report.

Cullors noted that while black people are reliably Democrat, the party has not taken an active interest in addressing the needs of the community.

“Up until this point, the United States has refused to directly reckon with the way it devalues Black people and devastates our lives. This cannot continue.”

“Black people can neither afford to live through the vitriol of a Trump-like Presidency, nor through the indifference of a Democrat-controlled government that refuses to wrestle with its most egregious and damnable shame,” the letter continued, per Newsweek. (RELATED: Black Lives Matter Linked To 91% Of Riots Over Three Months, Study Finds)

Cullors noted that both candidates have expressed regret for their records that have impacted the Black community and suggested the only way to remedy it would be to set up a meeting and discuss the agenda of BLM.

BLM has called for defunding the police and instead reinvesting the money into minority communities.

During his victory speech, Biden thanked black voters for supporting him, according to Fox News.

“The African American community stood up again for me. They always have my back, and I’ll have yours,” he said. “I said from the outset I wanted a campaign that represented America, and I think we did that. Now that’s what I want the administration to look like.”

Biden, who campaigned on affordable housing, education and injecting money into minority communities, took 87% of the black vote this election, while Trump gained more black votes than in 2016, according to The New York Times.