Black Lives Matters Warns of Protests at the DNC

"She just wasn't talking about issues of race."

6.30.2016

Deray McKesson of the Black Lives Matters movement has warned that the group is prepared to protest the platform at the Democrat National Convention this summer "citing the congressional sit-in on the House floor last week over gun control as a possible model."

"There are two things that I'm mindful of: One is that I've not seen a draft or a final version of the platform from the Democratic convention committee, and I think that will have a big bearing on how people mobilize," DeRay Mckesson told Capital Download. "The second is that Congress just sat in, so it'll be interesting to see how the DNC responds to people in protest, given that congressmen literally just sat in and they seemed to validate that."

Although Hillary Clinton has reached the necessary number of delegates to win the Democrat's presidential nomination, challenger Bernie Sanders has not yet formally endorsed Clinton. And McKesson is skeptical of Clinton's commitment to issues like criminal justice.

McKesson said of the Clinton campaign in an interview with USA Today at the Aspen Ideas Festival: "I was at her (campaign) launch in Roosevelt Island, and she talked about, you know, work schedules for working families. It wasn't like she wasn't talking about issues. She just wasn't talking about issues of race."

Mckesson said protests also were likely at the Republican convention in Cleveland. But they could be more consequential at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia because they could resonate with two voter groups crucial to the party's coalition: African-Americans and young people. Clinton has had strong support from black voters in the primaries, but she's struggled to reach Millennials, who overwhelmingly supported Sanders.

The BLM leader said he warned Hillary she could not count on the anti-Trump sentiment to turn out black voters.

"I said, 'Hillary, I worry that you are underestimating how many people plan to sit this out because they are disillusioned,'" he said. "And if the DNC (Democratic National Committee) and if Hillary's camp don't help people see her as a real choice, despite their misgivings about her, I think this will be more of an uphill battle than it already is."