This week, the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), a coalition of organizations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, released “A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom & Justice.” With this broader platform that includes calls for reparations, an end to the death penalty and retroactive forgiveness of student loans, the movement is shifting toward more comprehensive efforts to address inequalities of life for African Americans in the U.S.
The policy platform offers six core demands which include investment in health and education and divestment of mass criminalization, economic investment and community control.
Baltimore Bloc communications director, Michaela Brown said in a statement earlier this week, “We seek radical transformation, not reactionary reform.”
OSI-Baltimore supports M4BL’s efforts. Our work specifically overlaps with those to reduce the use of mass incarceration, and promote justice systems that are fair, are used as a last resort, and offer second chances. We support advocacy, public education, research, grassroots organizing, litigation and demonstration projects that focus on reforming racial and social inequities at critical stages of the criminal and juvenile justice systems—from arrest to reentry into the community.
