The Soul of Our Country Is Being Fought for in the Streets and Cities Across America Right Now

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

30 August 20

ven at the end of a summer marked by historic protests against racial injustice and police killings, officer shootings of unarmed Black people are still occurring at a devastating frequency.

This time it happened in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rusten Sheskey of the Kenosha Police Department shot an unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back as his three children watched. He is now paralyzed from the waist down, and doctors say it will take a miracle for him to ever walk again.

I won’t pretend to understand what it’s like to be terrorized, brutalized, or murdered for the color of my skin, or to feel unsafe simply by existing. What I do understand is that there are serious, systemic disparities between how I am treated as a white man and how those in the Black community are treated.

I am committed to using my privilege and platform to participate actively in upending systems of control, like police and prisons, that have perpetuated white supremacist violence and the oppression of Black people for centuries.

That’s why I am asking you to use the below link to make a donation to the Movement for Black Lives — a collective of 150 organizations representing Black people from across the country — to help build a world free of police killings and systemic oppression, in which the full humanity and dignity of Black people is recognized.

The Movement for Black Lives supports the local protests at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement, and is mobilizing to create a shared vision and policy agenda to win rights, recognition, and resources for Black people through grassroots organizing and legislative action.

Tomorrow, they’re holding a Black National Convention to present the Democratic National Committee with a shared policy agenda, including restoration of the Voting Rights Act, immediate demilitarization of police and an end to private prisons, abolishing the Electoral College, breaking up Big Banks, and guaranteeing universal health care.

You can tune in to the convention here: https://m4bl.org/events/the-black-national-convention/

The soul of our country is being fought for in the streets of Kenosha, Louisville, Oakland, and cities across America right now. The stakes could not be higher, and we must all come together to support the movement.

So please, use the link below to stand with the Black Lives Matter movement and the protestors literally risking their lives in Kenosha by making a donation to the Movement for Black Lives Fund today. And, if you can, set up a recurring donation to sustain the work.

In solidarity, Robert Reich