Lawrence chapter of Black Lives Matter calls for community action

photo by: Rochelle Valverde

The Lawrence chapter of Black Lives Matter holds its first community meeting Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016 at Dad Perry Park, 1200 Monterey Way.

At their first community meeting, members of the Lawrence chapter of Black Lives Matter laid out a plan for local activism that aims to address topics such as policing, education and political action.

The BLM members spoke to a diverse crowd of about 150 people — a range of ages and races — who had gathered at Dad Perry Park, inviting them to join in the efforts regardless of their background.

“We’ve tried it over and over again — black and white unity,” Lawrence BLM member Tai Amri Spann-Wilson told meeting attendees Thursday evening. “Since slavery, we’ve been trying it and they have been trying to break us apart, and we’re saying no more. So I want to share with you all right now, so that you know what it’s about. The Black Lives Matter movement is not just about black people.”

Spann-Wilson read the chapter’s working statement, which emphasized the wide scope of the group’s efforts.

Spann-Wilson told the crowd that the local chapter was begun by a small group of black people with the assertion that black people deserve love. However, he stressed that the chapter was committed to issues faced by various groups, such as LGBT people, indigenous people, immigrants and Muslims.

“BLM-LFK invite others to join in on the course of this assertion,” Spann-Wilson said. “But in order to be a full member of the group, there is a required acknowledgement as well as a required commitment toward the liberation of all people.”

After the local statement was read, elements included in the national BLM platform were also reviewed. The national group arose out of police shootings of black people, and in addition to police reform has called attention to political, economic and social issues affecting black communities.

About a dozen people spoke at the meeting, including several Native American people who have been coordinating with the Lawrence BLM group in their opposition to the construction of Dakota Access oil pipeline. The speakers underscored the need for unity among people of color, especially the inclusion of native people in social movements they historically have been excluded from.

“We’re at another wave of these exclusions,” said Paulette Blanchard. “We don’t want to be apart anymore. We need all of you. Black Lives Matter has stepped up; they see us.”

Toward the end of the meeting, members of the group invited attendees to join any of the seven committees they plan to organize: police and prisons; promotion and education; solidarity and intersectionality; training and events; political action; self-defense; and direct action.

Caleb Stephens, an organizer with BLM, said that even before the committees begin their work, people could also take action by addressing some of the topics with people they know, be it in person or online.

“What we can do immediately is call each other to task,” Stephens said. “It’s our job to stand up.”