Black Lives Matter Calls on Democrats To Host Virtual Primary, Refrains From Endorsing Harris

 The activist group says it hopes to protect ‘the voices of Black voters.’

Activist group Black Lives Matter is calling on the Democrats to host a virtual snap primary to protect “the voices of Black voters” a day after Vice President Harris appeared to have secured the backing of enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination.  

Mrs. Harris — who, if elected, would be the first Black, South Asian woman president — has received an outpouring of support from Democrats and left-leaning organizations since President Biden bowed out of the race. 

Among her most notable backers are Speaker Pelosi; Senator Schumer; the House minority leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries; and Mr. Biden himself. Black Lives Matter, however, in a break from the flock, has not pitched its undivided support for Ms. Harris, but rather, is urging the Democratic National Committee to allow voters a say in the nomination process. 

“This moment calls for decisive action to protect the integrity of our democracy and the voices of Black voters,” the group wrote in an online statement issued on Tuesday. The group argues that “Democratic Party elites and billionaire donors” are attempting to “manipulate Black voters” by making Kamala Harris the presumptive nominee. 

“We have no idea where Kamala Harris stands on the issues, now that she has assumed Joe Biden’s place, and we have no idea of the record of her potential vice president because we don’t even know who it is yet,” the group writes. 

While Black Lives Matters notes that it will “celebrate and honor” Ms. Harris’s “historic candidacy,” they hope to thwart what they view as an attempt to “evade or override the will of voters in our primary system.”

“We must stand firm against any attempt to silence Black voters and other marginalized communities,” BLM leader D’Zhane Parker said. “This is not just about Biden or Harris; it is about demanding a political system that genuinely represents us and upholds democracy.” 

Ms. Parker further expressed her fear that Mrs. Harris, if elected, would be labeled an “affirmative action or a DEI” nominee and place any progress made by a President Harris “on shaky foundations.”

“If Kamala Harris is to be the nominee, it must be through a process that upholds democratic principles and public participation,” she said. 

Black Lives Matter, which soared to national prominence in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, contends that the DNC “refused to host debates during the primary, even though a vast majority of Democratic voters wanted them,” and that holding debates “would have likely allowed America to see the decline of Joe Biden in 2023.”

The group also laments that the DNC “changed the primary schedule and created rules that made it almost impossible for non-Biden candidates to appear on the ballot.” The group suggests this had the effect of  “clearing the field of any challengers to the incumbent president.”

Now, the group says, “following the primary where millions of Black voters weighed in,” after Mr. Biden’s disastrous debate, “the DNC Party elites and billionaire donors bullied Joe Biden out of the race.”