THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT organisation and this website (not connected to BLMUK) was set up in July 2016 following the racist police killing of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in the US.
Our group was founded from an open meeting at Dalston Mosque, attended by more than 200 people.
We do not claim to speak for anyone but ourselves: concerned activists fighting for racial and social justice in the UK.
We take no general political positions at this point and supporters hold a variety of views.
However, we do support concrete demands around specific issues, such as for police officers to be prosecuted for killings they are involved in; supporting the fight to integrate Black history into the national curriculum and the banning of draconian stop and search powers such as Section 60 (that does not require the police to provide a reason for a stop).
On the question of capitalism, although many are no doubt sympathetic to an anti-capitalist stance – as were Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X – we take no position on this.
We seek to maximise support for the movement. As such we therefore do not place political preconditions on BLM supporters and sympathisers.
We do not have a position on defunding the police, although would be supportive of diverting expenditure on the police to more productive expenditure on community services, such as rebuilding youth services for black and white working-class young people.
Although individual supporters may support defunding the police – or even abolishing the police – this is not a position held by BLMM, for reasons of maximising support as previously outlined above.
We seek to work with allies among people of all races, ethnicities and backgrounds.
We are against all forms of racism.
updated 2 July 2020 18:50 BST
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