The Black Lives Matter movement has marshaled a following in Nashville, and now there’s growing anticipation to see a platform or a list of specific demands.
There’s no shortage of declarations from members, who had hundreds chanting along over the weekend.
But the mix of emotions, and the sudden growth, have also placed leaders in uncharted territory for a movement that has expanded from what had been, generally, pushing for policing reforms, demilitarization of officers and swift investigations into police shootings.
“When we talk about
Black Lives Matter, we’re talking about police brutality, but we also have to talk about economics, gentrification, lack of health care,” said local co-founder Rondriquez White, 25. “Policing and police tactics are a big part of it, but … that’s not the entire platform. We’re also talking about education and what does the school-to-prison pipeline look like.”
Among those watching are the other activists who have pledged support in what has become a broad coalition.
“Tennessee Muslims, we are ready, and we want to turn to the black community, to black leadership … and we ask you: Where do you want us to be, when do you want us to be there, and who do you want us to yell at? We’re ready,” said Drost Kokoye, a Muslim organizer, during a rally last week.
The movement has not published a platform. And officials in the Nashville mayor’s office said Thursday they’re still anticipating a list of recommendations.
But in the absence of an official stance, an array of concerns has surfaced repeatedly in public speeches and interviews.
Among them:
- Shift police tactics to be more “humane” and less intimidating to persons of color. At the extreme, some call for the complete redesign of a “whole police force designed to oppress us,” as Nashville activist Bobbi Negrón said.
- Protect and create additional affordable housing to reduce the displacement of current residents from their neighborhoods.
- Restore voter rights to freed felons.
- Reform sentencing laws for drug crimes.
Underpinning these ideas are impassioned principles to b
reak down “the brutal legacy of white supremacy … 500 years of oppression and harassment,” as activist Keith Caldwell said at a recent rally.
Or, as self-described
“elder
” activist Grayce Gadsen said:
“Challenge hate and evil from the systems that claim to want to lead us.”
Police Tactics Motivate Many
To be sure, the movement began because of the fatal shootings by police that garnered national attention.
“I think people are just tired of feeling unsafe … specifically black people feeling unsafe from the people who are supposed to protect them, which is the police,” White said.
Magnifying his personal fears, White said he believes demonstrations have grown because they feel like a safe place to be together.
“I don’t feel safe by myself with police, so let me get in a space where other people who probably don’t feel safe around police, or other people who understand what I’m going through, we can walk together, we can march together,” he said.
Police have defended the department’s tactics and training, with the support of Mayor Megan Barry, who
recently praised the department for its screening of new recruits for bias, and mandatory training in de-escalation techniques. (View the police policy on the use of force as a
PDF.)
The local movement has also protested plans to build a new police headquarters. Organizer Rhiana Anthony questions the amount of funding and its location.
“This city is spending $28 million on a headquarters down here on Murfreesboro Road to victimize all the people in Napier … but gives us $10 million for affordable housing,” she said at a recent rally.
The chants that accompany marches focus almost exclusively on police. But when those demonstrations pause at intersections or in front of public buildings, they can range into politics and other policies.
That’s often the case for White, a native of Nashville.
“I love this place. But what I see happening is destruction of this city,” he declared recently through a megaphone.
He cursed — literally — the pedal taverns that roam downtown’s tourism district, the city bus system’s move away from automatic transfers between routes, and the displacement of poor families from homes where property values have skyrocketed.
Later, White said his mission is to help people who have been oppressed all their lives are resigned to it.
“I think it’s our duty to come and say, ‘Yes we’ve been oppressed, yes, this is what has been happening, but this is not the way it’s supposed to be,'” he said. “It’s reaching out to those folks that have been so beaten by the system, been so downtrodden and forgotten by society. It’s our duty to make them feel confidence within their own liberation.”
Leaders Mull Next Move
White says bringing people together and accurately representing them takes time. He says that’s one reason Black Lives Matter has never sought a sit-down meeting with Metro police.
“A sit-down is something we should do, but … it tends to be a space where the people in authority more so have control and have more say,” he said.
White said such a meeting will come.
A police spokeswoman said precinct commanders have sought out movement leaders to prepare for demonstrations while continuing to “commit personnel and resources to ensure safe and peaceful protest marches.”
In the meantime, the mayor’s office will convene about a hundred local leaders next week.
The mayor said Black Lives Matter is welcome to take part.
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