by Joel Gehrke | May 25, 2021

U.S. diplomats unfurled Black Lives Matter banners to commemorate the first anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken launched a public relations campaign to condemn racism at home and abroad.

“On the anniversary of George Floyd's murder, we remember that to be a credible force for human rights around the world, we must face the reality of racism at home,” Blinken wrote on Twitter, with an accompanying video. “By addressing our shortcomings openly and honestly, we live up to the values that we stand for worldwide.”

Some embassies posted banners displaying the logo while others promoted a video compilation of remarks from American officials and activists. The public campaign dovetails with a reported memo that gave diplomats “an authorization, not a requirement” to embrace the banners.

“As a general matter, we don’t comment on the authenticity or veracity of allegedly leaked documents,” a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.

The new policy is a belated victory for American diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in South Korea, where officials were ordered to remove a Black Lives Matter banner last June.

“The United States remains concerned about the racial and ethnic injustices against people of color and other marginalized communities both domestically and abroad,” a State Department spokesperson told Foreign Policy, in confirming the approval of the banners. "We encourage our missions around the world to focus on eliminating systemic racism and its global impact.”


The ban on the banners last year reportedly derived justification from the fact that “the US government does not encourage contributions to the group or promote any specific organization,” as CNN put it at the time, but Blinken’s team cited the Office of the Special Counsel’s judgment that the language does not violate the Hatch Act, which is a federal law that bans partisan political activity on government time.

“The phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ then became a rallying cry for protesters and organizations seeking to raise awareness of, and respond to, issues associated with racism in the United States,” OSC is quoted as saying in the memo, which was published by Human Events.

“BLM is thus an umbrella term for a constellation of ideas, objectives, and groups,” the OSC survey continued. “There is no ‘leader’ of the BLM movement. Rather, there are numerous organizations that use BLM terminology to varying degrees, including some whose names include the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter.’ Of these, the most prominent is the Black Lives Matter Global Network (BLMGN).”

Black Lives Matter Global Network has been a lightning rod for many conservatives since one co-founder of the group described the leadership team as “trained Marxists” organizing based on those principles.

“We actually do have an ideological frame,” BLMGN co-founder Patrisse Cullors said in 2015. “We are super-versed on, sort of, ideological theories. And I think that what we really tried to do is build a movement that could be utilized by many, many black folk.”

Local Black Lives Matter organizations in Washington, D.C., and other cities have criticized Cullors and BLMGN leaders for failing to operate in a manner that is “democratic, accountable, and functions in a way that is aligned with our ideological values and commitment to liberation.” And some conservative critics have also acknowledged distinctions between titular national leaders and the broader movement.

“If the leadership says it is Marxist, then there's a good chance they are,” the Hoover Institute’s Russell Berman said last year. "This does not mean every supporter is Marxist — Marxists often have used ‘useful idiots.’ And a Marxist movement can be more or less radical, at different points in time.”

The domestic debates over police killings and other racial issues have come to the fore of diplomatic debates, as Chinese Communist officials point to such tensions to deflect criticism over the atrocities that the state is inflicting upon Uyghur Muslims. The State Department cable that articulated the national security interest included “policy efforts with respect to advancing racial equity” and identified “the concerted malign influence of state and non-state actors which sow racial discord among communities, undermining democratic norms” as a key motivating factor for the new policy.

The memo also calls for "building coalitions of like-minded nations and engaging international organizations in the fight against systemic racism and discrimination, to include swift and meaningful responses to human rights abuses and violations of racial, ethnic, and other underserved and mainstream racial equity issues throughout the multilateral system.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/polic...es-matter-flags

How about a look at the behaviors that get people in trouble with law enforcement? Has there been one "BLM hero" who hasn't resisted arrest? George Floyd, a man with an incredibly speckled past, is trotted out as an example of police brutality. What a blind spot! TM