The left-wing organization Black Lives Matter is resisting the installation of
Vice President Kamala Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee and are calling on the Democratic National Convention "to create a process that allows for public participation in the nomination process, not just a nomination by party delegates."
In a statement Tuesday, the group, which rose to prominence in 2020 for organizing nationwide protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, said that "a 24-hour process of talking to party bosses is not democratic, nor is it a process Democrats should be proud of."
For weeks after his disastrous debate performance last month, internal party pressure mounted against President Biden to drop out of the race — though he resisted those calls and insisted he was "in it to win it."
But abruptly, over the weekend, Biden
dropped out of the race and nominated Harris to lead the top of the ticket. And overnight, the Democratic Party coalesced around her, winning enough delegate support to secure the nomination at the DNC convention in August.
BLM added that they did “not live in a dictatorship” and that “delegates are not oligarchs.”
“We do not live in a dictatorship,” the group wrote. “Delegates are not oligarchs. Any attempt to evade or override the will of voters in our primary system-must be condemned. We demand an informal, virtual snap primary now that the incumbent president is no longer in the running.”
The statement from the group came after President Joe Biden revealed on Sunday that he was not seeking another term as president, and
endorsed Harris to be the party’s presidential nominee.