Black Lives Matter activists in Chicago were invited to a meeting with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office later this month. The meeting was to include prominent civil and legal rights leaders such as Deray McKesson (president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund), Sherrilyn Ifill (student leader of the Concerned 1950 movement at the University of Missouri), Deshaunya Ware, Rev. Al Sharpton and Congressman John Lewis of Georgia. The meeting is part of the annual Black History Month reception and is the last one the first Black president will hold in office. However, Black Lives Matter activists have called the meeting a “sham and a photo-op for Obama.”
Aislinn Pulley, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Chicago, issued a strong statement to the media outlining her refusal to participate in the historic meeting; she cited a long list of issues in the city of Chicago including criminal justice reform, educational funding, and the Cook County criminal justice system, which she called “corrupt” and “racist.” In addition, Pulley demanded the closing of Guantanamo Bay, the return of American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Black reparations and the return of the United States back to Native Americans.
Pulley wrote, “I could not, with any integrity, participate in such a sham that would only serve to legitimize the false narrative that the government is working to end police brutality and the institutional racism that fuels it.” Pulley takes a firm stance against the meeting stating “Until this begins to happen on a mass scale, any celebrations of Black history that go on inside the walls of the White House are hollow and ceremonial at best.”
Many are now asking whether her refusal represents a missed opportunity to not only meet with President Obama but also network with other Black leaders who are sympathetic to her cause.
