Los Angeles recently played host to the first annual Politicon convention. Billing itself as a “unconventional political convention,” the two-day event brought together the worlds of entertainment and politics like never before with an exciting weekend full of art exhibitions, debates, discussion panels, film screenings, performances and more.
With a lineup featuring a number of well-known entertainers, politicians, and pundits, including Trevor Noah, Edward Snowden, Meghan McCain, and Newt Gingrich, the convention featured many memorable anecdotes and informative moments.
One of the standout events of the weekend was the Caravan For Justice panel that featured noted political commentator and writer Touré moderating a powerful panel that included Black Lives Matter organizer Patrisse Cullors, ACLU Southern California executive director Hector Villagra, Mayesha Charlton of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, Dignity and Power Now health and wellness director Mark Anthony Johnson, and Stephanie Lightfoot-Bennett, a Black Lives Matter activist from the United Kingdom.
According to Cullors, though some believe Black Lives Matter to only be a trendy hashtag, the movement goes far beyond social media.
“We built not just a hashtag. It’s important people know that Black Lives Matter wasn’t just this hashtag that circulated around the Internet, but we actually built an organization, a platform and a project out of the hashtag, so here we are a couple of years later and the hashtag movement has gone global,” she said.
Lightfoot-Bennett agreed and added “whatever happens in the States automatically goes viral in England.”
The Politcon convention served as a culmination of BLM’s Caravan For Justice tour, in which they traveled internationally to gather families that are victims of police brutality together to speak on the racial and social injustices experienced in communities of color.
Check out photos from the event in the gallery below.
