What to
Know

• How to Watch the 2020 Black National Convention, 8/28 AT 7PM ET

  The Black National Convention (BNC) is a virtual experience Co-Executive Produced by dream hampton and Morgan Willis and Directed by the Electoral Justice Project of the Movement for Black Lives. Anyone with access to the internet can watch the BNC on BlackNovember.org. Soooo, how will you watch? 

  1. Invite your friends and family to a Zoom viewing session. All you will need is to create an account on Zoom, create a link for your friends/family/community/political home. As the host you can share your screen and watch BlackNovember.org with everyone. Utilize the chat or unmute for commentary! Please utilize the journal questions in this guide and add your own as well. 
  2. Plan a safely socially distanced family viewing session in the comforts of your own home! If you own a smart tv, you may be able to stream directly from the internet, and others can use an HDMI cord to connect to your computer. Find your best viewing experience by planning in advance.
  3. Project the BNC onto a screen in a public park or onto a wall in your neighborhood for all to see. 

  Join a BNC State Delegation Watch Party by RSVPing here.

• Who is the Movement for Black Lives?

  The Movement for Black Lives or M4BL is a national network of over 150 leaders and organizations creating a broad political home for Black people to learn, organize, and take action. M4BL is part of an ecosystem of movement leaders and organizations that includes the Black Lives Matter Global Network. M4BL is not a national organization, we are a network of locally rooted Black organizations and activists maximizing our efforts by building capacity to do our work and win more, when we work together.  We’re living through an unprecedented global uprising in defense of Black life. The uprising is a response not only to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, and countless others killed by police and vigilante violence, but to centuries of anti-Black racism, discrimination, and the denial of our rights and political power. Our Ecosystem is structured into “tables” where we work together on key tactics to achieve justice for Black people. The Electoral Justice Project is table made up of nearly 60 Black activists working everyday on electoral campaigns and advising M4BL at the ballot box. (EJP gang, gang)  Poll after poll in recent months tells us that the American people are ready for real change. The New York Times found that support for our movement grew faster this summer than in the past two years. After months of sustained uprisings, and years of Black organizing, a majority of Americans support redirecting funds from police to invest in Black futures by a reimagining of public safety, something long demanded by Black communities that are impacted most by police terror. This is a transformative time for our country and the world. From our elders and ancestors we learned it is possible to bring Black people together from all political ideologies and backgrounds to mobilize around a common vision for Black liberation.

• About the BNC Hosts

  Our 2020 Black National Convention hosts, Angelica Ross, Kayla Reed, and Phillip Agnew, will unveil our unapologetically Black national agenda that will mobilize communities in service to our vision for Black lives, no matter who is in the White House. Angelica Ross A star of FX’s ‘Pose,’ Angelica Ross is a leading figure in the movement for trans and racial equality from the boardroom to film sets to the White House. Founder of TransTech Social Enterprises, she never lets us forget #AllBlackLivesMatter. Kayla Reed An electoral justice visionary, Kayla Reed is Co-Founder and Political Strategist of the Electoral Justice Project at M4BL which is putting on the 2020 BNC. Her activism was born in the streets when she co-founded Action St. Louis during the 2014 Ferguson uprising. Philip Agnew Dubbed "one of this generation’s leading voices," Phillip Agnew cofounded the Dream Defenders in 2012 after the murder of Trayvon Martin. He is a nationally recognized educator, strategist, trainer, speaker, and cultural critic who recently launched Black Men Build.

• What is Electoral Justice?

• What is Our Vision for Black Lives?

  In response to the sustained and increasingly visible violence against Black communities in the U.S. and globally, a collective of more than 50 organizations representing thousands of Black people from across the country came together in 2015 with renewed energy and purpose to articulate a common vision and agenda. We are a collective that centers, and is led by and rooted in, Black communities. And we recognize our shared struggle with all oppressed people: collective liberation will be a product of all of our work. We are intentional about amplifying the particular experiences of racial, economic, and gender-based state and interpersonal violence that Black women, queer, trans, gender nonconforming, intersex, and disabled people face. Cisheteropatriarchy and ableism are central and instrumental to anti-Blackness and racial capitalism, and have been internalized within our communities and movements. The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) launched the Vision for Black Lives, a comprehensive and visionary policy agenda for the post-Ferguson Black liberation movement, in August of 2016. The Vision, endorsed by over 50 Black-led organizations in the M4BL ecosystem and hundreds of allied organizations and individuals, has since inspired campaigns across the country to achieve its goals. After three years of consultations, writing retreats and Zoom sessions, research and outreach, we are relaunching the Vision for Black Lives 2020. We begin with the first plank of our Vision: End the War on Black People, released on Juneteenth as we converged across the country in resistance to police and state sanctioned violence. We will be releasing revised and expanded policy briefs in each of the remaining sections of our Vision – Reparations, Economic Justice, Invest/Divest, Community Control and Political Power – over the course of 2020. Visit M4BL.org to read more about our vision.

• What is the Breathe Act?

  In early July, we unveiled The BREATHE Act, a modern-day civil rights bill in defense of Black lives. Championed by Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the bill will divest taxpayer dollars from policing and incarceration to be able to invest in true public safety, equity, and self-determination. The BREATHE Act will:

  • Divest Federal Resources from Policing & End Criminal Legal System Harms. The bill will decriminalize Black life and address systemic racism in the criminal-legal system, using a combination of changes to federal law and funding incentives that spur state action. Our proposal will directly change or create resource changes to policing, pretrial detention, sentencing, the War on Drugs, jails and prisons, immigration, prosecution, reentry, antidiscrimination policy, and the 1994 Crime Bill.
  • Invest in New Approaches to Community Safety Utilizing State Incentives. As states respond to community demands, the bill will unlock federal resources through a competitive process for implementing the non-carceral programs, services, and other investments that truly keep our communities safe.
  • Invest in Healthy, Sustainable & Equitable Communities for All People. The bill will divest the federal government from incarceration, policing, and the criminal-legal system, and re-invest these dollars into urgent investments in education, health, and economic opportunity.
  • Hold Political Leaders Accountable & Enhance Self-Determination of Black Communities. BREATHE enacts reforms such as reparations for Black people, support for survivors of police violence and families, and people who have been harmed by the War on Drugs, voter protections, and other measures that enhance elected officials’ political accountability to Black and Brown communities.

  The group of people who dreamed and wrote The BREATHE Act are longtime community advocates who have been engaging in policy conversations for years. Rather than being anchored in what we are told is politically possible today, we are anchored in what is just and on time. Our movement has changed what is politically possible before, and we know that we can keep doing so. Visit BREATHEAct.org to learn more and become a community co-sponsor.

• We Are In Defense of All Black Lives - A Primer

  We are in defense of ALL Black lives. When we say “Black lives,” that means everybody. We want all Black people to thrive. Black people of every gender expression, sexual orientation, ability, ethnic background, class origin, country of birth, region, or religion are included. Everyone in, nobody out. We center a Black trans, queer, and feminist perspective that uplifts all the ways we care for each other and come together to vision and shape our families and our futures. The revamped Vision for Black Lives 2020 has been expanded and deepened to meet current political conditions through a disability justice, reproductive justice, and Black trans, queer, and feminist lens. Our movement must center the experiences, voices, and visions of Black people living at the intersections of ableist, gender-based, and homophobic and transphobic violence. You know you want to learn more - check out these resources:

  • Want to learn more about the Americans with Disabilities Act at 30? Listen to this interview with BNC disability rights consultant Vilissa K. Thompson.
  • Have questions about the intersection of BIPOC movement and disability justice? Read this rundown of leaders and groups.
  • Have questions about gender identity? Check out this resource from the Trevor Project.
  • Want to know why Black Trans Rights Are Civil Rights? Watch this. 
  • Want to get involved with Black trans groups but don't know how? Check out this resource.
  • Are you short on time but well resourced? Donate here to Black Trans Groups. 

  Still understanding terms in the LGBTQIA+ community? Here's a list of definitions.