The Black Lives Matter movement is front and center at the Democratic convention Tuesday, with numerous speakers scheduled to address the issue from a very personal standpoint.
The Mothers of the Movement, women whose sons have been killed at the hands of police across America, are expected to give powerful speeches at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
SEE ALSO:Before Alton and Philando: 12 other black men killed by police, on videoThey include: the mother of Eric Garner, the New Yorker killed in a chokehold by police in 2014; the mother of Sandra Bland, who was found dead in her prison cell after being arrested on her way to work in 2015; the mother of Michael Brown, the unarmed teenager shot dead by police in 2014; and the mother of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teen fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in 2012.
Their presence at the convention is designed to show Clinton's solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, in stark opposition to some of the voices heard at the Republican event last week. But just how helpful will their inclusion be for Clinton to secure the African-American vote, and the vote of young people sympathetic to the cause, in November?
Hillary Clinton conducts a forum on preventing gun violence, with advocates Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland, and Annette Nance-Holt, mother of Blair Holt, at Tabernacle Community Baptist Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Credit: Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesClinton's campaign has been working with the women for some time. The group met with her back in November and some have campaigned with her in the months since.
Several have given interviews explaining why they're voting for her, arguing that she's best placed to address gun violence and help heal tensions between communities and law enforcement.
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Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told reporterswhat to expect from their messages Tuesday night.
The women will “say that, look, this is a difficult issue and we ignore the shootings that are going on to our peril," he said. “They are going to say that, in a time of trouble, we need someone who has a high level of sensitivity and who’s not going to stoke the fire with inappropriate comments.”
While Clinton clearly believes in the cause, the prominent platform for the mothers is also undoubtedly a play for black and female votes, as well as an appeal to younger voters aligned to the cause.
How effective that strategy will be, however, remains to be seen.
Just 43 percent of Americans support the Black Lives Matter movement, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey conducted between February and May this year, with 22 percent opposing it and 30 percent saying they had not heard about it or didn't have an opinion.
That might explain why Trump is not too bothered about tempering his heavy law-and-order message with at least a nod to the murdered men.
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"Support for Black Lives Matter is particularly high among blacks," the center adds, more encouragingly. "65 percent support the movement; 12 percent of blacks say that they oppose the movement. Among whites, 40 percent express support, while 28 percent say they oppose Black Lives Matter." Among whites, Democrats and the under-30s are particularly supportive, it adds.
43 percent of Americans support the Black Lives Matter movement; 22 percent oppose
Those figures add up to a decent tranche of people that could react well to Tuesday's schedule. For the survey, the research center interviewed 3,769 adults (including 1,799 whites, 1,004 blacks and 654 Hispanics) nationwide by phone, both cell and landline.
The Atlantic, however, points to a Monmouth University poll from earlier this month that found while many voters believe racial inequality has got worse, few think the BLM movement has had a positive impact. Many black people believe it has had no impact and many white people believe it's actually made things worse, according to the poll
The writer for the Atlantic, meanwhile, polled 366 black respondents (admittedly a small sample) on the issues that would drive them to make their decision on voting day. Asking them how best to reduce racial inequality, and giving them the option of a candidate who supports Black Lives Matter and civil rights legislation or a candidate who promotes access to economic opportunity and encourages hard work, they found that BLM "has a low impact on the voting choices of black Americans, relative to other factors."
However, they found that black women and younger voters were likely to choose the BLM candidate.
The Black Lives Matter protest crew was out in force Tuesday in Philadelphia, marching from Temple University to City Hall and chanting "stop killing black people" and "no justice, no peace."
Among them was the Philly Coalition for Real Justice, a group that was documenting events with two telling hashtags: #ShutDownDNC and #BlackDNCResistance.
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Asa Khalif, one of the organizers, told USA Todaythe group wanted to remind Clinton she's in danger of losing the black vote and insisted that the Democrats largely ignored the BLM movement as it constructed the week's program.
He also criticized her for supporting her husband's 1994 crime bill, which many believe led to the mass incarceration of African-Americans.
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To make matters worse, a recent exit poll across 25 states found that -- despite the popularity of Black Lives Matter -- young African-Americans aren't voting in greater numbers.
Obama, whose appeal among black voters helped get him into the White House, urged activists to get to the polls. “You have to have a strategy. Not just awareness, but action. Not just hashtags, but votes,” he insisted.
“Passion is vital, but you’ve got to have a strategy. And your plan better include voting, not just some of the time, but all the time.”
ACT UP Philadelphia marched to Clinton's campaign office in the city last week.Credit: Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty ImagesThe Mothers of the Movement will no doubt give powerful speeches that will draw sympathy from the millions of viewers at home. That 30 percent, according to Pew, that either haven't heard of the movement or have no opinion might shift a little.
But Clinton will need to go further to convince voters she's fully behind the cause and to encourage them to not only get out and vote but to choose her over Trump. All eyes will be on her speech Thursday.
TopicsElectionsHillary Clinton
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