The mothers of several African-Americans killed by police or gun violence will be put in the spotlight at the Democratic National Convention.
The Mothers of the Movement will put presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement at center stage.
It will also highlight a significant contrast with Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee who, at the GOP convention last week, embraced a “law and order” message that is implicitly critical of Black Lives Matter.
Indeed, two speakers at the Republican National Convention, both African-Americans themselves, offered scathing assessments of Black Lives Matter, arguing it has been a divisive presence in public life.Clinton, who is seeking to prevent a drop-off of black turnout from the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections won by President Obama, is depending on African-American voters in swing states around the country.
Seven women will take the stage on Tuesday night, including the mothers of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer; Eric Garner, a New York man killed in a chokehold by police; Sandra Bland, a woman who died in a Texas jail after a traffic arrest; and Michael Brown, whose killing by Ferguson, Mo., police in 2014 launched a national outcry at the height of the most recent campaign season.
They are expected to reiterate a message Clinton has crafted over the course of her presidential campaign: that in a dangerous world, with tension both abroad and within American communities, voters should choose Clinton and her temperament, compassion and experience as the next president. – READ MORE
