By Ray Cardello for January 30, 2021 Season 8 / Post 32

I have written about the “demands” of the Black Lives Matter group. I can find no other political activist group on either side that so loosely uses such a term. What in God’s name gives anyone the right to demand anything from anyone? Visit their website, and you will see a list of demands. Go on the local site for the NH Seacoast chapter, and you will see a page on the menu labeled “Demands.” 

The following is the header on the Demand page:

The time for change has come. We are not willing to accept any more figurative words of change from our elected officials. Transparency and accountability has been preached as top priority for our elected officials and law enforcement and they must be held to that standard.

Black Lives Matter Seacoast released the following set of demands in September 2020, for the Candidates for State Legislature, Sheriff, County Attorney, Mayor, Town Councils, Board of Aldermen/Selectman, and School Board in the Seacoast area.

Let me cite an example of the hypocrisy of the BLM members. Andres Mejia was recently named the Director of DEIJ for the local school district, SAU16. At a recent school board meeting, Mejia was asked about the specific instances that precipitated the need for his position in the school department. He, and the other members of the board, could not cite a single situation. When asked how his work would be evaluated for performance, neither he nor the superintendent answered. While SAU16 is eliminating teacher positions, Mejia is paid $153,000 a year for a job with no basis and no accountability. 

I documented this example because Mejia is on the Board of Directors of the local BLM chapter. Below is his bio from their website:

Andres Mejia

SAU16 DEIJ Director and Board Member of NH Seacoast BLM Chapter

Andres Mejia is a black, Latinx, bisexual, cisman who has been living in the Seacoast area for the past eleven years. Andres is the new and first Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice for the SAU16 Exeter District. Andres serves on the Advisory group for the NH Endowment for Health’s Race & Equity Initiative, and also serves on the Leadership Team for the Equity Leaders Fellowship.

Asked how he separated his roles with the SAU and BLM at the same board meeting, he responded there is no connection. How can one feel passionately about two roles and not have them overlap? It is doubtful this can be. We demand answers.

After a DC officer was injured and the deaths of two NYPD officers, the Black Lives Matter chapter of Washington, DC, has called for the public not to automatically hail cops shot on the job as “heroes” before all facets of a situation are evaluated. I can appreciate the waiting for all the facts before any determination is made. I question the timing of their demand.

There is no designated head of the national chapter, yet they have a cash reserve of $60 Million. There is also reportedly $30 Million unaccounted for in the latest financials. The demands need to stop, and BLM needs to be investigated. BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors appointed two activists to serve as the group’s senior directors following her resignation in May amid scrutiny over her finances. But both quietly announced in September that they never took the jobs due to disagreements with BLM. They told the Washington Examiner they don’t know who now leads the nation’s most influential social justice organization. Cullers resigned after spending nearly $4 Million on real estate in California.

This group works to put members into political positions, including school boards. These candidates need to be vetted, and their motives scrutinized carefully by the voters. Are they running to serve or to transform? Maybe it is time for BLM to be canceled. Perhaps we should have thought more carefully before elevating them to heroes by painting their logo on our city streets.

This article first appeared in thelibertyloft.com