Black Lives Matter Accuses Joe Biden of Ignoring Their Meeting Requests

The Black Lives Matter organization is accusing President-elect Joe Biden of ignoring their request for a meeting and disregarding the Black voters who helped him win.

The political and social group told Fox News their request for a meeting with the Biden campaign has been ignored and the group was noticeably excluded from a meeting between Biden, Rep. Cedric Richmond, and other civil rights groups. In the meeting, Biden complained that progressive efforts to defund the police allowed the GOP to “beat the living hell” out of Democrats during the 2020 election cycle.

“For the newly elected administration (that ran on promises of racial justice) to ignore our ongoing request to meet with them and refuse us a seat at the table is demeaning to our movement,” the Black Lives Matter Global Network said in a Dec. 10 email, according to Fox. “It’s demeaning to our hurt and trauma. It’s demeaning to the countless times we took our protest to the streets to call for justice for our Black brothers and sisters taken from us at the hands of police.”

On the night Biden and Harris were declared the projected winners, the organization formally requested a meeting with the campaign and on Dec. 11, posted that it’s been 32 days since that request.

The Biden transition team admitted he made the statement, adding the President-elect has always been straightforward and honest with his opinions.

“President-elect Biden is the same person behind closed doors that he is public; honest, direct,r and realistic about the challenges facing our nation the day he is sworn in,” a Biden transition team official said in response to the leaked recording. “As he made clear throughout the campaign, he believes in supporting bold and urgent reform to our criminal justice system while continuing to support law enforcement’s mission to keep our communities safe.”

Progressives have been frustrated with Biden and his cabinet picks. Many progressives believe his administration’s picks do not properly reflect the role progressives played in getting him elected. According to The Hill, progressive Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have taken issue with some of the picks in Biden’s cabinet and are urging him to select more progressives.

“I think the Biden people have been a little bit less concerned about satisfying progressives. I think they’re a little more concerned about not alienating progressives,” a Democratic strategist close to the transition told The Hill.

There are also whispers of a progressive Democratic movement akin to the Lincoln Project building due to the dissatisfaction of Biden’s selections.