Does Black Lives Matter want to keep Black men from raising their children and has Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden endorsed the organization? No, there is no evidence to support either claim: A political ad attacking Biden relies on a now-deleted section of a BLM webpage to support the claim, but the deleted statement did not refer to Black men raising children. There is also no evidence that Biden has formally endorsed the organization or the exclusion of Black men from child-rearing.
The claim appeared in an ad (archived here) by the American Principles Project running on Facebook beginning on October 6, 2020, under the title "Joe Biden supports the BLM Organization that wants to keep Black men from raising their children. He'd be a disaster for Black families." It features slow music and video of a Black woman who says:
Vice President Biden supports the BLM organization that wants to keep Black men from raising their children. I needed my dad-- More than anything. Black lives, black families and black futures do matter, Mr. Biden, and it starts at home.
This is a screenshot of the ad at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Oct 23 20:35:22 2020 UTC)
Lead Stories contacted American Principles Project, a conservative think tank, on October 22, 2020, requesting more details and sourcing for the claim featured in the ad. On October 23, 2020, Executive Director Terry Schilling directed Lead Stories to a statement that, before being deleted, was included on BLM's "What We Believe" page. It said:
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and 'villages' that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.
Nowhere in that statement does BLM, an organization founded in 2013, specifically mention Black men raising children or any objection to their doing so. It does mention "parents" one additional time in the post, saying:
We make our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children.
The deleted page is archived and can be viewed here.
Lead Stories conducted a search of the entire BLM website and found no reference to wanting to keep Black men from raising their children. The website does mention Black fathers a few times, including on February 6, 2020, when it said:
We deserve a future where we are fully free. Where we are seen and valued as our full selves -- mothers, fathers, teachers, students. Where politicians create policy and platforms to address the issues that impact our daily lives. Where we are not targeted and killed by law enforcement.
Lead Stories emailed the Black Lives Matter press contact on October 23, 2020, requesting information on the quote the Facebook ad relies on and on the organization's views on Black men raising their children, as well as clarification on whether Biden has endorsed the organization. Lead Stories will update this report, if appropriate, when Black Lives Matter's spokesperson responds.
Although Biden does lay out a plan on his website for addressing systemic racism, Lead Stories searched the BLM website and Google and found no instance of the candidate's formal endorsement of it. In fact, in an op-ed on June 10, 2020, in USA Today, Biden said he doesn't support defunding police, something BLM advocates.
Lead Stories contacted Biden's press contact for clarification, and will update this report, if appropriate, when a Biden spokesperson responds.
PolitiFact previously published an article debunking the claim that BLM wants to destroy the nuclear family.
