By Ryan Black

For more than a year, establishment Democrats, including Joe Biden, have proudly declared that “Black lives matter.”

But such statements are directly undermined by the fact that President Biden has now officially nominated disgraced former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel to be the U.S. ambassador to Japan.

This is the same Rahm Emanuel who egregiously oversaw a cover-up of the police murder of a black 17-year-old named Laquan McDonald. As mayor, Emanuel did great harm to Chicago’s minority communities by closing half the city’s mental health facilities. He shuttered public schools across the city, and invested in luxury real estate at the expense of affordable housing.

As Emanuel’s confirmation heads to the Senate, there is an obvious question: Will Democratic senators actually show that Black lives really matter to them?  

If Democrats in the Senate reward Rahm Emanuel with an ambassadorship, they will be saying that Black lives don’t really matter to them.

New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman summarized the choice senators now face with a simple tweet“You can value Black life, or you can confirm Rahm Emanuel to an ambassadorship. Pick one.”

Congresswoman Cori Bush has been clear and to the point about Emanuel: “The Senate needs to do the right thing and block his nomination.”

The RootsAction team has been organizing opposition to Rahm Emanuel’s expected nomination for six months. Now, it’s crunch time, and you can have a real impact if you email your senators now using the form on this page and urge them to reject Rahm Emanuel to be ambassador to Japan.

Help make history!