BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT TO PLAY ELEVATED ROLE AT CONVENTION. The message of Black Lives Matter will be woven throughout the 2020 Democratic National Convention, starting with a focus on racial injustice during the first night of programming. A record 69 percent of Americans said Black people and other minorities do not receive equal treatment in the criminal justice system, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted in July. The survey marked a 15-point increase from 2014, around the time of the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York.