BLM issues ultimatum to Senator Whitehouse over family ties to Bailey’s Beach Club

As reported by WLNE on Wednesday, the local BLM activist branch is demanding what they believe to be accountability.

"This is an issue that’s not going to go away and Senator Whitehouse needs to address it, he needs to take it on," branch leader Mark Fisher said. "We’ll go to his club, we’ll go to his office, we’ll go to his home, wherever we need to go."

Fisher explained there’s lingering feelings of animosity with Whitehouse’s response and last month’s reporting.

It was in June that Bailey’s Beach Club in Newport, Rhode Island was accused of being an all-white establishment. In a public statement responding to the charges, they strongly denied any race-based policies whatsoever.

The debacle also made headlines because of new remarks from Whitehouse defending his family’s membership.

While Whitehouse himself isn’t a member now, the Daily Mail writes that GoLocalProv’s claim of Whitehouse’s membership back in August 2017 was (at the time) accurate.

The senator personally rebuked claims made by GoLocalProv. "The assertion was wrong, there is diversity in the membership and there are non-white club members; and second, that improving diversity remains a priority and an active task for the club’s new board."

The commitment to meaningful improvement on the diversity front apparently won’t suffice for the Black Lives Matter group local to Rhode Island.

Mark Fisher remarked in his interview with WLNE: "It doesn’t matter, you know what type of black people he brings in. This club is a proven racist club with exclusive ties to supremacy and exclusion, and that’s something that’s not going to be tolerated by me, by my associates, my affiliates or my organization."

The activists gave Whitehouse the deadline of next Friday (August 6th) to either resign from office or force his family to end their membership at the club.

Whitehouse previously responded to such calls by stating he’s not someone who tells their family what to do.