We’ve mentioned it before, but according to a fawning piece in the New York Times Magazine, DeRay Mckesson was just another public school employee in Minneapolis who was watching the riots in Ferguson, Mo., unfold on TV and “decided to go see the protests for himself,” and thus the #BlackLivesMatter movement was born.
Never mentioned in the piece are three visits to the White House in 2011, which included a meeting between someone named DeRay Mckesson and a former regional field director for Obama for America who went on to be named a White House policy analyst. Hillary Clinton jokes about knowing her way around the White House, and it seems that Mckesson does too.
This has nothing to do w/ today's @WhiteHouse briefing, but I always pass this photo on Eisenhower 1st Floor. pic.twitter.com/pirJm7WeoZ
— deray mckesson (@deray) January 6, 2016
Mckesson hasn’t been shy about recent meetings with Bernie Sanders and members of Congress to sell his Campaign Zero agenda, and he seems friendly with Valerie Jarrett, with whom he met today.
I just left the @WhiteHouse briefing re: the administration's criminal justice platform for the final year of Obama's presidency.
— deray mckesson (@deray) January 6, 2016
@deray @WhiteHouse also neither here not there what does Obama smell like? My wife says Old Spice but I'm thinking Cool Water.
— #BernedOut (@rodimusprime) January 6, 2016
@rodimusprime @WhiteHouse Obama wasn't present, it was opened by Jarrett. So, no clue what he smells like, ha.
— deray mckesson (@deray) January 6, 2016
@deray @WhiteHouse Lord help us all.
— Chris Tsotsoros (@ctsotsoros) January 6, 2016
We still don’t have a photo of Mckesson with President Obama, but he might. In the meantime, enjoy this one.
Just met @deray at a White House criminal justice reform briefing. Even cooler in person! pic.twitter.com/B32bw1zp5q
— Adam Clark (@adamclark513) January 6, 2016
@deray @WhiteHouse hmmmmm hope we gonna see some of that change we were promised
— dontdothat (@thegreenpants) January 6, 2016
https://twitter.com/JayJohnson27573/status/684862465105092613
@deray @WhiteHouse So what they say?
— Giselle Phelps (@GisellePhelps) January 6, 2016
Patience, please. Mckesson has to review the legislation first.
I left the @WhiteHouse briefing today realizing that I need to review the latest legislation again & also need to see the latest critiques.
— deray mckesson (@deray) January 6, 2016
@deray @WhiteHouse I was thinking along the same lines.
— Valerie Pace (@VPace) January 6, 2016
I need to learn more about the mens rea issue that's in the currently proposed sentencing legislation.
— deray mckesson (@deray) January 6, 2016
It will be interesting to see if the Obama administration can get the sentencing legislation passed, they certainly want to do it.
— deray mckesson (@deray) January 6, 2016
It looks like the year of executive actions is just getting started.
