Great TYT segment on how BLM can improve its tactics [View all]

[gobears10]

Great segment by TheYoungTurks. I always like the discussions between Jayar, Jimmy, and John. They made an excellent point: it's horrible politics to call your natural allies "white supremacists." As Jimmy said, politics is about compromise, the art of what's possible. It's about being able to build broad based coalitions, winning over people, knowing how to work the situations, knowing how to gain support for your issue, and to win not just short battles, but the overall war. Those on the radical left who prioritize anti-oppression identity politics often denounce smart politics as "respectability politics." But they are extremely naive and idealistic, living in a fantasy land and having no idea about how the real world works. Great point about how MLK Jr. strategically won the war, while what the Black Panthers did was theoretically justified, they were't able to have such a broad based impact on the overall American public.

Calling white progressives, people who agree with you on 95% of the substance "white supremacists" is horrible politics. This loses support, alienates natural allies, and pushes people away from your cause. Instead of saying something to get them on your side, you are pushing them way and doing far more harm to your cause than good. Theoretically and academically, you may have a case about how we live in a social system that perpetuates "white supremacy," or institutional white privilege built on structural anti-blackness. But when you're that deep in your ideological bubble, when you are using very specific sociological definitions of terms far removed from their standard and colloquial use, the population at large is going to look at you as a bunch of crazy people when you call ultra-liberal white people "white supremacist liberals." Still, even using the academic definition, calling people and Bernie that doesn't help your cause, and it fucks your cause over. Equating people who are on your side and support you with white supremacists who want to kill you like Dylan Roof is extremely idiotic, and BLM's actions did far more harm than good.

There is a much better way for people to approach this and win over people. They could have said, "Bernie, even in Seattle, even in the most progressive and liberal city in America, there are still a lot of blind spots. The progressives here still have blind spots. You don't know our experience, and how even in this bastion of liberalism, we are plagued with police brutality. You all need to have a bigger and more inclusive dialogue. Yes, you all are liberal, and you want to do the right thing, and you've done the right thing in many areas, but you have a blind spot on racial justice. We need you stand with us because we are dying." That's how you properly get a message across and win over your natural allies, broaden the appeal of your message, and make your movement more inclusive.