Posted for educational purposes ...

[Maedhros]

6. I think this part is central to the miscommunication that is happening:

Moreover, the discussion following that incident feels like it’s turned into a referendum on a whole movement, bordering even on a contest over the primacy of race or class in progressive politics; a contest that has been waged since, well, forever in terms relevant to this moment. All that incited by two Black women, just two, saying something that we should be listening to if we really do believe that Black lives matter, no matter how or to whom they said it, and maybe especially for just those reasons.

I don't see this happening at all.

The Seattle incident is, if anything, being interpreted as an outlier that is not representative of BLM in general. I don't see that progressives, in general, are contesting the "primacy of race or class in progressive politics" - for my own part, and that of the progressives I interact with on a consistent basis, we all understand too well the urgency of addressing racial justice.

I think this divide between white progressives and BLM is largely manufactured and unfortunate. While white progressives cannot understand the struggle exactly in the same way as black activists, you will not find a group more willing to work together to win it.