White ally here asking for an opinion on the BLM/Sanders protests.

[Cha]

27. Here's a post I ran across on FB from a White Woman.. that attempts to explain

why #BlackLivesMatters is not targeting the gop instead of Bernie Sanders.

"I'm seeing lots of posts on Facebook and Twitter from other white people in response to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' Seattle rally today, and more specifically, the ‪#?BlackLivesMatter‬ protesters on the scene.

Many "Why protest Bernie Sanders and not, say, a GOP candidate?" posts are going around (or some variation, thereof). And most frustratingly, posts that essentially say, "Fall in line. He's the most progressive candidate in the race!"

You're missing the point.

Why protest Sanders and not Cruz, Huckabee, Trump, or Bush? Think of it this way: If a bully in your school (stand in for GOP candidates in this example) said something rude to you in the hallway, you'd likely go, "Ugh. That's annoying." But if a close friend (stand in for Sanders in this example) just out of nowhere came up and said that same rude comment, you might actually confront them over it. "Why did you say that? That's not cool. I expect better from you."

Point being, you react differently towards the person you think should be on your side because you care about that relationship (or, at very least, have hope for it), and you'd like to see improvement.

That's what's going on here. The "go focus on the 'real enemy'" line gets tossed around a lot, but it's nothing more than a way to derail a conversation.

I am white. I cannot and will never be able to comprehend what it's like to be black in America. I can't say "I know how you feel," because I don't and I can't know. And because of that, it is not my place to weigh in on tactical merits of the BLM protests. What I can do — and what other white people should do — is to stand in solidarity with those protesters, to raise their voices. What we shouldn't do is complain about tactics.

I 100% support the #BlackLivesMatter movement and protests, and if protesting Bernie Sanders rallies is what they feel they need to do, then I am supportive in that.

We need to ask why Sanders, knowing that this isn't wasn't going away anytime soon, wasn't prepared to respond with an acknowledgment that now, in 2015, the U.S. is largely a white supremacist culture. If he wants to win, he needs to earn the votes. To do that, he needs to respond to the concerns of the BLM protesters, and make the fight to dismantle white supremacy and state-sanctioned murder a core component of his campaign."

#BlackLivesMatter Mahalo for your OP, intheflow, it started some good dialogue.