2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: What Black Lives Matter Gets Wrong About Bernie Sanders - Reuters [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)America to hear it. It doesn't "work" like an exchange of ideas.
You're just not getting it. This is not a "conversation." This is a declaration of what's wrong, from the perspective of a large and growing segment of the population.
White lives have always mattered--that's why the little blonde girl who gets kidnappped, or murdered in Aruba, eats up airtime, but the black children that kind of thing happens to gets no coverage. White lives have always mattered--that's why the police who rough up the white guy lose their jobs, but the ones who kill the black guys walk.
Hillary went into the NN war room last time around, it's not like she's unaware of that playing field--and she has black/latino staffers who tell her which venues are most productive. She also has a history--some might try to denigrate it or besmirch it, but that's a separate issue. Her people are confident that she is understood and that her outreach remains vibrant and active.
That said, this is not about her, or Sanders, or even O'Malley. It's putting an issue on the table. Some people are angry that a high visibility event was used to put that issue out there--but that's how a cause gets attention--ya gotta go where the reporters are. And it looks like it worked--judging by some of the howls of pain that followed the event. AND judging by the fact that all the candidates have a "blm" folder in the portfolio.
The way some white progressives have approached the issue is terribly disappointing. Sanders gets it -- he modified his standard stump speech to accommodate what he learned at NN15. Some of his supporters, though, are slow to follow along. It's sad.
http://www.eclectablog.com/2015/07/photos-blacklivesmatter-protest-at-netroots-nation-through-the-eyes-of-a-photographer.html
As far as CODE PINK goes, your memory fails you. You seem to forget that they screwed up Valerie Plame's IMPORTANT testimony, to the point that all the media covered was a bunch of idiots wearing pink waving signs and making faces, and they made all of her testimony footage unusable. So, if you like them so much, remember that they not only screwed up Plame's opportunity to speak out against how the Bush regime systematically hung her out to dry, they enabled the GOP as well by effectively silencing her. See? They were more concerned about THEIR issues, not yours....and that's to the point that they'll even snuggle up with the Paulbots if it works for them. Their loyalty is to THEMSELVES. That's their founder to the right, note the sign:
No one "owes" Sanders anything. Nor O'Malley. Nor Clinton. This is what the primaries shake out--how people are going to deal with diverse communities and diverse concerns. The candidates have taken it onboard--some of their supporters have not.