2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: What Black Lives Matter Gets Wrong About Bernie Sanders - Reuters [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)This is not a "Yes, BUT" thing. The answer to "Black lives matter" is NOT "White lives matter, tooooooooo." See, white lives have always mattered. That's not even at issue.
I am trying to explain the framing as clearly as I can manage, but I guess I'm not getting through. It's a difficult concept if you're not seeing it from the perspective of someone who has lost a loved one to police violence, or knows someone in that situation.
See, it's not taking anything away from the dominant culture-- those "white lives"-- to point out that the black lives of young men and women are getting KILLED by police, for starters, and are victims of institutionalized racism every moment of every day.
It's not about "supporting" minority causes or in the case of Sanders, "Marching with Dr. King," .... it's not about the past, or a "credential check." This is a cry for help--a plea to put this issue forward, to prioritize it, to make it a real front-and-center plank in the party platform. People can either say "I hear you, I will stand with you, I will help you, your cause is my cause, let's change the culture by correcting these inequities" .... or they can say "But-but-but I'm not a racist, and oh, vote for my candidate because--grumble/ungrateful--that's the best you're gonna get. The Republicans are way worse, you know!" That's just not good enough, anymore.
There's no sense in insulting people--you don't win anyone over that way. I mean, I'm always so convinced (not) when someone tells me that my views and my person are horrible because they don't align with someone else's! I try, mentally, anyway, to turn the other cheek (when people are really mean to me, I imagine a very specific cheek, but never mind that...hee hee!).