Can anybody explain to me why Black Lives Matter protesters keep hassling Bernie, of all people? The way they act around this not-very-young gentleman who’s doing his darndest to move the Democrats to the Left is nothing short of disgraceful.
Why aren’t they taking all this to Bush’s, Trump’s and Walker’s rallies instead?
“Why aren’t they taking all this to Bush’s, Trump’s and Walker’s rallies instead?”
Because what they want is attention, and neither the audience nor the candidates would tolerate them at a Republican rally. They’d be quickly removed by security.
LikeLike
I have the same question as Clarissa. I have an immense amount of sympathy for the BLM movement and I want to support them but I find myself confused and putt off by these incidents at Sanders events. I really can’t understand why Sanders is specifically the one that’s targeted. And the fact that Sanders is Jewish, elderly, and intensely liberal makes the targeting seem not only mean spirited but ultimately counter productive.
Is it perhaps because Sanders is the only candidate that’s currently holding large rallies? So far H. Clinton hasn’t really had any rallies and Republican candidates have generally been campaigning on a smaller scale.
I want to support BLM and still do. But I hope the movement becomes more organized and comprehensible. I would be happy to see a debate or a rally or a specific political objective or anything to come from the movement. If nothing else, I would love a clear statement about why they are targeting Sanders events. But right now it’s hard to feel supportive.
LikeLike
Exactly. Bernie is working hard, traveling the country, speaking to people, trying to get his very important message out – what’s the value in shutting him up? This is a rare opportunity for him to be heard. These ideas haven’t had such a wide audience for a while. I don’t want this chance for a crucial discussion to be missed by all of us.
LikeLike
Bernie’s a tough old warhorse and therefore he isn’t getting hurt fee fees about it. Plus, unlike the rest of the pack, he’s listening to their demands.
LikeLike
Any person with an ounce of self-respect would find this treatment offensive and intolerable. And Bernie is obviously doing just that since he walks away from these events before they can even begin.
And insulting the only person who is willing to listen sounds like a mighty stupid strategy.
LikeLike
Lordy.
LikeLike
If all they wanted was a platform, did they get in touch with Bernie’s campaign and ask for an opportunity to address the crowd? I don’t think he would have refused. Or was the whole point to cause a scene for the sake of self promotion.
LikeLike
That’s what I believe, as well. This was not an attempt to get the message out because the women don’t seem to have had any message. “You all suck” is hardly a political message.
LikeLike
Classy the attack of morons 🙂 Keep it up!
LikeLike
One idea I keep seeing put out there is that George Soros has heavily funded various BLM causes and he is heavily pro-Hillary. Connect the dots.
I’m surprised they were able to just walk up to his podium, wasn’t there any security?
It was just dumb luck they were infantile, inarticulate rage junkies wanting attention and not potential assassins or terrorists.
LikeLike
This sounds devious. At this point, I’d welcome devious.
Bernie likes to act as the man of the people. But you’re right, it’s dangerous.
LikeLike
To feed your paranoia:
Behind the scenes of the Donald Trump-Roger Stone show
From the link above: Black Lives Matter Seattle Protestor Is A Former Tea Party Palin Supporter
LikeLike
Good article. It goes to show that voters are not getting any stupider. They were always stupid.
LikeLike
I find the focus on Bernie very odd. You’re right. Why not Republicans?
LikeLike
I guess the answer is because it’s easy. Pushing Bernie around must be a whole lot easier than doing the same to Trump. Imagine trying to snatch a mic out of his hands. That would not be pretty.
LikeLike
Why? Because when you have as little real political leverage as the #BLM movement, you use the little bit you have where it will make the most difference. Protests and disruptions at Trump’s or Walker’s rallies would have purely symbolic value. They’d make white liberals happy and not a damn bit of difference otherwise. Trump and Walker were never going to go after the black vote. Bernie is going to need black voters to win. Going after him puts #BLM at the center of Democratic electoral politics, where it should be.
LikeLike
The only kind of difference this made is discrediting the movement. Bernie is loved, there’s no denying that. And the image of this frail older man walking away hunched and defeated from his own rally is heart-breaking. If he were 50, then ok. But pushing around a 73 – year-old man who looks every day of his age? It makes a horrible impression.
LikeLike
Makes him look … unpresidential. Now whose interest would that serve?
LikeLike
Honestly, all I’m seeing are spoiled young people who want their names to appear on social networks because that will make them feel important.
But I hope you are right because political scheming is much better than tanking your best chance at getting the issues that are important to you into the public forum.
LikeLike
Apparently it was not his rally; it was a gathering sponsored by someone else to which he was invited. I will look for a link; I heard this on television–either BBC or MSNBC.
LikeLike
Can anybody explain to me why Black Lives Matter protesters keep hassling Bernie, of all people? The way they act around this not-very-young gentleman who’s doing his darndest to move the Democrats to the Left is nothing short of disgraceful.
Why aren’t they taking all this to Bush’s, Trump’s and Walker’s rallies instead?
Every other candidate either has racism as a selling point for their run or has closed events instead of open ones. Hillary does not have open events and uses the Secret Service to make sure her events run smoothly.
No Democratic candidate is going to win without the black vote. The numbers just aren’t there. When black people turn out and have their votes counted, the Democrats win elections. When they stay home or are prevented from voting, they lose. I would not assume that any Democratic candidate is going to coast to victory. It could just as easily end up being something that rhymes with 1968.
Theoretically by pushing the left most viable primary candidate into making a statement about racial justice, this pulls the Overton Window to the left for the primaries.
Mostly, though, I think they feel many are beginning to tune out what they see is wholesale, consequence free murder, and I don’t think they feel like any party is a natural true ally. Jay Nixon, after all, is a Democrat. It’s raw pain and anger. If they can’t make the candidates act, they damn well will make them uncomfortable as hell.
.
LikeLike
First of all, I have a huge problem withe extrapolating this self-promoting bratty behavior to all (or even a significant number of ) black people. There is zero evidence that this is representative of any interest other than these specific women’s desire to make themselves known and get attention.
And if these were women hassling Hillary on abortion rights, I’d be saying the same thing. Disgraceful and pathetic.
“If they can’t make the candidates act, they damn well will make them uncomfortable as hell.”
LikeLike
“If they can’t make the candidates act, they damn well will make them uncomfortable as hell.”
It’s interesting that you are using the plural here. Who are these candidates? I’m seeing just one who, as you are saying, is easy pickings.
BLM protesters doesn’t necessarily have to show up at the other candidates rallies in the primary to make those candidates (O Malley, Clinton) uncomfortable. Not everyone will march in the streets to protest, in fact, most will not.
They (O’Malley, Clinton) know that even though black voters as a whole are the most reliably Democratic voters, they don’t garner as much enthusiasm as Barack Obama did. I just don’t see a bunch of black voters standing in line for 8 hours for Hillary Clinton/O’Malley/Sanders.
When I did election protection on election day 2012, I was in a majority black polling place, and people joyfully volunteered that they were going to “reelect the President”. Can you picture that sentence with “elect Hillary/O’Malley/Sanders?”
Everyone who’s gleeful at theidea of a possible right wing 3rd party candidate should realize it doesn’t always work to their side’s advantage.
LikeLike
A new development: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/black-lives-matter-protesters-attempt-disrupt-hillary-clinton-2016-event-121269.html
“The activists said Clinton understood their problems, but that her answers were similar to what they’ve heard from other candidates.
“It rings similar in that it is a political response, right? They’re politicians, and that it’s a conversation about, again, policy and about drafting new legislation and those things, without, I think, the deep underlying conversation around how those policies were drafted in a way that supports white supremacist violence,” Yancey said, before clarifying later that she felt good about having had the exchange.”
Yes, what a bitch that Hillary is. She should have totally said, “Yes, I drafted policies that support white supremacist violence.”
Seriously.
LikeLike
I read the article that Vanessa Sosa linked to and I actually thought it was good. Clearly I’m in the minority here. 😉 But I find it curious that nothing as cogent as the linked article seems to have come from the women who disrupted the Sanders event. Or nothing that I’ve seen so far anyway.
If this was a serious attempt to bring issues of race/racial injustice to the forefront of of the Democratic party platform, that’s a laudable and necessary goal. And the Republicans ARE hopeless here and the Dems SHOULD be discussing racial issues far more. I also agree with Shakti that the Black vote is necessary to a Dem win and that the Dems should not assume Black support. I don’t even mind that the women who disrupted the event seemed angry. There is a lot to be angry about.
But given all that, I’ve watched the video of the rally and I didn’t even realize that the women were trying to have a moment of silence for Michael Brown. If that was the original goal, it was completely lost to me. And even at that, a moment of silence is not a political goal. Even if everybody had followed suit and observed a moment of silence, nothing would be changed or materially different.
I would like to see a discussion of policies that actually affect real Black lives. Public school funding, school districting, drug sentencing, urban living conditions, affordable/high quality early childhood care, availability of grocery stores, public transportation: these are the actual issues that need to be addressed. They aren’t perhaps exciting issues but they are very real and important issues and I do happen to think that serious Democratic candidates should be addressing them. But I don’t even hear BLM activists addressing these issues. I am very willing to listen to activists or spokespeople from BLM. I suspect Sanders is too. I just don’t know what it is that we are supposed to be listening to.
LikeLike
The article reminded me of all those people who accuse me of violating their right to free speech for moderating them off my blog. Nobody is entitled to be heard. And if people refuse to listen to you at an event where they gathered specifically to hear someone else, that doesn’t mean they are racists. It simply means they don’t want to hear you.
I agree most wholeheartedly with you about the issues that need to be addressed. The segregation is obvious and shameful. It perpetuates horrifying poverty and inhuman living conditions. I was so excited about the BLM movement because I thought we would finally start doing something about all this. But the movement is now all about coming up with some fresh click-baity outrage every day. Hillary refused to say she’s a white supremacist, ooh, outrage. Bernie refused to let anybody other than him “center” anything at his event, ooh, outrage. A young man is shot after starting a shootout, ooh, outrage. This isn’t serious. And neither is this solving anything. To the contrary, it channels legitimate anger into these trivial venues.
As you say, I have no idea what it is that we should all be listening to. That we are all racists? Ok, got the message. Now what?
LikeLike
I got this via email today from Reader Supported News.
LikeLike
If Sanders had any hope of becoming president (which he never did), this would put an end to it. This makes him look like a wuss. But since he never had any hope, it’s immaterial.
LikeLike
If by some sad miracle Bernie becomes the Dem nominee, it’s hello President Bush. Republicans are obviously pinning the same hopes on Bernie as Hillary does on Trump.
LikeLike
If Sanders had any hope of becoming president (which he never did), this would put an end to it. This makes him look like a wuss. But since he never had any hope, it’s immaterial.
Co-opting ones opponents is a tried and true strategy which I have seen be successful many times, so I disagree with this totally.
LikeLike
This is more about the form than the content. In this whole situation, Sanders looks weak. But the point is moot. He’s not going to be elected and I don’t think he’s even trying.
LikeLike
Good for Bernie. Maybe now the movement will distinguish itself by something other than successfully browbeating a 73 – year-old.
LikeLike
We were saying? #BlackLivesMatter activists shut down Jeb Bush campaign event in Nevada (videos at the link)
LikeLike
“Some supporters of the former Florida governor reportedly responded by chanting “white lives matter” and “all lives matter” at the group, while at least one Bush supporter and a protester traded obscene hand gestures.”
I was sure Trump had no chance. But now I’m not so sure. Everybody else seems too complex for an average American voter.
LikeLike
You’re getting too caught up with issues again, which American presidential elections are never about. Most voters most of the time vote identity (who they want to be)
Who would your average sane human be…
Frumpy wife of a cheating superstar who can’t think on her feet?
Sincere old guy who wants to do the right thing and just gets yelled at by enraged children?
Genial nice guy from a dynasty of cutthroats and killers?
Self-made super rich guy who gets to yell at people and makes everybody afraid of him?
We are soooooooo screwed…….
LikeLike
It’s not even just the elections that bug me. It’s this profoundly Soviet belief that an all-powerful, godlike figure will solve every problem in the world: restore the strength of the nation-state by building a wall, destroy racism by saying a magic incantation, make everybody rich by applying magic to the vicious trolls who have grabbed all of the riches, etc. And all we need to do is just ask.
I thought the good tsar mentality belonged to the other side of the ocean but it seems like I can’t run fast enough to get away from it.
LikeLike
Frumpy wife of a cheating superstar who can’t think on her feet?
Sincere old guy who wants to do the right thing and just gets yelled at by enraged children?
Genial nice guy from a dynasty of cutthroats and killers?
Self-made super rich guy who gets to yell at people and makes everybody afraid of him?
ROFLMAO.
The better question is “whose persona would you like to inhabit?” and when you put it that way, the YOOGE SUCCESS (Trump) wins hands down for many voters. He could easily be replaced by Mark Cuban.
#NiceGuyThugLife (Bush Trilogy) doesn’t win unless people have a need to be aggressive without actually being aggressive.
First Wives Club (Clinton) doesn’t beat Bush Trilogy or YOOGE Success unless she does a pivot into Miranda Priestly.
Clouds Yelling at Old Man (Sanders) doesn’t win unless First Wives Club/Bush Trilogy/Yooge Success murder themselves.
I ‘m having much more fun coming up with nicknames than bothering what they actually say. The Republic is doomed. :p
LikeLike
A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
Leave a comment