General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: To the older folks at DU from a 20-year-old, about protests, confusion, and love for one another [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)There is no point in protesting against your friends, people who support you.
Protesting works if you have a good strategy behind it.
Protesting Bernie worked out OK because Bernie is very focused on the issues and did not take serious offense. He is working with BLM. He always supported the issues that BLM is raising. In fact, according to KPFK (I think it was Ian Masters but I am not certain), Bernie was among the first, possibly the first national political figure to express himself in support of the protests in Ferguson and against the police killing there.
So, when you protest, no matter what generation you are in, you need to do some research and figure out what you want to achieve in your protest, who your target audience is, what you are protesting against, who you are protesting against. Bernie is not easily offended, so the protest, the misguided protest against him (should have been a protest with him not against him) did not hurt the BLM cause.
But it did indicate that BLM is not very efficient in its strategy. They could have just asked Bernie to give them some time and help them out. Would have worked as well as protesting. It made BLM look a little foolish to be standing up, protesting against their own ally.
It's kind of like a two-year-old protesting his birthday cake just because he likes to protest. You protest when you don't get your birthday cake, not when your birthday cake has your special frosting and ice cream to boot.
Anyway, the BLM protest of Bernie worked out because Bernie is a great guy and because the BLM cause is close not only to Bernie's heart, but to all of Bernie's supporters hearts. That was proven to me when I attended Bernie's speech in Los Angeles. It opened with a speech by Symoe Sanders about Black Lives Matter, and the crowd went wild with support.
But in the future, BLM and young people need to target their protests wisely because they need to use their energy very carefully.
I know I sound bossy, but I have lived a long time, seen a lot, and BLM's issues are very important to me for personal as well as moral reasons.