2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Heckler/disruptor Patrisse Cullors appoints herself the spokesperson of black people [View all]John Poet
(2,510 posts)I've been trying to follow this the past couple days.
Emotionally, I've been with both sides at times, but not saying too much.
I think the protest served a good purpose, if it has made the candidates more aware of the relative importance of these issues to African-Americans in the party, and they will now speak more forcefully to these issues-- and I think it has.... even if some of us feel the protest was done "the wrong way".
However... it's a mess on this board. Many of my fellow Bernie supporters seem to be taking this too personally-- as if it happened to them personally, and it's their place to decide how to react personally. I have felt the same way at times-- but it serves no good purpose to dwell on our "feelings" this way, IMHO-- nor to attack BLM or those who try to explain BLM's views-- even though some BLM supporters' comments might seem to invite such hostility.
One of our candidate's events was disrupted. Many Bernie supporters are upset about this. OK.
Something posted elsewhere put this in perspective for me:
When I went out last night, I didn't have to worry about being harassed by police because of my race. I wasn't arrested, I wasn't shot, I wasn't killed by police-- nor did I have to worry that I might be, just because of my race.... because I'm white.
If things were otherwise-- well, then I would feel personally the urgency that the BLM activists feel over these issues. NOW, I at least understand it-- and I tend to agree that these issues don't get enough attention. Those killed become a five-day media personage, but then nothing seems to change much. Things seem to have gotten worse, in fact.
We all need to GET PAST this one disrupted event, and try to be more constructive.
This was just ONE event that maybe didn't go "quite right", depending on your perspective.
However, too many people are reacting to it in ways which can make it a party-wrecker. We're making this thing go on and on, but in a negative way.
We can do better than this. Maybe it starts by taking a step back from it.