Two Black women called for a moment of silence for Mike Brown, and White “progressives” shouted and booed.
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You know, I’ve always liked Bernie Sanders. I appreciate that as a U.S. Senator, he has been willing to speak the truth about many important social issues, but he’s also a U.S. Senator, which means that he is only going to be as progressive as his electorate allows him to be.
That said, I’d generally been pretty disappointed with the lack of racial justice analysis in his economic inequality platform as a candidate for president. That is, until a few weeks ago when some phenomenal Black activists at the Netroots Nation Presidential Town Hall forced his hand.
For all of the “this is not the way” sentiment we’re hearing from White progressives, it was the interruption at Netroots (alongside other direct pressure) that led to Bernie’s explicit platform on racial justice.
Notably, Black Lives Matter activists haven’t been successful (though I am sure not for lack of trying) in interrupting Hillary Clinton in the same way (that secret service protection and massive campaign budget for private security sure is handy), but even she has had little choice but to pay attention to Black Lives Matter as a movement.
And there is a great deal of disagreement within Black communities (we as White folks would do well to remember that people and Black organizations aren’t monoliths) about whether the action was strategic and whether targeting Bernie was the right move. And that dialogue should continue to take place within Black liberation spaces, but White folks – that’s not our business.
Because here’s the thing – what’s powerful about these interruptions from Black women is less how it has changed the tone of the Democratic campaigns and more about what they have exposed in the White left.
I see these protests as less about the individual candidates themselves and more about how their White base refuses to center Black lives and Black issues. It’s notable that White Bernie supporters, who consider themselves the most progressive of us all, shouted down and booed Black women who dared to force Blackness into the center of White space.
Because let’s be honest, every Bernie rally is White space.
In watching the over-the-top angry response from White liberals about Bernie being interrupted in Seattle, I can’t help but think of the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on White moderates:
What was true in King’s time is true in ours: the greatest stumbling block to racial justice is not the KKK; it’s well-meaning White people who would rather maintain injustice than risk the decentering of our Whiteness and White comfort.
And when I watch and hear the reaction of a mostly White Seattle crowd to a Black woman naming that the event is taking place in the context of Indigenous genocide, the new Jim Crow, and the everyday violence that Black, Brown, and Indigenous people face in Seattle, I’m ashamed.
Two Black women called for a moment of silence for Mike Brown a year after he was gunned down, left bleeding in the street for 4.5 hours, and White “progressives” shouted, booed, and chanted the name of a White man throughout that moment.
How much more committed to a “negative peace” can we get than literally shouting down the memory of a Black youth whose murder helped to spark this movement?
We are so resistant to the decentering of Whiteness and the centering of Blackness that we cut off our own nose to spite our face.
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And how much more “devoted to ‘order’” can we be than to lecture Black people about what direct actions are and are not “hurting your cause”? (Notably, this language I’ve seen from countless White folks shows that we do not see the cause of racial justice as OUR cause – it’s that cause over there that we will tolerate so long as it doesn’t disrupt our Bernie rally.)
And how much more of a “stumbling block” can our self-proclaimed “allyship” be to racial justice when it’s so feeble as to proclaim, “I am a strong ally of the Black Lives Matter movement, but I’m not sure how to be an ally when they are this disrespectful to the only candidate that has actually done anything for minorities” (actual quote from one of the 15 or so social media threads I’m following as I write this article)?
Notably, it wasn’t two Black women who kept Bernie from speaking in Seattle. It was a White man, a Bernie supporter, who organized the event who shut it down, said the event was over, and informed the crowd that Sanders would not be speaking because he couldn’t agree with the “methods of direct action” of the Black women in front of him.
We are so resistant to the decentering of Whiteness and the centering of Blackness that we cut off our own nose to spite our face.
White solidarity toward racial justice must look like more than pointing to the fact that Bernie Sanders was a supporter of Civil Rights in the 60s. White solidarity toward racial justice must look like more than a Facebook share of a Ta-Nehisi Coates article (don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Coates). White solidarity toward racial justice must even look like more than showing up to the occasional rally that is organized and led by people of Color (though this is a good start – please show up).
White solidarity begins with our willingness to decenter ourselves and to divest from Whiteness, our privileges and power, and to support the centering of progressive leadership of Color.
White solidarity continues when we work with our own people to dismantle the deep-seated White supremacy that would cause us to boo during a moment of silence for a Black boy murdered by a White police officer.
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Originally appeared at Change From Within
Also read: We Must Awaken the Souls of White People to Resist White Supremacy
Oh. And i also said brown was not the innicent that everyone makes him out to be. He may be a catalyst but not an innocent. But the left lives to portray him as such to meet their argument. And yet the left has no issue declaring that a cop MURDERED Brown when murder is a legal concept while killing him is the abject truth. Yet a scream of murder of course means so much more to further the agitation.
Well. My post was there then gone. Nothing disrespectful but i did comment on the underlying leftist philosophy of taking everything. Taking over dpeeches, and forests, and farms and everything else they don’t like because THEY have moral superiority, and gosh darn anyone else’s desire to do what they want to do. They don’t work within the system because they believe they won’t get anything unless yhey force you. Like income distribution. Their arguments are not bad but their methods are atrocious. Since they cant get it by reasonable debate they take. Revolution is their only end goal. But think… Read more »
According to PoliticusUSA Black Lives Matters protesters are not happy with the activists from Outside Agitators 206 who took the stage and self identified as Black Lives Matter activists, blocking Bernie Sanders from speaking.
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/08/10/real-black-lives-matter-wsnts-activists-publicly-apologize-bernie-sanders.html
They jumped the stage and tried to take over, of course they got boos and yells. It was a low class act on the protesters side. Hell, they went after the one candidate that is actually on their side.
It was an asshole move. And possibly a setup. Black lives do matter…so does respect and dignity. They lacked both. Whether a setup or just some obnoxious assholes, that’s not okay and nobody should put up with it. #FeelTheBern
They jumped the stage and tried to take over, of course they got boos and yells. It was a low class act on the protesters side. Hell, they went after the one candidate that is actually on their side.
I hardly see interrupting a rally for Sanders like that as being anything other than disrespectful. Then to clamor on like they, the usurpers are the ones who now command respect from the crowd? Terribly poor taste.
Im having a hard time supporting the disruption of an event by the one candidate most likely to be sympathetic to the BLM cause. I think it is very dishonest to try to make the booing about race and make it out to be about white progressives silencing black voices. Simply put those two women disrupted an event on one topic and demanded that everyone focus on the topic they wanted to bring up. Let’s see them disrupt potential candidates who are probably not as sympathetic to the cause. But I have to admit it was a bold move on… Read more »
If it was justified why is the national BLM movement denouncing it? If all they wanted was a moment of silence why all the hostility when asked to discuss terms of their presence? The booing was a reaction as to the way the Hacktivists forced their way onto the platform, completely out of control and unreasonable. Yes, Black Lives Matter, but no, you do not have the right to storm in making demands of a potential ally. That was just plain dumb. And shouting down a very real cause or trying to further marginalize people who are acting this way… Read more »
Have you read Bernie’s statement on racial justice? https://berniesanders.com/issues/racial-justice/ No other candidate is speaking out more clearly on the issue. Bernie proposes concrete programs to address the issue. Here are a few bits. Go read the whole thing. Addressing Physical Violence It is an outrage that in these early years of the 21st century we are seeing intolerable acts of violence being perpetuated by police, and racist terrorism by white supremacists. A growing number of communities do not trust the police and law enforcement officers have become disconnected from the communities they are sworn to protect. Violence and brutality of… Read more »
I grew up during the Harold Washington election in Chicago. I was around when a black man ran for president focusing on racism and lost. I was around when a black man ran for president talking about hope. I voted for him twice. He is serving his second term. Not all white democrats voted for Washington or Obama, but enough of them did. Especially during the time of Washington there was a debate among whites. Are we white or are we democrats? You center what is important. If you think being black is the most important thing then that’s what… Read more »
If there is a candidate running today, who has earned his hoodpass is Bernie Sanders! He owes nobody an explanation of where he stands on civil rights issues. He’s seen in the inside of jail because of it.
The protesters in seattle were out of line, 10K plus people were there to listen to him, voice your concerns and then let him speak. very selfish to all those people who had gathered.
Also word of advice, don’t piss off your only allies. you are dividing yourself and conquering no one.
Sorry Chad, both you and the author misread the situation with Bernie. What happened on Saturday had nothing to do with race. I was there, those women were booed because the people in the crowd were pissed that they interrupted Sanders and blackmailed by saying if they were not allowed to speak they would shut his speech down. They refused to compromise when the host offered to allow them to speak after Sanders and insisted on speaking first. Now as far as Bernie’s position on civil rights and his plan to fight for it, nothing has changed. Bernie has always… Read more »
Two wrongs don’t make a right. Justifying rude behavior with excuses pathetic. People booed because they were there to listen to what Mr. Sanders has to say, period.
Seattle is liberal, but it’s not progressive. Seattle is, in fact, one of the most segregated, racist cities in the U.S., very much like Austin and other so-called “liberal” cities predominantly populated by really rich white people who gentrify the place and push out those of low socio-economic classes of all colors. So it’s sort of expected that this would happen in a city like Seattle. I would advise Bernie’s handlers to take him to cities where the real progressives live–bordertowns like El Paso, Brownsville, and the Valley. Why they’re trotting him out in the most affluent regions of the… Read more »
Where as I admit Seattle is about as white of a city as you will find, I kind of take offense at being called a non progressive, there are a lot of progressives here the problem lies in our not being able to see eye to eye with each other we all have our own idea as to what the important topics of the day are. And this depends entirely on what economic rung you are hanging on. If you are a college age or older Progressive, chances are the economy is going to mean a lot to you, if… Read more »
Yes. Progressives need to act like progressives. Shouting down a very real cause or trying to further marginalize people who are acting this way BECAUSE they have been so marginalized for so long is a huge mistake, not to mention an injustice. There is no excuse for racism. None. It’s fine to support Bernie Sanders, but to attack those who expose a weakness so rabidly is an immoral choice. The author is correct; Sanders only introduced his racial injustice platform after having his hand forced. This was a test for Bernie, one he initially failed. He is at least now… Read more »
The idea that silencing Bernie Sanders is going to help anyone is hugely challenging. The booing wasn’t about race, it was about silencing Sanders and refusing to allow him to speak. Sanders is a “soft target” as he won’t push back. Perhaps they should take on some hard targets? Perhaps Jeb Bush or Donald Trump? White liberals may have a lot to learn about race, but attacking and silencing potential allies is a strategy that has always hurt the left, not helped it. The ferocity with which we lecture each other while the right wing runs amok is tragic. In… Read more »
Treating your allies like your enemies…It’s a bold strategy, Cotton (Mark). Let’s see if it pays off for them.
How is interrupting him treating him like an enemy? People are literally dying and no presidential candidate has spoken about it. This is civil discourse not attacking. Bernie Sanders had an opportunity to speak afterwards but like the author said the event was shutdown. Without these actions no one would be talking about the modern day killing of black, brown and indiginous bodies!!
Are you for real? They way they interjected themselves into that rally was appalling. Yes black lives matter but my goodness have some respect. No wonder they were booed. Their actions were totally divisive. Not cool.
We are all in this together. Kia kaha.
My sentiments exactly.