"Black Lives Matter" and Bernie Sanders

[Canarr]

and I assume C) If they tried this with Hillary they would be face down in cuffs before they made it to the podium.

Seems like your assumption was spot on:

How come nobody is protesting Hillary?

I don’t know what circles you are hanging out in, but I’ve seen a LOT of criticism of Hillary — along with criticisms of the reforms her husband put in place that black people are still suffering from today. But the amount of security that she has at her events makes her much less accessible.

http://seattleglobalist.com/2015/08/...-seattle/40394

[Gravekeeper]

Honestly, even if you did make it on stage to Hillary I'm pretty sure she seriously injure you. There's no way that woman doesn't know at least 3 ways to break an arm. >.>

[Canarr]

Honestly, even if you did make it on stage to Hillary I'm pretty sure she seriously injure you. There's no way that woman doesn't know at least 3 ways to break an arm. >.>

She does seem scary, yes

Honestly, I get wanting to raise awareness for BLM, and for the plight of black people in the US in general. I also get that politely waiting your turn to not get shot a lot in the streets isn't exactly an attractive prospect to a black person. I don't really have a problem with the disruptive behavior of the two women in itself.

But going after a guy like Sanders, because Hillary or one of the GOP would be too difficult or too hard a target, that just seems... I don't know. Cowardly? Hypocritical? Bullying? "We'll just go after the guy who won't pepperspray us!" I don't know.

[Nyoibo]

I figure they protest Sanders rather than any other candidate for the same reason animal rights groups protest the fur in the fashion industry rather than motorcycle gangs wearing leather

[Canarr]

Here's an interesting article on the subject of black people, violence and imprisonment; I'm putting it here for lack of a better place. Interesting read.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...-lives/399386/

[Kara_CS]

Well, at least now they're going after the GOP candidates. Fair's fair and all.

[Gravekeeper]

Well, at least now they're going after the GOP candidates. Fair's fair and all.

In fairness that seems like actual protestors, not attention whoring lunatics.

Also:

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.

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[wolfie]

I figure they protest Sanders rather than any other candidate for the same reason animal rights groups protest the fur in the fashion industry rather than motorcycle gangs wearing leather

Yep - an animal rights activist can throw paint on middle-aged women wearing fur coats many times, but he can only throw paint on Hell's Angels in leather jackets once.

[Hyena Dandy]

I don't know if I said it here, but I am far more bothered by the people who are defending these assholes, than the assholes themselves. I don't mind that some people may have made the wrong move, but I do mind the non-stop thinkpieces about why it's the RIGHT move. From "We're protesting him because he's politically the closest to us, and that means we'll convince him!" to "We're not protesting him, we protest his audiences!" to "We'll take whatever space we want, and white people objecting to this need to understand that their privilege has blinded them to our suffering!"


Seems like as long as someone says the right words when they do it, you need to defend it, whatever it is.

[Estil]

Would it be bigoted and racist to suggest they oh, I don't know, wait their turn to speak and not treat everyone who is not 100% on board with everything they say and do as their enemy?

[HYHYBT]

Yep - an animal rights activist can throw paint on middle-aged women wearing fur coats many times, but he can only throw paint on Hell's Angels in leather jackets once.

That's not quite a fair comparison. Fur clothing comes for animals used only for their fur; leather is made from cows which would be killed for their meat whether the hide is used or not.

[Hyena Dandy]

"To us, eveyrthing is black lives matter" is a non-answer. It's based on almost a platonic ideal of what happened.

They interrupted a rally on Social Security, said that white progressives don't care for black people's issues, and demanded a moment of silence.

But EVERYTHING is black lives matter. The main defense against the people who say all lives matter is that the disrespect for black people means they deserve it. And I SUPPORT that idea. But when you interrupt something for other marginalized groups to make it about black people, then yes, you ARE saying that only black lives matter, and that is a fuck you to people.

I know I'm not supposed to have an opinion on racism, but I do have an opinion on disabilities, since that's the one I need to live with in my life.

[s_stabeler]

actually, i'd say the "all lives matter" crowd are actually closer to figuring out the actual problem (police being too quick to escalate to lethal force) than the "black lives matter" crowd, who seem focused o the racism part, when that is largely incidental to the problem. (when I mean largely incidental, I mean that a cop who shoots a black person without sufficient justification, if they were not racist, may well shoot a white person without sufficient justification. Therefore, the actual issue is police resorting to lethal force too quickly- while racism in the police DOES need to be addressed, rooting out the police who ignore the law on how much force they are allowed to use should probably be a higher priority.

and to answer the "black lives matter" crowd: your issue, while indeed an important one, doesn't preclude other issues ALSO being important. Social security, if nothing is done, is likely to run out of money within a decade or two. ( to be honest, my favored solution would be to abolish the upper limit on wages that FICA taxes apply to, and apply FICA taxes to stock dividends as well.- but that is a separate debate) Not to mention that time is fast running out to do something about climate change (again, please don't debate it in this thread) to say nothing of various other issues ( poverty in general, terrorism, crime and punishment, the list goes on) so kindly do not say that other issues are unimportant. ( indeed, I always get irritated when groups that have issues that don't even intersect- or even more ridiculously, actually have a solution in common- clash over the issue. ( to give an example, all the various forms of prejudice actually have the same root cause- a belief that anything different from yourself is inferior- so when there are arguments between people fighting different types of prejudice, I can't help but wonder if they've really thought this through.)

[Andara Bledin]

So, if it weren't for the rampant racism, racism isn't an issue?!?

Yes, the escalation to violence is a serious and separate problem. But the fact remains that some escalations are due to the victim being black and not because they did anything aggressive.

[Gravekeeper]

actually, i'd say the "all lives matter" crowd are actually closer to figuring out the actual problem (police being too quick to escalate to lethal force) than the "black lives matter" crowd, who seem focused o the racism part, when that is largely incidental to the problem. (when I mean largely incidental, I mean that a cop who shoots a black person without sufficient justification, if they were not racist, may well shoot a white person without sufficient justification.

You can make this argument after you demonstrate that there is an unending stream of unarmed dead white kids at the hands of police departments that circulate cracker jokes on their mailing lists with impunity due too decades of institutionalized racism making it the norm behind the blue wall. Coupled with a media that can't wait to somehow try and justify that the victim deserved it.

Until then, no. It is racism and its become a farking epidemic in American law enforcement. White people aren't being shot on a weekly basis without sufficient justification. Nor is anyone driving tanks and snipers up to any white majority protest.

Trying to say the "actual" problem is really something else is a frustrating and likely rage inducing argument for anyone that lives under the heel of the current system.

I mean Christ they didn't even shoot Dylan Roof or James Holmes despite both of them being armed and known mass murderers at the time of their arrest. -.-