I have some mixed feelings about the issue of this kind of demonstration, and
it has nothing to do with Bernie Sanders although for everyone to pile on
because he didn't immediately provide the acceptable response in the midst of
giving a speech, doesn't mean that he doesn't understand what Black Lives
Matter is about. But I have problems when Code Pink interrupts public speeches
also. My problem is that although I understand and agree with the points that
these people are making, I don't think that they gain adherents to their cause
by being rude. I remember students doing similar things back during the
anti-war movement in the 60's. The majority of Americans like,what they
consider to be, proper decorum. They are uncomfortable when speakers are
interrupted in a public forum. And I certainly don't think that verbally
attacking and embarrassing the speaker is going to convince him to change his
mind.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
(Redacted sender "rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2015 12:50 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Whose Lives Matter?
http://socialistaction.org/whose-lives-matter/
Whose Lives Matter?
Published August 5, 2015. | By Socialist Action.
DEM 2016 O'Malley
By BILL ONASCH
Netroots Nation bills its live body gatherings as the biggest conference of
Progressives—by which they mean liberal Democrats. At their annual conclave,
held in Phoenix in July, they featured a presidential candidate Town Hall
Meeting that included the two top long-shot challengers to Hillary Clinton for
the Donkey Party nod—Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who for
the past quarter-century has caucused with the Democrats, and Martin O’Malley,
who just completed two terms as governor of Maryland and prior to that served
two terms as Mayor of Baltimore. They came prepared to give their stock spiel
to a friendly audience. But that was not to be.
A vocal contingent from the movement in formation known as Black Lives Matter
insisted that the Democrat hopefuls respond to their issues. I’m sure that as a
former mayor of Brown Town Baltimore, this was not O’Malley’s first exposure to
edgy African-American dissent. But, after first demonstrating the stereotype
that white people can’t get the hang of rhythmic clapping, he appeared
flustered and blurted, “Black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives
matter.”
While few would challenge such banality about the sanctity of life in general,
O’Malley got a reminder that context rules. The BLM agitators were there
because Black lives are being taken in alarming numbers by those charged to
protect and serve them. The Guardian has been updating a running count of those
killed by police in the USA, along with their color. As I write, the total for
this year is 648. Broken down by fatalities per million of their color’s
population: 4.12 Black; 1.77 Latino; 1.58 white.
If the numbers and colors were reversed, if unarmed suburban, middle-class
white youth were being gunned down by Black cops, it would undoubtedly be
considered a national crisis. Clearly in America today Black lives don’t matter
as much. But few white liberal politicians are willing to explicitly
acknowledge this—much less take any meaningful action to end this disgrace.
And what about the “socialist” who has been drawing big crowds—including 11,000
at a rally in Phoenix—in his quest for the Democrat nomination?
One of Bernie’s most avid supporters, Joe Dinkin, national communications
director of the Working Families Party, wrote in that venerable organ of
liberalism, the Nation, “Both candidates did damage to themselves; Sanders was
defensive, and O’Malley’s response included the words ‘white lives matter.’ But
Sanders had far more to gain by getting this right.
“I approach this incident as a fan of Bernie Sanders. But when he had the
opportunity to rewrite his own narrative and broaden his own base, he failed. …
With the protest, Sanders was presented an opportunity on a silver platter: He
could overcome his perceived negatives and grow his base. All he would have had
to do was act with a little humility. But instead, he talked over the
protesters, got defensive about his racial-justice bona fides, and stuck to his
script.
“Essentially, he appeared to be arguing that economics and class trump all. For
an audience mourning the death of Sandra Bland, a woman who was arrested at a
traffic stop on the way to her new job before mysteriously dying in police
custody, the jobs program Sanders suggested just didn’t seem like a sufficient
answer.”
Dinkin makes some good points but you will note that his perspective begins
with Bernie’s missed opportunities. He thinks a few well-chosen humble words
might have got his candidate off the hook. CYA is what “getting this right”
means to politicians—not engaging in genuine dialog with African-American
activists about what needs to be done both in the short-term and long-run.
Class and economic issues are key to the goal of eliminating racism root and
branch. Whites don’t need to explain this to Black workers who understand it
much better than their pale pigment class siblings. Black leaders from
Frederick Douglass, through A. Phillip Randolph, down to Reverend Martin Luther
King Jr., have taught African Americans to be much more pro-union, and more
inclined to advance their struggle through mass action, than most white workers
who have much more to learn.
The Black Lives Matter movement is focused on an immediate tactical objective,
while Class and Economic Justice is a long haul strategy.
They can build one another—synergy. Nothing good comes from counterposing them.
Patently, despite great expectations, there has been no progress on any aspect
of racism on the watch of the currently governing ruling-class party with an
African-American president in charge and Black attorneys general overseeing
Justice.
A recent feature in The New York Times begins, “Seven years ago, in the gauzy
afterglow of a stirring election night in Chicago, commentators dared ask
whether the United States had finally begun to heal its divisions over race and
atone for the original sin of slavery by electing its first black president. It
has not. Not even close.
“A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted last week reveals that nearly six in
10 Americans, including heavy majorities of both whites and blacks, think race
relations are generally bad, and that nearly four in 10 think the situation is
getting worse. By comparison, two-thirds of Americans surveyed shortly after
President Obama took office said they believed that race relations were
generally good.
“The swings in attitude have been particularly striking among
African-Americans. During Mr. Obama’s 2008 campaign, nearly 60 percent of
blacks said race relations were generally bad, but that number was cut in half
shortly after he won. It has now soared to 68 percent, the highest level of
discontent among blacks during the Obama years and close to the numbers
recorded in the aftermath of the riots that followed the 1992 acquittal of Los
Angeles police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King.”
The once optimistic commentators referred to in The Times included virtually
all participants in Netroots Nation. The Nation held a symposium speculating on
what President Obama might accomplish in his First Hundred Days—an historical
reference to FDR’s taking office during the Great Depression, warmed over by
Bill Fletcher Jr. in the Black Commentator.
Joe Dinkin is right to be wary of a non-nuanced “economics and class trump
all,” but that formulation is spot on concerning the first Black person
nurtured by the ruling class to become president. The only problem is that the
economic policies of the current administration are not in the interest of our
class—and especially not the doubly oppressed Black sector of the working class.
The 100,000 jobs eliminated at the peak of the Great Recession by the
bankruptcy/bailout restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler, imposed by the
White House, impacted African Americans hardest of all. The attacks on public
education through the Race to the Top enriched testing and textbook companies
as well as charter schools while hitting Black communities with massive school
closings and attacks on teacher seniority and pensions.
Pro-privatization policies have also axed tens of thousands of good jobs
largely held by African Americans at the U.S. Postal Service. The disparity in
Black/white unemployment and wage rates remains firmly entrenched—helping to
make racism profitable for the employers of wage labor.
But there was still little criticism of the president at Netroots, and most
unions and civil rights organizations swallowed their tongues long ago. Even
the “socialist” in their midst avoids denunciation of the reactionary character
of the administration winding down its second term.
Ruling-class strategists appear to favor a “bump” from a first woman president
taking the launch codes from the first Black. The real first choice for the
Netroots Nation would be Senator Elizabeth Warren—who has firmly declined the
offer. Hillary Clinton—a loyal and highly visible part of the Establishment for
as long as any Millennial can remember—is a tougher sell. Netroots hopes Bernie
can at least force her to trim “left.” She has in fact already out bid the
“socialist” by promising to put solar panels on every American home within 10
years of taking office.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson ran an issue campaign for the Democrat nomination in
1988. It resembled in some respects the Bernie Sanders effort, with one
important exception—Rev. Jackson played a leading role in mass movements while
the “socialist’s” resume is mostly based on winning elections in Vermont. When
the Rev. Jackson gave his concession speech at the convention that nominated
Dukakis, he reminded the delegates that the party needs “two wings to fly.”
Though it was not his intention—perhaps not even his understanding—this famous
quote explains why American politics revolves around sentiment, rhetoric, and
personalities masking the underlying divisions of class and color. It’s what
enables a tiny ruling class to run government without any effective opposition.
Those who do not yet understand this are not entitled to lead us. If you’re not
part of the solution—you’re part of the problem.
I’m confident that, whatever organizational forms may evolve, the struggle for
Black Lives Matter will continue. So will the Fight for Fifteen by low-wage
workers who, at least in urban areas, are overwhelmingly Black and Latino. We
are seeing the early stages of a mass movement around climate change. These are
battles that deserve the support of all workers.
It seems inevitable that in the course of these game-changing struggles will
come recognition that our side needs a party of our own to challenge a
political monopoly that benefits from racism, sexism, economic exploitation—and
has put us in danger of wrecking our biosphere. Then—and only then—will working
people have a stake in the elections.
Photo: A Black Lives Matter protester confronts Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley
(right) at the Netroots Nation conference in Phoenix. Ross D.
Franklin / AP
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Posted in Black Liberation, Elections. | Tagged Bernie Sanders, Black
Lives Matter, Democratic Party, Democrats, Martin O’Malley, Netroots,
Phoenix.
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