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Cha

Cha's Journal
Cha's Journal
August 11, 2015

"Why Saturday's Bernie Sanders Rally Left Me Feeling Heartbroken" by Washington State Senator,

Pramila Jayapal

From a Black Woman who was there..

1) This is one small result of centuries of racism.

2) When the disruption first happened, the crowd (mostly white) turned ugly

3) I don't have any answer on what is "right." Bernie Sanders was a guest in our city—invited by a multiracial coalition to speak on some very important issues. Enormous amounts of work went into yesterday's event and it was so important to talk about preserving and expanding Social Security and Medicare. None of the papers today are covering those issues, because they were eclipsed by what happened. That's not necessarily "wrong"—it just is what it is. But here's what I would have loved to have happen: after the protesters were able to get the mic and say their piece and have the 4.5 minutes of silence for all the black people who have been killed, I would have loved for Bernie Sanders to take the mic and respond.

4) I had not yet endorsed Bernie Sanders (and still have not), although I was incredibly excited about his candidacy

5) Here's what I am trying to deeply think about: How do we call people in even as we call them out?

She explains each and every point at the link.
http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2015/08/09/22671957/guest-editorial-why-saturdays-bernie-sanders-rally-left-me-feeling-heartbroken

A friend just PMed this to me, Bains.. thank you for this article by Jamie Utt

"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."


Same thing State Senator, Pramila Jayapal, was heartbroken about.



August 11, 2015

Mahalo for the article by Jamil Smith, SW. "#BlackLivesMatter Protesters Are Not the Problem"

snip//

Having already responded to the crowd’s boos by telling them that they proved how “racist” the reputably liberal Seattle is, Johnson also called for a four-and-one-half minute-long moment of silence for Brown. Instead, more shouting from the crowd followed, including, per reports, shouts of “arrest her.” Sanders, rather than letting the protesters have their say and responding, left the stage. The event concluded without him speaking. A chorus of his supporters took to social media to question Johnson’s tactics—as if that’s what mattered most—and to tell anyone who dared question why Sanders didn’t have a set of racial-justice proposals that they somehow already existed. They were wrong.

Another missed opportunity.

August 10, 2015

Bernie's not as perfect as he's made out to be.. those who called for President Obama's feet to

be held to the fire all these years.. are saying in essence.. BS is perfect.. no one can say anything about him that doesn't ring of high praise. Hypocrites.


And, the more I find out about him the less impressed I am. Never mind his fans.

August 10, 2015

Yeah, there were fools when #BlackLivesMatter Acitivists Protested NRN but it wasn't

the Protesters.

"Bernie Sanders Blew a Huge Opportunity at Netroots Nation"

snip//

"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."

MOre..
http://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-blew-a-huge-opportunity-at-netroots-nation/

August 10, 2015

Thank you so much for your explanatory post on why #BlackLiveMatter are doing what they're

doing, Mr Scorpio.

This..

"To some politically minded Twitter users, the Bernie Sanders who spoke at Saturday’s Netroots Nation conference in Phoenix did not look like the civil rights rabble rouser that he has claimed to be. When protesters began chanting “say her name,” a reference to black women who have died in police custody, Sanders simply talked over the protesters. When asked to speak about recent events such as the death of Sandra Bland, a young black woman who died in a Texas jail after a traffic stop, he shifted the topic to the economy."

And, his supporters wonder why #BlackLivesMatter supporters are not impressed by him.

August 10, 2015

"Bernie Sanders Blew a Huge Opportunity at Netroots Nation" and this is from The Nation.. and all

you can is "bullshit"? You're wrong and so was BS.

snip//

"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."

MOre..
http://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-blew-a-huge-opportunity-at-netroots-nation/

August 10, 2015

Beautifully said, Bains.. and inspiring! Bravenak speaks from her heart as an African American

woman, and as someone who wanted BS for President, before #BlackLivesMatter Activists protested @ NRN. It was Then that all hell broke loose against #BlackLivesMatter Supporters on the net, from misguided Bernie supporters, and that changed everything.

No candidate does take precedence over Human Rights.. they just think he does to their detriment.

Just because they want to shut up Bravenak on du.. does not mean the rest of the country is not listening to Voices like hers and #BlackLivesMatter.

Thankfully the rest of the country is not like du.. President Obama and Hillary Clinton are well liked and honored in our country. And, the majority on DU ignorantly dumps on them.. and it means absolutely nothing in the whole scope of successes that have been accomplished by our President and the continued success when Hillary is our President.



August 9, 2015

Mahalo for this statement from Gerald Hankerson, pnwmom.. He sounds like a good hearted man.

#BlackLivesMatter

I'll leave you with this I just saw on FB..

"I'm seeing lots of posts on Facebook and Twitter from other white people in response to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' Seattle rally today, and more specifically, the ‪#?BlackLivesMatter‬ protesters on the scene.

Many "Why protest Bernie Sanders and not, say, a GOP candidate?" posts are going around (or some variation, thereof). And most frustratingly, posts that essentially say, "Fall in line. He's the most progressive candidate in the race!"

You're missing the point.

Why protest Sanders and not Cruz, Huckabee, Trump, or Bush? Think of it this way: If a bully in your school (stand in for GOP candidates in this example) said something rude to you in the hallway, you'd likely go, "Ugh. That's annoying." But if a close friend (stand in for Sanders in this example) just out of nowhere came up and said that same rude comment, you might actually confront them over it. "Why did you say that? That's not cool. I expect better from you."

Point being, you react differently towards the person you think should be on your side because you care about that relationship (or, at very least, have hope for it), and you'd like to see improvement.

That's what's going on here. The "go focus on the 'real enemy'" line gets tossed around a lot, but it's nothing more than a way to derail a conversation.

I am white. I cannot and will never be able to comprehend what it's like to be black in America. I can't say "I know how you feel," because I don't and I can't know. And because of that, it is not my place to weigh in on tactical merits of the BLM protests. What I can do — and what other white people should do — is to stand in solidarity with those protesters, to raise their voices. What we shouldn't do is complain about tactics.

I 100% support the #BlackLivesMatter movement and protests, and if protesting Bernie Sanders rallies is what they feel they need to do, then I am supportive in that.

We need to ask why Sanders, knowing that this isn't wasn't going away anytime soon, wasn't prepared to respond with an acknowledgment that now, in 2015, the U.S. is largely a white supremacist culture. If he wants to win, he needs to earn the votes. To do that, he needs to respond to the concerns of the BLM protesters, and make the fight to dismantle white supremacy and state-sanctioned murder a core component of his campaign."


#BlackLivesMatter

And, I'm not responding to any insults from BS supporters.

August 9, 2015

Righteous vent, calimary! I just saw this tweet on the Obama Diary..

Nerdy Wonka
?@NerdyWonka People who screamed for years, "hold Pres. Obama's feet to the fire!" are now saying "why are you mean to Bernie?"

LMAO.

Pass the popcorn
.
Retweets
137 104Favorites

http://theobamadiary.com/2015/08/09/rise-and-shine-1076/

August 9, 2015

A lot of people are asking the same question, SunSeeker.. "Why didn't he learn a better way to

handle this after his Netroots experience?"

57andfemale

August 8, 2015 at 8:09 pm

"Bernie has had weeks to figure this out. In fact, he’s had years since he contemplated running for POTUS to expand his understanding of what it means to be POTUS. His tunnel vision is actually shocking to me.

He doesn’t believe in trade deals IN PRINCIPLE. WTF?!?!? He’s clueless about the existential issues with guns in this country. Every American problem is solved by 50’s style unions? Hey, I believe in unions big time, but unions are not the cure of all of America’s ills.

Anyone who cannot adjust quickly to the reality of the campaign issues is not fit to be POTUS."


http://theobamadiary.com/2015/08/08/chat-away-642/


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Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 297,166

About Cha

Now retired and living on Kaua'i. :)
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