Sanders Being Harassed by blacklivesmatter#

I agree with all you said up to the point of it being some kind of sleazy way to help Hillary whether on their own or as some to think, in cahoots with Hillary. It is entirely likely, those who disrupted his speech just hold on to their original impressions regardless of facts without even thinking of Hillary.

20 ways to be a BLM racist
"1. Raising Money For Korean Orphans: International solidarity was an unusual concept for any American to have in the 1950s, let alone a high school student. But one of Sanders' first campaigns was to run for class president at James Madison High School in New York City. His platform was based around raising scholarship funds for Korean war orphans. Although he lost, the person who did win the campaign decided to endorse Sanders' campaign, and scholarships were created.

2. Being Arrested For Desegregation: As a student at the University of Chicago, Sanders was active in both the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In 1962, he was arrested for protesting segregation in public schools in Chicago; the police came to call him an outside agitator, as he went around putting up flyers around the city detailing police brutality.

3. Marching In March On Washington:Sanders joined the mega-rally called by the leaders of the civil rights movement, a formative event of his youth.

4. Calling For Full Gay Equality: 40 years ago, Sanders started his political life by running with a radical third party in Vermont called the Liberty Union Party. As a part of the platform, he called for abolishing all laws related to discrimination against homosexuality.

5. Standing Up For Victims Of U.S. Imperialism In Latin America: While mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders formally protested the Reagan government's policy of sending arms to Central America to repress left-wing movements. In 1985, he traveled to Nicaragua to condemn the war on people there. He writes about it in his book Outsider In The House: “The trip to Nicaragua was a profoundly emotional experience....I was introduced to a crowd of hundreds of thousands who gathered for the anniversary celebration. I will never forget that in the front row of the huge crowd were dozens and dozens of amputees in wheelchairs – young soldiers, many of them in their teens, who had lost their legs in a war foisted on them and financed by the U.S. government.”

6. Condemned And Opposed Welfare Reform and Dog Whistle Politics:While President Bill Clinton and most Democrats in Congress supported so-called welfare reform politics, Sanders not only voted against this policy change, but wrote eloquently against the dog whistle politics used to sell it, saying, “The crown jewel of the Republican agenda is their so-called welfare reform proposal. The bill, which combines an assault on the poor, women and children, minorities, and immigrants is the grand slam of scapegoating legislation, and appeals to the frustrations and ignorance of the American people along a wide spectrum of prejudices.”

7. Vocally Condemned and Opposed Death Penalty and Prisons His Entire Political Career: Sanders has long been a critic of “tough on crime” policies. Here he is in 1991 condemning a crime bill for promoting “state murder” through expansion of the death penalty:

“My friends, we have the highest percentage of people in jail per capita of any nation on earth....What do we have to do, put half the country behind bars? Mister Speaker, instead of talking about punishment and vengeance, let us talk about the real issue. How do we get to the root causes of crime? How do we stop crime? … I've got a problem with a president and Congress that allows five million people to go hungry, two million people to sleep out on the street, cities to become breeding grounds for drugs and violence. And they say we're getting tough on crime. If you want to get tough on crime, let's deal with the causes of crime. Let's demand that every man, woman, and child in this country have a decent opportunity and a decent standard of living. Let's not keep putting more people into jail and disproportionately punishing blacks.”

He also voted for an amendment in the crime bill to eliminate the death penalty with life imprisonment.

8. Voted Against Cutting Off Prisoners From Federal Education Funds: In the 1990s, there was a successful effort to end the Pell Grant program for prisoners, which was one of the most effective ways to reduce recidivism. Only a handful of members of Congress voted against the legislation, and almost all of them were members of the Black Caucus. Sanders was one of the few white members who opposed this effort. It passed by 351 to 39. Of those in the House who opposed that vote, few are still serving; Reps. John Lewis, Jose Serrano, Charlie Rangel, and Bernie Sanders stood together at that time and continue to serve today.

9. Took IMF To Task For Oppressing Developing World Workers: In a 1998 committee hearing, Sanders took Clinton administration official Robert Rubin to task for not enforcing a provision to protect the rights of workers in Indonesia. “Tell the world now that no more IMF money goes to that country, goes to Suharto!” he thundered to Rubin, who later went on to be the chief architect of policies that led us to the Great Recession. “The IMF historically does not have a good record in terms of the poor people of various countries,” he noted, standing up for the poorest black and brown people on the planet, tackling an institution few in Congress dare to criticize.

10. Achieved High Ratings From Leading Civil Rights Organizations: A frequent critique of Sanders is that he is from a very white state. While this is true, he certainly has not ignored issues that matter to people of color. In 2002, he achieved a 93 percent rating from the ACLU and a 97% rating by the NAACP in 2006.

11. Voted Against the PATRIOT Act: The USA PATRIOT Act was passed in a 98-2 vote in the Senate and a 357-66 vote in the House. Sanders voted against it, and has voted against renewing it every single time. The law has been used to violate the rights of Arab and Muslim Americans, but few know how extensively it has been used in the drug war; from 2009 to 2010, the law was invoked for 3,034 narcotics cases and only 37 terrorism cases.

12. Opposed Both Iraq Wars on Moral Grounds: Sanders was opposed to U.S. involvement in both Iraq wars. While many simply talked about the war in terms of the impact it would have on the United States, Sanders went further, saying that the “death and destruction caused” would “not be forgotten by the poor people of the Third World.”

13. Traveled to Costa Rica to Defend Exploited Workers:Sanders traveled to Costa Rica to help organize workers opposing the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). While many critics of trade agreements do so on the grounds that Americans deserve jobs that could be lost to foreign countries, Sanders instead practices a form of solidarity politics, saying that workers in both countries are being exploited by corporations and so we must organize workers in both countries.

14. Endorsed Jesse Jackson, Spoke Up For Palestinians: In 1988, Jesse Jackson was the first competitive black candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. He came under fierce attack for his advocacy of Palestinian statehood. Sanders came to his aid, organizing Vermonters and winning the state for Jackson. Sanders was asked about Jackson's comments on Palestine and defended him, saying that the Israeli assault on Palestinians was “reprehensible.”

15. Strongly Condemned Police Violence Over the Past Year: One criticism of Sanders is that he avoids talking about police violence in favor of talking about the economy. While the economy forms the bulk of his pitch, he has repeatedly condemned police violence during the duration of the Black Lives Matter movement. Here he is in mid-August 2014, before frontrunner Clinton ever spoke about the issue. Here (8/20/14) are (8/24/14) a (8/18/14) few (6/6/2015) more (4/30/2015) examples (6/2015).

16. Embraced Immigrants When Hillary Clinton Refused To Talk To Them: In 2014, young immigration activists repeatedly tried to talk to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton to ask her about executive action. While Clinton did not talk to them, Bernie Sanders was not only willing to talk, but agreed with their call for executive action.

17. Defended Voting Rights Against Voter Suppression Efforts: Sanders earned the endorsement of radical rapper Killer Mike by his leadership on defending the Voter Rights Act and calling for expanding voting rights.

18. Fought Against Employment Discrimination: Sanders was a strong supporter of legislation to end workplace discrimination against LGBT Americans.

19. Called For End to War On Drugs, For-Profit Prisons and Migrant Detention Quotas: Sanders supports decriminalizing marijuna, and believes the war on drugs to be a failure. Additionally, he has vowed to end for-profit prisons and immigrant detention quotas.

20. Put Out Detailed Plan to End Economic Crisis in Minority Communities: Many argue that Sanders views the issue of racial justice in too myopic a fashion by focusing on the economy. But polling of both Latinos and African Americans shows that jobs and the economy is either their top concern or tied for their top concern. Gallup polling shows that 13 percent of Hispanics say immigration is their top concern; 47 percent say the economy is. Meanwhile, among black Americans, 13 percent say “race relations” is their top concern, tied with “unemployment/jobs,” an additional 10 percentage points go to the “economy in general.” Combined, economic concerns make up 23 percentage points while race relations compose 13 percent. If you add in healthcare, at 6 percent, another major Sanders theme, it gets you up to 29 percent. Add in poverty at 7 percent and education at 5 percent and you're up to 41 percent of African Americans naming Bernie Sanders' top issues as their top issues."

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/20-examples-bernie-sanders-powerful-record-civil-and-human-rights-1950s

So please explain, Revlette, why have they targeted Bernie now on several occasions without disrupting or attacking Hillary a single time?

And what is with the #bowdownbernie twitter hashtag that they are actively promoting on their website?

Excellent post by State Sen. Jayapal re: Seattle/#BLM/Sen. Sanders
from Facebook



Many people have been emailing and asking me for how I am thinking about what happened yesterday at the event on social security and medicare, when some protestors identifying as Black Lives Matter got up on stage to challenge Bernie Sanders on race and racism, and ended up shutting down the event so Bernie could not speak. I'm struggling but in the spirit of community, here's what comes to mind. First, i want to give a huge shout out to the amazing leaders who worked for months and months to organize the event: Robby Stern and PSARA, Social Security Works Washington, Washington CAN, Burke Stansbury, and so many more.

This was a huge event to put together, and their determination is what ultimately got Senator Bernie Sanders to Seattle in the first place. The rally was also packed--maybe around 5,000 people--and people stood in the hot sun for a couple of hours, engaging actively and cheering on the incredibly wide range of speakers the coalition had put together. I was proud to be the speaker just before Bernie was supposed to speak. Watching what unfolded made me heartbroken. I have so many somewhat jumbled thoughts--here are just a few.

1) This is one small result of centuries of racism. As a country, we still have not recognized or acknowledged what we have wrought and continue to inflict on black people. The bigger results are how black kids as young as 2 are being disciplined differently in their daycares and pre-k classes. That black people are routinely denied jobs that white people get with the same set of experiences and skills. That black people--women and men--continue to die at the hands of police, in domestic violence, on the streets. That black mothers must tell their children as young as 7 or 8 that they have to be careful about what pants or hoodies they wear or to not assert their rights if stopped. That this country supports an institutionalized form of racism called the criminal justice system that makes profit --hard, cold cash--on jailing black and brown people. I could go on and on. But the continued lack of calling out that indelible stain of racism everywhere we go, of refusing to see that racism exists and implicit bias exists in all of us, of refusing to give reparations for slavery, of refusing to have our version of a truth and reconciliation process--that is what pushes everything underneath and makes it seem like the fault is of black people not of the country, institutions and people that wrought the violence. That is the anger and rage that we saw erupt yesterday on stage. But it's not the problem, it's a symptom of the disease of unacknowledged and un-acted upon racism.

2) When the disruption first happened, the crowd (mostly white) turned ugly. It's hard to say what is the chicken or the egg. Some of it may have stemmed from the protestors calling the whole crowd racist. Some of it was from annoyance at the disruption. Some was probably from deep disagreement about tactics in a movement to get attention to an issue. Some was from deep disappointment because people had stood in the hot sun for hours to hear Bernie. Whatever it was, the conversations that ensued--the name calling of white and black people against each other, including some people calling blacks who didn't agree with what was happening racist--were so painful. I was in the speakers tent and Pam Keeley alerted me to two young black girls (Gina Owens grandchildren) who were weeping, they were so scared, so I went over to comfort them. We stood with our arms around each other, and in some small way, that gave me the greatest sense of doing something tangible--to be with people I love, assuring them they would be safe, and that none of us would ever let harm come to them. After the protests, several people came up and wanted to talk. Many were furious--some white people said they no longer support BLM. Others said they do support but this erodes their support. Some said outrageous things from anger. Others seemed befuddled. Some understood. People will have to work this out for themselves, but as we all do, I hope that we can open our hearts to all of the pain and suffering in the world and be as compassionate and kind as possible to each other so that we can also heal as we learn and listen.

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 protestors 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. And also to speak about Social Security and Medicare too. Here's what I would love even more: for the Sanders campaign and BLM nationally to sit down and talk about an agenda on racial justice that he can use his presidential platform to help move. Imagine rolling out that agenda and inviting black people to talk about it on stage with him. Now that excites me.

4) I had not yet endorsed Bernie Sanders (and still have not), although I was incredibly excited about his candidacy. One of the primary reasons is because I wanted to know more about his stands on race and racism. I asked the campaign for some time to discuss this with him, and he did very graciously make some time for me to have a short conversation with him. What I got from the conversation is that he knows he comes from a very white state and he's a 70+ year old white guy. He knows that running for President, he must now speak to voters who are very different from those in his state. He IS deeply committed to equality on all counts but his primary lens for all of his work--and a HUGELY necessary and not-often-enough-acknowledged lens--is economic. He is a truth-teller on economic issues in a way that no other candidate is. he gets the connection between large corporations, elections, and income inequality. He does understand the problems of the criminal justice system and I fully believe he will work to change that if elected. But the deeper comfort with talking about race and racism is harder. As Mayor of Burlington, early on, he endorsed Jesse Jackson for President and Jackson went on to win the state. He was active in the civil rights movement.

But more than that, he is someone who has fought for so many of the threads that connect our movements. He has to learn to talk about racism in that way, to connect his ideas on education, economics, incarceration, and race. As I said when I had the honor of introducing him at his evening rally, he is in a unique position to do so. And we are in a unique moment where we crave that leadership in a Presidential campaign. I told him in my conversation with him that he needed to talk head on about institutional racism--he said he agreed and he would do it in the evening. And he did--to an enormous, cheering crowd of 15,000 people.

That's a huge platform for our messages. There's more to do and learn for sure, but is any one of us perfect? The most we can ask for is for someone who listens and cares deeply, who is trustworthy, and who will do what he says. I know I learned a lot in my campaign and I will continue to grow from listening to people's voices. I believe Bernie Sanders is growing too--and I hope (and yes, believe) that we'll look back on this and see his emergence as a leader who brings our movements for economic, racial and social justice together in a powerful way.

5) Here's what I am trying to deeply think about: How do we call people in even as we call them out? As a brown woman, the only woman of color in the state senate, often the only person of color in many rooms, I am constantly thinking about this. (emphasis mine)

To build a movement, we have to be smarter than those who are trying to divide us. We have to take our anger and rage and channel it into building, growing, loving, holding each other up. We need our outlets too, our places of safety where we can say what we think without worrying about how it's going to land, where we can call out even our white loved ones, friends, allies for what they are not doing. But in the end, if we want to win for ALL of us on racial, economic and social justice issues, we need multiple sets of tactics, working together. Some are disruptive tactics. Some are loving tactics. Some are truth-telling tactics. Some can only be taken on by white people. Some can only be taken on by people of color. Sometimes we need someone from the other strand to step in and hold us up. Other times, we have to step out and hold them up. Each of us has a different role to play but we all have to hold the collective space for movement building together. That's what I hope we all keep in mind and work on together. It's the only way we move forward.


Pramila Jayapal


(Editing to add something I just saw on Bernie's site; not sure when it was posted:

https://berniesanders.com/issues/racial-justice/

I don't think this is primary related, but more of a GD topic and his position is pertinent to discussing #BLM and what happened yesterday in Seattle)

I think its barely possible that they may not have targeted Hillary yet because she appears in public very sparingly. As I said, Sanders has momentum and they may have been trying to take advantage of that.

Excellent piece - very well thought out and obviously heartfelt. It captures some of the complexities of the forces clashing when BLM disrupted Sander's event. For instance, as she said, "Here's what I am trying to deeply think about: How do we call people in, even as we call them out?"

Bullshit, the people who would not net Bernie Sanders speak are responsible for not letting Bernie Sanders speak, not any victimization they may or may not have suffered in their lives. This is how previous victims get a pass in this society when they become abusers. And we need to knock it off. THe fact that a politician has been so knocked off the rails by victim culture is no surprise, but we cant tolerate this bullshit without objection.

And at the same time, the complaints from BLM are legitimate. It really, really bothers me as a Bernie Sanders supporter I see so very few people of color in the Bernie crowds,

Then bitch to blacks. Bernie Sanders is responsible for what he does, not for what other people do.

You're so full of yourself. Deflate your know it all attitude and back off your asinine preachy little libertarian spewings and maybe you'll get into an adult conversation sometime. Bring up some facts and dump your twisted little personal opinions.

What the freak do you care about Bernie Sanders? Thats just another unmemorable Hawkeye spew meaning nothing signifying nothing. Have you concidered the Hawkeye10 Anime Hawkeye Snews: all hawkeye all day long?

It's still early. In the early stages of Clinton vs Obama primary season, more black people supported Clinton. I think it's kinda hedging bets; trying to get 'bang for their voting buck', so to speak. If Sanders wins Iowa and/or New Hampshire, my guess would be that he will gain some true believers.

It was Hillary who said all lives matter... and SHE is the front runner. You'd think they'd want her to add their issues to the frontrunning Dem platform... It smells.

I have already answered in the post you replied to if I reply again I will just be rewording what I already said. The fact they haven't protested Hillary is not evidence of a conspiracy to help the Hillary campaign in some kind of a way. Nor twitter comments.

It was a very sad event all the way around.

I imagine it would to you.

Actually now while I am researching a little on google, I am seeing they have lashed out at Hillary.

That quote is the million dollar question and fairly or not Bernie needs to address why his message is not resonating with the AA community. If he can build a bridge over this consternating roadblock he'll go a long way to proving he is the communicator we need now.

Lemme ask you this: Do you acknowledge the possibility that it's just some stupid young people polluting the message of BLM by doing boneheaded stunts to get their pictures in the paper, and not something nefarious?

Here's his first try and I think the first half misses the boat.

Sanders Statement on Seattle Protesters
August 8, 2015

Twitter Facebook Email Link

SEATTLE – Sen. Bernie Sanders issued the following statement today after two demonstrators blocked him from addressing an event hosted by an organization supporting Social Security and Medicare:

“I am disappointed that two people disrupted a rally attended by thousands at which I was invited to speak about fighting to protect Social Security and Medicare. I was especially disappointed because on criminal justice reform and the need to fight racism there is no other candidate for president who will fight harder than me.”

Not letting Bernie Sanders speak WAS nefarious. And we should condemn it, not say "those who claim to be victims can do anything they want to us". A few people shut down a presidential candidate that thousands of people had come to hear, they were all trying to participate in the democratic process, and a few assholes decided to not let them. That needs to be challenged in no uncertain terms. I dont give a **** what color of skin they sport, or what groups they claim to belong to...none of that matters, none of that is an excuse for their antidemocratic society behaviour.

Responses like these by most thinking black people who've researched Bernie make me feel a lot better - and also emphasizes the fruitcakery of those two idiots. What worries me is Clinton people seeing that only two loudmouths can ruin a big speaking opportunity for Bernie - and they know he'll never call the cops.

I hope this doesn't start happening all the time.