The Netroot of the Problem

I'm going to try and break the mold for a second, step outside the box. I'm becoming convinced that as Americans we're beginning to beat a dead horse, a horse better left to lay; outdated.

This thread is in response to a recent event that was interrupted, an event in which activists and people felt a need to have they're voices heard. A couple days ago, netroot nation held a town hall meeting where Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O Malley were invited to speak.

During the event a young black activist took to the stage and BlackLivesMatter movement entered into the spotlight and discussion unscheduled. What I would like to share with you before we go any further is an article describing the scene and they're view of what transpired.

Source

A town hall for liberal activists featuring two Democratic presidential candidates was interrupted by dozens of demonstrators on Saturday who shouted down the contenders and demanded they address criminal justice issues and police brutality.

For the most part and in a nutshell that's correct; however, the perspective of the individual and what they believe is equally important to understanding the BlackLivesMatter movement. And so for perspective, here's an article scribed by Tia Oslo, the activist who took the stage and interrupted the event.

Source

I am Tia Oso, the black woman who took to the stage and demanded a microphone on July 18 at the Netroots Nation Presidential Town Hall in Phoenix, Arizona. I did this to focus the attention of the nation's largest gathering of progressive leaders and presidential hopefuls on the death ofSandra Bland and other black women killed while in police custody, because the most important and urgent issue of our day is structural violence and systemic racism that is oppressing and killing black women, men and children. This is an emergency.

So, as I began to understand, from her perspective and that of others, the BlackLivesMatter movement was a response to Trayvon Martin, Ferguson and other high profile police violence within the Black community.

I've come to the conclusion or idea that in order to receive an adequate response, dredging up American history or the dead horse as I referred to earlier, was a way to draw attention and catapult the very reason the movement started in the first place; police brutality.

To touch on the dead horse, it's important to note what this movement believes about current leadership and vocal civil rights leaders within the Black community itself.

Having said that, and having read the article, I believe the author understands while not invalidating what the current black leadership has done for progressing civil rights issues; however, as noted by the author, today's leaders do not have the ear of young Black America.

Source

Al Sharpton, however, does not have the ear of this generation, and it is not his leadership that any of us who will live on the planet for the next half-century or so really needs. To be clear, I do not believe in the slaying of elders. Black cultural traditions hold within them a serious reverence for the authority and wisdom of elder people.

If we read a little further down in the article we find this excerpt, an excerpt that prompted me to post this thread and a common link BlackLivesMatter has to Bernie Sanders, one they may or may not know.

"If the U.S. would “clean up its act,” this would necessarily mean a real commitment to due process, protection of voting rights, a livable wage, the dissolution of the prison industrial complex, funding of good public education at both K-12 and college levels, a serious commitment to affirmative action, food security and full reproductive justice for all women. Those are the kinds of conditions under which black communities, and all communities, could thrive. That kind of commitment to the ideals of democracy would require us, as my friend activist Marlon Peterson did recently, to “ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country can undo for you.”

This is peculiar in a sense because this is essentially what Bernie Sanders brings to the table and discusses in part at the NetRoot nation forum. So, I'll leave you with this video below from the young Turks. Kind of sums it up for me.

The NetRoot Of The Problem

I think we have reached a peak moment here, one in which both sides need to adjust their tones, one up, one down, like the Turks suggested. Find a balance; Bernie Sanders is a man who has the well being of people and their interests in front of big corporations. Having said that, the person who'd address theirs and others concerns or make real attempts too, would be Bernie.

a reply to: Daedal

I was actually going to post this article -- you beat me to it! I appreciated reading more about their position than the 15-second-sound-bites the MSM grants us. The concernss of the BLM folks are just as valid for the rest of us. Police brutality is not confined to Black folks, or even minorities. It affects every race, creed and color, and demands everyone's attention.

I understand completely why "Black Lives Matter," but I also think it's a trap... very real and legitimate concerns are being framed in a way in which no good can come of it.

Black lives don't matter because they are black; black lives matter because all lives matter. Period. As soon as we "divide" lives, we make it possible -- even acceptable -- to pick and choose which lives matter... and which don't. Eventually, "life" will not matter, only the lives of the chosen ones... those chosen by society and/or government.

Divide-and-conquer.