scarletwoman
scarletwoman's JournalThe only reason - the ONLY FUCKING REASON - it "does not bring unity" is because
self-important butthurt white liberals are absolutely REFUSING to give up their perceived position of ultimate authority to determine what is proper and to dictate to black folks how they should behave.
White liberals persist in seeing the black struggle in the abstract, they simply cannot deal with true radicalism, with raw searing emotional pain. It's just so... messy and icky.
So you just go ahead and tsk tsk about "unity" - why the hell would the BLM even begin to think that those white liberals are on their side? Those white liberals whining all over the internet about a fucking stump speech being disrupted by a REAL movement by REAL revolutionaries are making damn sure there'll be no friggin' "unity" anytime soon.
They don't seem to be able to help themselves.
It's been an astonishing few days here, and I sure as heck don't mean in a good way.
Deaf and blind, blind and deaf. Will not listen, will not open their eyes to see. Must self-justify at all costs.
See, these white liberals already know all they need to know. They know they're on the side of the angels on all issues. All you black folks need to do is recognize and acknowledge their enlightenment and their superior grasp of the issues. Then we'll all be able to work together.
Oh, and don't forget to vote for our candidate. Trust us when we tell that he has your best interests at heart.
My friend invites me over because she knows I'm working on my own start-up business,
so being a friend, she figures she'll give me a chance to try out my sales pitch and invites some of her other friends to show up, too.
As it happens, among those other friends of my friend, are several who've just lost a sister, a brother, a child, a cousin. They are carrying a lot of heavy grief and pain, they aren't much interested in my sales pitch for my start-up.
The friend who invited me, who is also friends with these other guests, figures that the truly deeply horrible shit they've gone through really takes precedence over my little presentation. So those grieving, wailing friends get the attention instead of me.
So, how does a genuine human being behave in such a circumstance? Get upset about not being able to deliver your sales pitch as originally expected? Or sit back, let those who are mourning grieve in whatever fashion they choose, and offer them the only thing you really can offer at that point, a listening and sympathetic ear.
They don't want your 12-point economic plan, they want to know that you actually CARE. They want you to get what they feel.
Bernie should have felt honored that those protestors thought highly enough of him that they hoped by showing him their grief, he would take it to heart and work harder to do something about it.
He was given a challenge to up his game beyond "I marched with MLK in the 60s". As the saying goes, "What have you done for me lately?"
I think it's highly commendable - and a credit to our race, I might add - that white people are so
willing to offer their constructive critiscism to those black people so they can learn how choose good leaders.
We are so selfless and giving and wise, it just brings tears to my eyes.
The protestors were not turning us into "enemies". They were challenging us to prove
we are really their allies by demanding that we listen to them.
Thank you! I think what BLM did yesterday was perfect, and I'm not at all concerned about Bernie.
I have faith in him to know what do and do it right.
Dear Black People,
If you want to protest, please check with us first for advice on how to do it properly. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Your White Liberal Allies
P.S. Please vote for our candidate.
He's supposed to respond by taking on their message as his campaign goes forward.
He "answers" by showing them what he's really made of, by showing them that he heard him and took their message to heart in his future actions, by proving that he gets it.
And it's not just Bernie, it's also us white progressive supporters of Bernie who also need to prove that we're listening and hearing them. And right now we're not looking very good - all the whining and gnashing of teeth about Bernie being "hurt", instead of taking to heart the message that the protestors were bringing.
They're in our faces telling us to prove that we're really allies, and not just a bunch of politally correct white liberals who sadly shake our heads about endemic racism, but don't actually feel it in our guts because we don't have to - it doesn't happen to us.
I wrote this last night:
You know, I've been doing my best to process what went down at the Netroots forum ever since it
happened. It's pretty much the only topic I've been reading about over all these hours - I don't know how many different threads, plus a few non-DU news articles and such.
Anyway, it's taken me awhile, but after all that reading it finally hit me that those protestors did exactly the right thing. Yup, they transgressed bigtime - they pushed us nice white progressives totally out of our comfort zone, pissed us off, outraged us, inconvenienced us, messed up our nice candidate speeches, and sent bunches of us typing furiously on our keyboards about it.
Indeed, typing furiously on our keyboards... And therein lies the power of that protest. Instead of having the pleasant experience of cheering for our guy after a well-delivered speech, we were confronted with the stark reality that these sisters and brothers don't just get inconvenienced when their day doesn't turn out so good - they get murdered.
I don't want to be that nice white progressive who feels inconvenienced about a speech being interrupted. I don't want to sit in judgement over what's a "proper" way to protest. My life is generally not at risk just from driving down the road in my car and forgetting to use my turn signal when I change lanes. There a so many things I never have to think about because I was born white. So I bless those protestors for getting all up in our faces like they did - for making me really THINK about the why of their anger.
Yes, it was well done, it was necessary, and they were right to do it. Transgression is powerful. I thank them.
It was Bernie's turn to listen. Why is that so hard to grasp?
It's not like that's was the last speech he'll ever have a chance to make. But for the protestors, this was a totally unique opportunity to make themselves heard.
As I've said elsewhere, the only way this event hurts him is if he fumbles his response. If he rises to the occassion he'll have their support and votes.
OMG, stop it! Just stop it!
It was NOT a mistake to do what BLM did yesterday! NOBODY has the right to tell the people who are being MURDERED just because of their skin color how and when it's appropriate to express their anger about it!
My god, this is NOT about Bernie, it's about people who are crying out and need to be heard! So what, that his little speech got messed up? What the hell IS the priority here? Not to inconvenience us nice white progressives with loud, messy direct action?
If Bernie is all that - and I'm certainly hoping that he will prove himself to be so - then he will take protestors' message to heart and reach out to them and open a real dialogue with them and place for them in his campaign.
Pressing for radical change is NOT about being polite. It's not about observing customary niceties. It's not about not discomfitting anyone. It's about disruption, it's about transgression, it's about letting your outrage be known - especially where there are others who would hopefully "get it"! You give those who claim to be on your side a chance to really prove it!
And dammit, it's just blowing my mind and breaking my heart to see all the posts since yesterday from all the people who love to claim they're on the side of POC, doing all this tut-tutting about how the BLM behaved badly and how it wasn't fair to Bernie.
And then, even worse, those that have been ginning up a bunch of conspiracy shit that absolutely DISMISSES and DEVALUES the very real pain and suffering that motivated the BLM people to take the action they did - as if there were no higher value to defend than a political campaign! A political campaign! More important than people who are actually dying?!?!
I feel deeply ashamed and embarrassed to be identified as a white progressive when I see all this shit.
Advice: don't fucking give advice to people who have been living through shit you will never have live through. Just shut up and listen and then ask what you can do.
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Gender: FemaleHometown: Minnesota
Current location: up north
Member since: 2001
Number of posts: 31,893