So a few protesters affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement prevented Bernie Sanders from speaking today in Seattle. I can't think of a single event more likely to start a massive online pie fight, both here and on Twitter. We've already got diehards on both "sides" screaming at each other, which is a damn shame for everyone and advances neither cause. I don't care about "who's to blame" for this, or about whether today's actions were helpful or unhelpful to the BLM cause. I'll just say that the vast majority of BLM activists and the vast majority of Sanders supporters I've seen have been excellent.
But I've got to call out one particular thing that's both tremendously unhelpful and something I see way too much of here: the rise of conspiracy theories saying that someone else, either Hillary Clinton or a GOP/Koch Brothers operation, is coordinating/organizing/funding the BLM actions as a way of attacking Bernie Sanders.
First off, it's CT. There's absolutely no evidence for it at the moment. Other candidates (O'Malley) have been targeted. And to the extent that Bernie's been targeted multiple times, well, he's been drawing big crowds and doesn't do much if any pre-screening. Both of these are very positive things about his campaign, but they also make his rallies an easy target for disruption. (Aside: he should get Secret Service protection at this point, without question.)
But this theory isn't just a conspiracy theory (they're dime-a-dozen here), it's a uniquely inflammatory one. When you claim that HRC/GOP are behind BLM's actions, you are saying that the protesters are either lying about their motives or are being used against their knowledge in service of a different agenda. The former interpretation denies them honesty. The latter interpretation denies them agency. It says that the protest really isn't about them, it's about Hillary. Or about the GOP. It says that the thoughts and the opinions of the activists are not their own - that they really belong to someone else.
Is it any wonder that black activists who read this sort of thing get angry?
The saddest thing about all of this is that Bernie Sanders himself seems (at least to this white diarist) to get it, and to be working hard on being an ally. This time, he gave them the microphone and let them speak. Didn't work out well in practice, but he clearly cares and he's clearly trying. He deserves a ton of credit for his response and his attempts at outreach. All of us could learn from his example.