Dear Bernie Sanders,
Recently, you have been "hit" (protested) by #BlackLivesMatter activists and I'm sure that you have some trouble understanding why they've been so aggressive with you when after all, you have been unfailingly on the side of black people against police brutality. Why are you of all people being set up as the target?
Senator Sanders, you are a politician. You have not been an activist in a long time. I'm aware of the things you've done to further the cause of equality and civil rights for all but it seems that you have forgotten how grassroots activists and organizers build an issue.
You left the stage. Your reaction showed me that you are confused, angry, and annoyed and that bothered me because I know exactly what #BLM is doing and you can't see it.
I'm proposing this to you, Senator, because for some reason and a very good reason, you have been chosen as the first target. I'm not here to tell you that they should have targeted Obama or Lynch or Hillary Clinton instead of you. Perhaps in time, they will but right now we have to talk about you. Myself, I would have tried to hit Clinton for the racist shit she pulled on Obama when they were running against each other. She definitely needs to be put to the test. Maybe it's harder to get to her but I really don't think this is a stealth operation for Clinton. I also don't think she's a racist, just a politician that does what politicians do. I still haven't made up my mind about either one of you but I'll be watching.
Like I said, I will try to explain to you why you should be honored and not annoyed to be chosen as a target. But again, I am never going to suggest what another organizer chose to do as an action for an issue that I'm not personally working on as an organizer. I would be ashamed to be sitting here not starting my own movement while lecturing other people on what they should be doing.
Indentifying An Issue:
Organizers don't decide what the issues are that an organization works on. The affected people decide. #BlackLivesMatter is a single issue organization unlike the one I worked for. The issue has been identified, obviously.
Building An Issue:
#BlackLivesMatter didn't have to do as much issue building as our org. did for predatory lending. When we started, almost literally NOBODY knew what the problem was, we had to explain it and it very complicated to explain. It didn't fit on a bumper sticker.
#BLM's issue is easier to build. It's pretty cut and dry. Black people are getting killed by the police for no good reason. We have the videos. People are on board and they don't need a seminar to teach them wtf is going on so that they'll be fired up. Murder fires people up well enough.
Strategy:
Now that you have your people together, you talk strategy and come up with action plans as a group. Depending on the issue, a lot of times these actions will involve targeting Democratic politicians first to see how engaged they are. Even if the organization is aware of certain Democrats' efforts on the issue, they still get targeted first. They may decide to write them a letter inviting them to a meeting with us, showing up at a Senate hearing and introducing ourselves or outright protesting said Democrat's office.
Why is their strategy to target the left first? They're the easiest to crack, that's why. We don't really care for any of these politicians that much just because they've been "good" to the people. That's their fucking JOB. It's like giving credit to a man because he's a good father to his kids. He's supposed to be a great father. They don't get a pass. Since they use their solidarity with the underdog to gain votes and get into office, we're gonna make them actually work with us and learn from what we know rather than just listening to their paid advisors and staff in an echo chamber for all we know.
Why are leftists activists so hard on Democrats? Because they belong to us and they ARE us. This is our party and we have to whip ourselves into shape. We need every single one of our allies to be serious and to be engaged with us and easily accessible.
Action and Negotiation:
We use our Democratic pols for their media attention and fame because we are building an issue and we don't have money and we need advertisement and headlines.
They ARE quite aggressive, that #BLM. More aggressive than I've ever been. I understand why this upsets you. But murder is very upsetting. Imagining your child dead in the street is mindbreaking.
They want you to imagine YOUR child dead in the street and get about that angry with them. We know you're angry, too, Senator but your annoyed face and you walking off stage was troubling. I cannot get annoyed at people who are that upset that they have boldly stolen my microphone. It's not your microphone anyway, Senator. You're standing on the people's podium and they have the right to take it and not give it back. The people who are there to see you might not like it but it's the truth.
Admittedly, I thought the lady on the right was too physical because her body was making contact with people. I don't think people need to be touched to make this point. She wasn't going to hit anybody, I think, she was just being to close and turned up. Nothing wrong with being turned up and fired up but don't do it that close to people's bodies so that they have to call the police for assault or something.
But don't you see what they're doing, Bernie? They might be young and green but they're showing the world how to take this country back from the lobbyists and put it back in the hands of the people. There are lots of people who don't understand that but if you stop frowning and walking away, people will start to understand.
You immediately conceded, didn't say a word and looked nervous and stepped back. No man, no. Don't be scared. Be proud. They're yelling at you but they don't mean it. I understand why they're mad. Racism hurts deeply. All black folks understand that the police are killing us the most because of racism. Apathy is also part of this equation. These kids are crying in front of a crowd of liberals who are booing. I don't blame that girl for calling them racists. What conclusion is to be drawn from a crowd of booing liberals when you're screaming about being lynched?
Lots of mistakes were made here. Maybe not. I've never organized to stop outright racist murder and lynching before. I don't know what it's supposed to look like. There are no rules in community organizing.
You can't do this all by yourself. You have to meet with these people and help them propose the legislation that they've come up with or help them to tweak it because you are a Senator after all. They need your urgent attention because a man was shot in Ferguson again YESTERDAY. You don't have to use all your time to this one issue but you could help expedite it. Maybe Barack can expedite it, too but they came to YOUR event, Bernie. This is in YOUR lap.
"This is not about me, this is about you" -Bernie Sanders
How are we going to help you change this world after the election is over? Are we gonna write mean words on the internet? Re-elect you and demand that YOU do it all?
Your job could be very easy if you could see in #BLM what you should want to see from the rest of us. Let's us do the work, too. Let us help you write policy. I know you're not used to that right now because America's all fucky right now and up is down and right is left but I have a dream.
This is what I believe the American people are supposed to do. We're not supposed to be cheering you in large crowds like you're a superstar at a concert. I believe you think that way as well. You have to do this shit because America. You do your best not to fall into our silly American election season shit but even you can't avoid some things. You can't even run on your own party ticket because America. You have to swallow the Democratic Party horse piss, too, with their wildly fluctuating policy fuck ups. Who knows anymore if this party is left or right and not just because of corporatists, because of racists, sexists and homophobes as well. It's a shame. I don't blame you for being an Independent.
I wish the world was different. I wish people could just let you run down the bullet points of what you're about and what you plan to do with the presidency if you did win it. I wish people could just get a pamphlet in the mail detailing everything everybody stands for and let that be it. Maybe a debate. No money tricks, no lies, no swiftboating, no bullshit.
You seem like you're this type of politician, Senator Sanders, like you're above all that. If you could just run on what you propose without all the "soshalism" hair on fire bullshit, you would have an even better chance.
These protesters are trying to create a world where you would help bring a new era of politics in America. The era of "Fuck All Politicians and Lobbyists. The People Have Spoken". You seem like just the kind of person who would love that.
Those tens of thousands of people who came to hear your speech are gonna still vote for you. It's ok that they didn't get to hear your speech even though I don't know why you didn't come back and continued. You're gonna make hundreds of speeches over the next year. These people who came to see you already know what your views are for the most part. If they don't know, they can look it up. Even though they took your podium, you could have gotten it back if you didn't let your emotions get to you. They made you uncomfortable and that was their goal. They would actually rather see something better than discomfort from you but they're prepared to accept a worse outcome and an angry reaction from you. You could flip this entire thing in your favor and get even more votes.
You have the power to get all these people together that want to listen to you. This is your chance to show the people who doubt you just what you're about. People are watching you. They're seeing that you're annoyed at being hit by #BLM. They're being polarized by your reaction one way or another. The Democratic Party is splitting and fighting because of you. I'm so mad at people on Daily Kos, I can hardly see through the red in my eyes.
Remember that you were once an activist and remember how frustrated you were with your own allies. You're so frustrated with them as a politician, you're an Independent. You know that politicians aren't doing enough and perhaps they can't. I believe you know that elections don't change much, not even your own. We'll have one Bernie Sanders and hundreds of assholes that will block you in Congress like they did to Barack Obama. The election of you is not going to save the world. I really believe that you understand that.
In a perfect world, it would be great if you could give your rally speech and then tell all those 10,000 people to get down to the police station and demonstrate. But they're not organized and they're not neighbors. You can't organize them. Let #BLM organize them for you.
Just by having a different reaction to #BLM interrupting you, things can be so much different. When you have your staff put out a statement after you walked off stage, you just get your fans all the more riled up. "See? He's on their side! Stupid protesters!"
Don't you want to shut us down from this infighting? You have the power to shut everybody down.
All politicians are thought of as the enemy of the people by grassroots orgs like the one I used to work for. You could help to start changing that. But just understand that Democrats will always be the first targets of leftists movements just like how the Tea Party went after Republicans and made them afraid to speak against them. They changed that party and they used fucking ALINSKY tactics.
We have to change the Democratic Party, too. We have to move it over to the left. You're the one to do it, I think. But you need the people. You're gonna need more than just the ones who come see your speeches.
Once we get our people energized and fired up and our politicians engaged, then we go after those MOTHERFUCKING GODDAMN BASTARD REPUBLICANS. We outnumber them and we know it. Our people aren't energized and having Coffee Party meetings like the crazy teabaggers. They're stealing our shit, Bernie and they're successful.
You have to encourage activism first and then you get the voters. That's how Barack Obama won. He taught everybody how to get fired up and then everybody stopped being fired up once he was in office and just stared at pictures of him after that.
Tell your people that you want to see support for #BLM and not everybody rushing to your rescue like you're some delicate little flower because they took your podium.
While voters are out campaigning to get the word out about you, tell them to organize for more than just you and to STAY organized and never stop.
I don't have all the answers and neither do you. Together we have the answers. I don't know exactly what actions we should take together because we haven't decided together what needs to be done. Some of us can't even leave the house because of illness and disability. What are we gonna do?
I'm talking to you, Senator Bernie Sanders, because I think that you're a maverick and a game changer. I can't even talk about it here because some of these people make me so mad, I don't want to talk about primary anything with them. But I'm really impressed by the crowds you draw so early in the game because you're the straight shooter and that makes you the oddball.
It makes me think that maybe America is finally changing and is sick to death of the status quo and the bullshit and the dog and pony show. But I think many of them don't understand that elections are not what's going to do it.
I've even heard anecdotes about Republicans liking you. I love those stories. They say that you're not a phony and you've always been who you are and they like that.
So, don't be frustrated at the demonstrators and don't be annoyed. They're not REALLY mad at you personally, they're just trying to change the world.
And that's what you're trying to do. You probably will never see this but hopefully people understand a little better on Daily Kos just what the fuck I'm trying to say. I am not against you and I'm not a secret Republican. I don't like them telling people who are protesting about an issue that is killing black people to shut up and go somewhere else and protest. They don't even know how to organize. They just know how to vote and cheer on their favorite politician. And on top of that, they're criticizing people who have actually gotten off their asses and took it to the streets. They're lecturing black people about how to be nicer to you and they're threatening to turn their backs on the main movement in the forefront of this issue of blacks being murdered by the cops. They act like they care about you more than black people being murdered.
You don't want that from them and I know you don't. You don't want your campaign tainted by a racial divide, you're better than that. I'm not saying that you started it but you have to address this. You can nip this right in the bud. Maybe you can't cure racism or police brutality but you can at least not be a lightning rod for the racial divide that already exists in the Democratic Party.
To conclude because I'm a bit tired; vote AND Organize is the winning combination, I think. We need organizers and activists for climate change, economic issues, social security stability and whatever else our party is about. Just pick an issue and get to work. And no telling women, gays and people of color that the party doesn't have time for them right now and that "identity politics" is messy. There's room for all of us here. We can't win without each other no matter how much people certain people believe that one solution will trickle down and fix everything else or that economics are more important than sexism, racism and homophobia. Many of these people don't vote with us because they're liberal. 80% of black people are not liberal but they know the lynch mob when they see it and that's the Republicans. Don't tell marginalized groups to forget about who they are when that's the entire reason they're in this party. I'm not gonna use people for their votes and then tell them to wait for justice or that they're doing things wrong.
We need to have a talk about this, Bernie because you're the next "savior" the left has chosen and I'm sure that bothers you because you know better. Looking forward to seeing your do your thing over the next several months. Good luck to you.
Thanks;
GenXangster