After several days of thinking, reading, and a lot of soul searching, I’ve come to realize that I was dead wrong about the disruption of the Bernie Sanders event in Seattle.
I began from a position that many of us white progressives started off at. “Why would they target Bernie? Isn’t he on their side?” That presupposes a couple of things. It assumes that the black community sees any politician as being “on their side.” I’ll leave that to whether individuals in the black community feel that way, but making the assumption of how people dealing with systemic racial violence should feel was wrong. And as a community that gets routinely taken for granted, the black community has every reason to be skeptical of anyone running for office.
That starting position also assumes that the activists were targeting (or only targeting) Senator Sanders. Little did I realize that 2,000 miles away I too was a target. And that’s a good thing. I’ve previously said that disruption is important but it doesn’t by itself build anything. Wrong again. It built awareness, in me at least. Awareness that as someone who doesn’t experience racism from police, store clerks, passersby, and even daycare providers on a daily basis, I don’t viscerally feel the urgency of seeking racial justice, even though I knew the need for it cognitively.
After reading more about the rally, I became more reflexive and defensive when the activists leveled charges of racism to the crowd and didn’t yield the floor back after they were done. This too came from a misunderstanding of the bigger picture.
It doesn’t matter if what Mara Jacqueline Willaford and Marissa Johnson said didn’t make for polite dinner conversation. Like good art, meaningful political speech is often supposed to take you out of your comfort zone. Even worse, I showed a lack of diligence by forwarding initial (and misleading) reports of their commitment and involvement in the movement. Because those reports made more sense at the time. But it was wrong.
Now, I know that when campaign season gets rolling and the corporate media and candidates start slinging mud, it is a natural reflexive response to defend your candidate. But Bernie (and all others in his vocation) need to be able to handle it. And Bernie did. But not all of his supporters are, and that’s a problem if you want to see him sitting in the Oval Office.
Broad movements for social change aren’t built on cringing reflexive reactions. They’re built by listening, including, and empowering others. They’re built on demanding more of yourself and growing together. Even if Sanders loses every primary, this campaign will be a major historic victory if it opens the minds of white progressive Americans to the fact that some discomfort has to be shared if we’re going to move forward as a multicultural society.
It isn’t enough to reach out to black voters. We need to listen to and understand black people. They are our sisters and brothers and they are dying.
In the end, the events in Seattle (and Netroots Nation) has made him and his campaign stronger. The only remaining question is whether Sanders’ supporters will allow it to make them better people.
#blacklivesmatter #evolvingishard #yourejustberningbernie
I owe a public apology and thank you to Mara Jacqueline Willaford, Marissa Johnson, and everyone who has worked with Black Lives Matters for making this personal growth possible.