I went to the Netroots Nation 2016 Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, last week, not knowing what to expect after last year’s eventful convention held in Phoenix, Arizona.
There was much to praise in 2015, when Netroots Nation attendees marched alongside local organizations protesting the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio's policies. But the reaction of a certain percentage of our fellow liberals to Black Lives Matter attending and trying to get the ear of then-Democratic presidential candidates Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders was distressing. Many were upset that BLM disrupted a convention of liberals. One person told me that BLM needed to bother Republicans, not Democrats and liberals.
Many did not get it: You must take care of home first. If liberals believe in the tenets they espouse—social justice, racial justice, economic justice, and equal access to success—then when any of those tenets goes unmet, they should activate. Liberals simply were not listening to the cries of an aggrieved community that felt alone, without allies. Many liberals were talking the talk, but not walking the walk.
While there, I interviewed people who still did not get it. Yes, change isn’t comfortable. But people must leave their comfort zone at times if they truly believe in their convictions. It’s not easy. But this is how change occurs.
After settling in in St. Louis on Wednesday, I met up with some friends to decide our activities for the evening. There was a Black Lives Matter event commemorating Sandra Bland and other women mowed down by the police. We knew we had to attend the event, but were doubtful about the level of participation we would see from Netroots Nation. Suffice it to say, we were pleasantly surprised. A large contingent of attendees was not only there, but formed an integral part of the event. They marched to the site of a recent police shooting, participated in speeches, and expressed solidarity.
This is what solidarity looks like
Saturday was the big event. Black Lives Matter sent out notices that there would be a rally at the courthouse. It turns out that the time conflicted with various panels, so there was scant Netroots Nation attendance. What did some Black Lives Matter participants do? The disrupted the convention once again. They went into the convention center and admonished those who were attending panels. Many of those people responded.
As I sat having a quick lunch after visiting the site of Michael Brown's killing by a cop, I saw hundreds of Netroots Nation attendees filing down the main avenue and heading to the courthouse. After getting to the courthouse, the various groups consolidated and marched to the freeway. The intent was simple: Shut down the freeway to inconvenience folks for 4.5 minutes as a symbol of Michael Brown's dead body laying in the sun for 4.5 hours.
It was risky, and no one was sure how many netizens were willing to risk arrest. But it turns out most that rallied didn’t care. They went onto the freeway to show their solidarity.
As the march started exiting the freeway, one of the lead BLM organizers stopped the rally, likely concerned about the police officers coming up the ramp. What occurred next was epic. She called out to the white participants in the group and asked them to come up front. They were now the front line. The intent and the symbolism was that their privilege provided the shield from negative police action against the protest.
Last week I wrote a piece with the provocative title “Black Lives Matter needs white bodies” that garnered some interesting comments. The solidarity Netroots Nation showed in St. Louis was a solid example of exactly what the article was about, and trying to illustrate.
The rally ended at the St. Louis Convention Center. BLM leaders gave many speeches, but some words stuck out. They pointed out that organizations like Netroots Nation typically fly into communities to have their conventions, lending financial support to local infrastructure while having little actual involvement in the city they are visiting. They argued that this approach must be anathema to organizations comprised of liberals.
They told Netroots Nation attendees that while their actions in St. Louis were commendable, it doesn’t end there. It‘s imperative that as these netizens go back to their homes throughout the country they use their voices, their keyboards, their bodies, and anything else necessary to be agents of change and live up to who they claim to be.