www.huffpost.com/…
I am flanked in my family by Trump true believers and Bernie supporters that are convinced the DNC is responsible for Bernie not getting the nomination. I consider myself pretty progressive, in favor of Medicare for all, increasing funding for education, fighting income inequality, aggressively protecting the planet and all its species, and so on. Yet I am at loggerheads the most with my family on the left.
It came up yesterday when I commented on a Facebook post of the Huff Post article that talked about DC Black Lives Matter response to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s action of painting “Black Lives Matter” in impossibly large yellow letters in front of the White House.
I understand that words are not enough and that needs to be said, but why be so snide and dismissive of a powerful symbolic act that resonated with so many that were horrified by the attacks on peaceful protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas? And as a white, progressive liberal, I feel like I get mixed messages on whether I am wanted as an ally or not.
My older sister tried to progessplain it to me. After comparing the DC BLM to a rape victim who has a male friend saying he isn’t like other men, she said “The best way forward would be if everyone really tried to understand what others are going through but still understand that they will never actually reach that point.”
After saying I thought that should include the black mayor of DC, I did my usual thing, asking— Why not say words aren’t enough, we need more direct action, and still acknowledging a powerful act (or at least not snidely dismissing it)? I’m a big proponent of both/and. It is a strong structure of my own thinking, and part of why I loved Obama so much, who’s dialectical approach resonated so much with my own. Anytime I post anything about missing him and his grace and eloquence, I hear from my younger sister about what a sell out warmonger he was. Sigh.
My experience with my family informs my reverie about how things might look moving forward this election season. When I see these fantastic ads coming from the Lincoln Project, I think “Great!” And then I imagine how it will reinforce the “That’s it, I’m voting third party” group—See how there is no difference between the Democrats and the Republicans! You can’t tell them apart! See that!
Yes, see that. See how leaving the conversation, refusing to even try to have an influence on the platform of the Democratic Party because it is “beyond hope,” might well leave room for more influence from the right. I don’t know how many Bernie supporters will decide to take their toys and go home, I hope many will have the wisdom not to, and I don’t expect that the ones that leave will see their part in pivoting the Democratic Party to the right as well as, possibly, helping to get Trump re-elected.