"How Black Lives Matter forced campaigns to toss their strategies on black voters"

[Jamaal510]

More: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-campaign-black-lives-20150731-story.html#page=1

The Black Lives Matter campaign is seeing to it that the rules they relied on for courting the vote no longer apply.

The potent social media-driven movement, sparked in the aftermath of Florida teen Trayvon Martin’s 2012 shooting death and reignited in the racial unrest in response to the deaths of other unarmed African Americans at the hands of police over the last year, has 2016 contenders scrambling to adjust their strategies. The protesters involved are proving masterful at refocusing the spotlight.

Candidates who might otherwise have been complacent, given their high marks on legislative report cards from the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and endorsements from an older generation of black leaders, have had to more directly confront uncomfortable questions of racial inequality and the mistreatment of blacks by the criminal justice system.

“We want to ensure that these candidates will actually deal with the issues that black people face,” said Patrisse Cullors, a movement cofounder from Los Angeles. “The reality is that it’s still not legal to be black in this country.”

[redruddyred]

1. I'm so pleased that black people are getting angry

there's too much to be angry about. good for them.

[Cha]

2. #BlackLivesMatter succeeded @ NetRootsNation, Jamaal! They/We have

Progressed since they came to Protest.

Mahalo.. good article.

[shaayecanaan]

3. looking forward to it

All of the presidential contenders have done nothing except mouth platitudes on the issue of race, and the republicans haven't even done that. The Dems have operated for years on the basis that all they had to do was keep a few aging preachermen on side. I dare say in this post Obama environment that black people aren't going to settle for that any more.

To be honest, though, when candidates say that they are adjusting their strategies, it usually means that they're simply taking steps to avoid getting sandbagged in the first place.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. I disagree

One stood in the middle of a protest/riot and took his licks.

Running - but not running from us. I like that attitude - so what if he pisses off bigots.

[shaayecanaan]

9. Please, the man has no chance.

If O'Malley were any further underwater with Black voters, he'd grow tentacles. Don't take my word for it, read the polls.

[JustAnotherGen]

13. Please - who are YOU voting for?

Not supporting - voting for in the primary?

[1StrongBlackMan]

8. Well ...

O'Malley has done more than merely mouth platitudes ... From what I am reading, he has a plan.

[JustAnotherGen]

12. Don't give his words weight

He's trying to get blocked from the AA group.

I'm kind of an uppity less than obedient woman and he no likely that.

[shaayecanaan]

18. Am I?

Listen, I quite like O'Malley. I just think that he has no chance.

His main trump card was his Baltimore legacy, now it has become an albatross around his neck. Would that it were not so, but it is. The only reason he's not getting sandbagged like Sanders is precisely because he's no threat to anyone.

I'm not asking you to take it from me, I'm asking you to take it from your fellow African-Americans, who it seems aren't taking to him very much:-

[JustAnotherGen]

19. Uh - we haven't had the first debate yet

And iit doesn't matter if you like him. You have no skin in the game.

And you pretty much asked me to give you the boot a few days ago.

ETA - I know more black Americans than you do.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12811256

[craigmatic]

4. Good we get tired of hearing about voting rights all the time. We need jobs and business grants.

[Number23]

7. + a million. Voting rights are important as hell but so is discrimination in employment and housing

We are affected by all of these things.

[JustAnotherGen]

5. Check out O'Malley's detailed objectives

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=484008

[shaayecanaan]

10. There's an awful lot of bureaucratic churn in there, though...

One fundamental problem is this:- there are vast swathes of almost-totally-Black communities throughout America being lorded over by almost-totally-white police departments.

There's much mention of "expanding" this and "bolstering" that but not much in the way of new ideas to tackle those basic problems.

I also think that there needs to be an authority to investigate police shootings that is independent of the police and DA themselves.

[JustAnotherGen]

11. There is not

And well - what is your skin in the game?


I welcome those abroad at for their opinions on foreign policy. However - this is a Presidential election and it will impact my daily life as well as the dollars I pay in taxes.

It's great you have better ideas than a man who has rubbed shoulders with blacks in America. A man who has lived, worked, and walked among us.

I just don't take your thoughts/opinions on the Presidential candidates or domestic policy issues seriously. My globalism ends at US borders and talk/writing is cheap.

[davidpdx]

22. I would be really careful not to dismiss those living abroad

There are many Americans on this board who are US Citizens, who still vote in US elections, and care about US issues. I've seen Expat DUers dismissed as though they are foreigners.

I don't know the person you where talking to was an American or not.

[JustAnotherGen]

23. He is not an American living abroad

And I have about as much patience for foreigners telling black folks what to think and how to act - as I do white folks in this country.

Suck it up - like it or not there are many people like me (in our early 40's and beyond) that have been energized by our youth and black lives matter.b

No retreat. No surrender. Ovaries and Testicles to the walls.

That includes you. Don't chastise me when you have not seen the subtle jabs and behavior by this member in the site at large and his intrusion into this group.

Anything else? Didn't think so.

[davidpdx]

24. You are right I have not seen his intrusions

I took your barb at him for being overseas. Your post to him was confusing.

Again, I am an American and I do have the right to speak out on American issues.

[JustAnotherGen]

27. Absolutely!

My husband sometimes goes home to vote in Italy. Civic duty even though it's not been his main address since September 2001.

And he has skin in the game here - because he's married to a black woman and owns his own business.

No one said you didn't. We aren't talking about you.

We are talking about the snotty barb trying to get me to boot him from the group.

He's not an ally of black Americans and I won't accept him as such. I also understand from prior posts he's in the top 1-3 percent from a North Afican country - places not warm and fuzzy to the black folk there!

[Tarheel_Dem]

14. Yup. And they got called a lot of nasty names for their troubles, but lip service doesn't cut it...

with this generation.

[Starry Messenger]

15. Activism: because it works.

[AllFieldsRequired]

16. If you are black and pulled over by police, make a phone call to someone in your family

and have them on the line listening to the interaction.

I dont know if you can record a phone call on a smart phone, must be able to, right?

[Quayblue]

17. I swear...

I don't get pulled over often (knocking on wood), but since I've had a cell phone, as soon as I see lights, I call the last person I talked to, say, "I got pulled over" and lay the phone on the passenger seat.

[AllFieldsRequired]

20. BLM needs money to do PSA's like this...i wish i had that kind of money

[HFRN]

26. if you are any color, and get pulled over by the police, do the following

reprint of a post i made in another thread

an aquaintence in law enforecement shared these tips with me

Last edited Thu Jul 23, 2015, 05:25 PM - Edit history (5)
('Should citizens always be submissive to law enforcement officers?'---> No, but they should intelligently process that interaction - there is a difference between that, and submission)


1) you get lit up, pull over as soon as you can safely do so - put on your turn signal to indicate that's what you're doing

2) once you pull over, turn on your dome light if it's dark - dont be seen reaching around the vehicle (I do violate the rule of reaching into my back pocket, before the cop walks up, to get my license registration and insurance card to hand to the officer - ALWAYS KNOW EXACTLY WHERE THOSE 3 ITEMS ARE, AND KEEP THEM UP TO DATE!

3) have hands on steering wheel, window down, engine turned off (or keys taken out, put on dash)

4) have sunglasses off

5) do not reach for anything, without asking the cop first what you intend to do

6) most important, do not reach for anything while making eye contact, you might get the cop's gun pointed at you if you do

I'm a clean cut white male, and I always do this. The issues above are about showing a cop that you arent going to run, or pull a weapon, something they dont know, and have to estimate for themselves. That they can handle the stop without getting 'ampted up'

it goes without saying, that turning on the dome light presumes you dont carry illegal substances in your car, and that you dont drive while intoxicated. nobody is obligated to follow this advice, but if you do, your odds of getting an 'ampted up' cop go way down, and can in some circumstances, legitimately turn a ticket into a warning, as you're showing the cop that you do know and care about the safety issues of the circumstance (although, dont count on it or get angry if that isnt the result)

it's not about being submissive - it's about understanding, and cooperating with, the process that is occurring, that the cop has to process.

remember, you respect the uniform, not the person - and if you don't they take it personally, that the person isn't worth the respect of the uniform, and that's where a lot of cops get the chip on the shoulder

again, all of the above presumes that you (and any passengers) are not guilty of anything more than a minor traffic infraction, and that you KNOW there is nothing illegal in the car. if this isn't the case then look on the net for ways to politely but firmly invoke your rights (but try to make it the case (no serious illegal actions/possessions), to simplify your life)

EDIT: if, after all of this, the cop asked to search my car, would I let them do that? Well, that's never happened, and I think having the dome light on drastically reduces the probability of being asked, but if I were, I probably would politely decline. But again, the above actions suggest to the cop that I have no fear of a search (and I don't). The cops read that in how they size you up. Reading other comments, I realize I should have mentioned that while polite, I remain very businesslike and do not volunteer anything other than what's mentioned above - I cooperate with the stop, but I dont eagerly give up any rights

EDIT: One thing I'll add, is regularly check all the lighting on your car - particularly the rear: stop lamps, both sides and high center, turn signals, taillights, license plate lights, headlights etc - (you can take a snow brush or some thing like that between the brake and the drivers seat to test the brake lights yourself). A high percent of traffic stops are burned out bulbs, which gives them an automatic excuse to pull you over

[Coolest Ranger]

21. They are the future

of our country and it's time politicians pay attention to our young people. The BLM movement and race relations are my number one issues voting in 2016

[JustAnotherGen]

25. This times 1000

I'm 42 - this is the third Civil Rights movement. I'm too young for the first one - but I'll be damned if I'm going to act like a little old lady in a rocking chair who needs the smelling salts.

No way! Not when we have DUers in their 70's and 80's and even 60's who lived that shit. I refuse to let life long liberals die believing all of their activism and votes were for nothing.

It HAS to be this way. I trust the young people and their approach.