I've supported BLM since the beginning, and I support Bernie now. Here's some thoughts...

[nashville_brook]

I believe Bernie is our best hope to win in 2016. It's a pragmatic thesis on my part. Things could change between now and election day, but right now the zeitgeist favors Sanders.

But here's what I want you to know: I'm a middle aged white progressive woman from an economically disadvantaged background (to say the least). I've been an activist since college. I've routinely set my own issues aside (abortion, biodiversity, clean water, fair wages) to work in solidarity with those whose issues were most urgent: AIDS, voter protection, immigration and now BLM.

I believe if we're to move forward, we have to find a way to put all our issues together and stop playing Whack-A-Mole with people's lives. This is one reason I believe Bernie is a candidate who can beat the Republicans, because the economic justice frame is the most effective way we have to knit our communities together. Women's reproductive health is at base an economic justice issue for women who must be able to work within the carrying capacity of their families. Clean water is an economic justice issue as we've seen that privatization favors big business which seeks to provide the resource to those who pay the most (water for golf courses, and cut off in poor neighborhoods). And police accountability is an economic justice issue as it affects those of all racial and ethnic backgrounds whose lack of resources leave them vulnerable to attack. In terms of strategy, Bernie is the only candidate advocating to get the profit motive out of the war on drugs. It's all connected -- and we don't have the resources to alienate one group or another. Bernie's campaign offers the hope that none of our issues is an "either/or" proposition.

In a capitalist society such as ours, economic justice IS justice. It's the biggest lever we can pull.

We'll make real headway on all our issues, if and only if, we create solidarity amongst our disparate interests. That means showing up to support everyone in the struggle. I'd like to see BLM activists come out for Clean Water work. I'd like to see LGBT activists take up abortion rights...and actually they have here in Florida.

I'm not black, but I've been beat up by a cop who, I was told, had a problem with women. These guys are out of control and we have to put a stop to it. Period. We're horrified by the militarization of our police forces. Everyone I know supports BLM. We're white liberal women, and we're not racists. Most of us have been fighting against this shit since college, standing up to skinheads at our music clubs back in the day; spreading the word when real racists were trying to infiltrate our college campus; and most recently volunteering to be arrested in support of BLM actions.

Having said that, here's some photos of the BLM events I took in 2014. In chronological order, and I want to call your attention to something. The first event was organized by a group dominated by white liberal women. In the photos you might see people wearing different colored arm bands. The yellow bands were for those willing to get arrested in the civil disobedience that closed streets to downtown. This was a risky action. There were police vans ready to arrest everyone in the area, not just those who intended to get arrested. Once the crowd saw this happening, no one fled. We stood our ground. We have no idea why they didn't deploy the LEOs to take us in. I suspect it was a public relations move.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/brookhines/sets/72157647278923394

The second set is from the Die-In at Amway Arena. During and after the first event, the organizing group invited community members to form a Racial Justice Committee to take over the actions, and there was no shortage of interest -- it just took the first action to get the ball rolling. Notice again, this is a racially diverse crowd. It's not one demographic against the other. It's all for one, one for all.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/brookhines/sets/72157649640465096

Here's the third action which shut down access to the Mall during Christmas (an economic action). Still a diverse crowd, but you're starting to see that the African American community is supporting BLM in much greater numbers. It takes real commitment to put your body between Christmas shoppers and the Mall. But they did, for 4 and half minutes, and concluded the action without incident.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/brookhines/sets/72157649833981035


People in my community have been working across their lines of personal interest for quite some time. I'm sure that the case in many other places. This is why the rhetoric coming from the young women who disrupted the Social Security rally is so off the mark. We're only as powerful as our solidarity provides. We have to reject that which divides us.

I'm rejecting it and moving on. Factionalization is the goal of the ruling class. Don't let them win.

[villager]

1. Factionalization is the goal of the elites, and they achieve it with seemingly little effort

...since most of those "below them" on the economic ladder are quite willing to do the rest of the work to stay divided. Alas.

[nashville_brook]

2. those of us who've been doing this awhile recognize the signs of manipulation

we saw it early on in Occupy, and it's happening again in BLM.

i think there's always going to be "leaderless/hashtag" activism in the age of social media, but we need to augment that with real organizing. otherwise we'll fall victim to this crap and never get anything accomplished.

one of the biggest untold stories of Occupy, I think, is that it provided the opportunity for people who're really committed to change to lend their expertise to organizations that really needed new blood. without Occupy I don't think we'd be seeing the later movements in immigration and BLM. it's just a footnote...something that we recognize within our coalitions. but with every new "leaderless" movement, there's tons of people who make contact with existing organizations who continue on doing the boring day-to-day stuff that keeps the progressive movement growing as a whole.

[villager]

3. Saw the same thing(s) in eco-organizing in the 80's

We almost had a head start on getting people to think about global warming, for example, but the more "radical" groups in the environmental movement at the time were ultimately infiltrated (to a certain degree), as well as being routinely monitored, etc.

And of course this was right before the internet, so media was even easier to manipulate (you could make a bigger splash with a protest then -- but if you made too many "splashes," pushback was guaranteed, so the narrative could be changed "back," so to speak...)

[nashville_brook]

5. yep, that's where i started in the 80s

i was doing publishing to promote my "pet" interests which were biodiversity and latin america (during and after Iran-Contra). where i lived in TN there was a surge in clear cutting that was starting to impact our water sheds. replanting was almost always with white pine which eventually succumbed to disease...jeez, not 10 years later.

the group i started at my college split in two, with one becoming more radical than the other. i did my best to keep the two acting on concert, but eventually had to let them go their own ways. thankfully no one in our more radical group ever got mixed up with infiltrators, but i'll bet you that's b/c it was just small of a community for anyone to get away with masquerading among us. but i know folks from larger areas where that did happen. and we should never forget Judi Bari.

[villager]

14. Don't forget Judi, indeed

Blowing up cars of activists here in the U.S. made less of a new item in those pre-internet days, and by then, most of the populace was convinced it was only happening to "those radicals" (since an Earth First! group in Arizona had already been infiltrated/set-up by an FBI agent, by then...)

[nashville_brook]

15. even before the internet - or maybe b/c it was before it -- the activist community

was incredibly small. there were just a few degrees of separation between activists in my community in Appalachia and activists on the west coast. we frequently had speakers come out to our events who had first-hand experience with those incidents, and more.

i remember being incredulous at first. the narrative seemed ripped from a thriller, larger than life, and almost identical repeats of what we know happened in the civil rights movement with COINTELPRO. but the longer i spent with my colleagues from other places the more the truth became unavoidable. Appalachia flew under the radar, so much so that it took activists literally getting arrested on sealed-off property at Y-12 in Oak Ridge to get the attention of people up in the mountains.

few of my friends at the time were in my activist circles. my friends were all in the indie music scene and thought the activists were all out of our minds. that the Judi Bari thing "had to be her fault," that "no way" would the government do that kind of thing...not "in the 1980s" for crying out loud. that was supposed to be a thing of the past.

history isn't very creative. it self-plagiarizes.

[villager]

16. exactly right on all counts, NB

The activist community was small -- we all kept together via gatherings, self-published newsletters, mailing lists, etc., and we "knew of each other" doing similar work, in far-flung communities.

And yes, even folks who should've known better allowed the FBI to shape their narrative of what those "crazy" activists were like.

And people are astonishingly naive if they think -- should an activist movement now get anywhere near successful -- that it won't happen again.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

4. Thank you, sister. n/t

[tk2kewl]

6. very nice post

Last edited Wed Aug 12, 2015, 06:19 PM - Edit history (1)

i applaud your activism and agree wholeheartedly with everything you've said.

I think there are a lot of people supporting Bernie who have sleep walked through the last few decades and are now scared shitless because what they once thought was their economic floor has become their ceiling or worse. They may not fully understand the problems we face but know things have changed. Some people need to have their world views challenged and torn down before they see their commonality with othes - I can't speak for any BLM protesters that have targeted Bernie, but for me this is why I am not letting agressive tactics put me on the defensive.

[nashville_brook]

7. i can't help but think we're going to see fewer white allies at BLM actions

here's some harsh truth --> contempt is one of the four horsemen of divorce. it works the same way in social movements as it does in marriage.

calling white allies racists and white supremacists is an act of contempt. it sends the message that there's nothing that ally will ever do to get back on track. there can be no solidarity where there's contempt. and be honest -- who even wants to have allies who are willing to put up with contempt. how effective can anyone be who is that self-loathing?

Sanders has responded in the best way possible, laying out his racial justice platform and hiring folks who can help steer his ship. As far as his campaign is concerned, this has actually been good for him.

but in terms of organizing on the ground, it's a disaster. it squares perfectly with the FOX News narrative that white liberals are "the real" racists. so we've got contempt on either side. that's a recipe for a fractured coalition and diminished power going forward.

[tk2kewl]

8. yeah, that does suck

however, at least here on DU I am a little bit more encouraged about how the conversation is starting to progress.

[nashville_brook]

11. some conversations give me great hope. others not so much...but

that's the great thing about dialogue -- it gives people the opportunity to grow. we're all just feeling our way around in the dark

[azmom]

9. We need each other. No one group

Can do it alone.

Solidarity sister.

[nashville_brook]

10. solidarity is the only way we'll win

coalition building isn't easy, but it's essential.

no one has an easy answer to *how* we get there, but there's definitely some basic guidelines that can help -- just treat each other with respect.

[azmom]

12. It's hard enough during peace time, but

During the election wars, it almost feels like an impossibility. I have Howard Zimm's quote with me at all times.

TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

[nashville_brook]

13. wow! amen!