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think

(11,641 posts)
Mon Aug 17, 2015, 11:49 AM Aug 2015

Twitter today: DeRay Mckesson & Bernie agree to meet to discuss racial justice platform


Favorited 480 times
deray mckesson ?@deray 2h2 hours ago
.@BernieSanders, the first draft of your racial justice platform has promise. When will you be available to discuss enhancements w/ folks?

https://twitter.com/search?q=deray%20bernie%20sanders&src=typd



Bernie SandersVerified account
?@BernieSanders
@deray Let's do it. We will PM you this week to arrange.

https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/633299592365350913
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TM99

(8,352 posts)
1. Not surprised in the least.
Mon Aug 17, 2015, 11:56 AM
Aug 2015

Sanders has always gotten it. He walks the talk. He is transparent and open about it all. I look forward to hearing what comes from their discussion!

Luminous Animal

(27,310 posts)
3. DeRay is an amazing activist. I am very happy to see him reach out again.
Mon Aug 17, 2015, 02:13 PM
Aug 2015

(He, and other activists had already communicated with the campaign in the past.)

Chathamization

(1,638 posts)
4. So...this ignited a Twitter battle with some very interesting revelations
Tue Aug 18, 2015, 07:41 PM
Aug 2015

Most of the info coming from Johnetta Elzie's Twitter account (DeRay McKesson and some others have been talking about it as well).

The gist of it is this - Black Lives Matter is the name of a movement, but there's also an organization within that movement by the name of Black Lives Matter. The organization that goes by Black Lives Matter seems smaller and less active than many of the other groups in the movement. The women in charge of the organization, however, are credited with starting the #BlackLivesMatter on hashtag, and are often introduced as the founders of BlackLivesMatter (which is very misleading).

When a member of the Black Lives Matter organization saw that DeRay McKesson was going to meet with the Sander's campaign, they tweeted about how it's strange that the Sander's campaign wouldn't meet with any Black Lives Matter representative. Many activists took offense at this, because it's basically is saying that since they named their organization the same name as the movement, they're the representatives of the movement (even if they're smaller and less active than other groups in the movement).

Some of the activists outside of the BLM organization (but within the BLM movement) said that they were aware that the Sander's campaign had tried to meet with the BLM organization, but that the BLM organization turned them down. A member of the BLM organization stated that at the time it didn't seem like it was right for them to meet with the Sander's organization.

Other activists asked - if this is true why complain about other BLM (movement) activists meeting with the Sander's campaign? The individual from the BLM organization said that the Sander's campaign needs to meet with them when the BLM organization wants, not when the Sander's campaign wants. They also said they think that maybe the meeting should be with the BLM activists who interrupted the Seattle event.

It's worth taking a look at the twitter pages of the activists and see what's going on, mostly because the BLM organization seems like it's going to try to represent itself as the movement (rather than the small piece of it it actually is), and because it looks like the BLM organization is fairly problematic (saying other BLM activists aren't part of BLM, privately turning down offers to meet with candidates and then publicly complaining that the candidates won't meet with them). It'd be a shame if people mistakenly believed they represented the entirety of the movement, because there are a ton of good people doing good things in the BLM movement (and maybe inside the BLM organization as well, though it seems the org is much more of a mess).

 

think

(11,641 posts)
5. Thanks for this information. So the BLM "organization" turned down offers to meet candidates
Tue Aug 18, 2015, 08:27 PM
Aug 2015

while at the same time claiming they haven't been contacted.

And then they start saying activists like DeRay aren't part of BLM and he shouldn't be meeting with Sanders as he doesn't represent even though he and the activists have been on the front lines of of things.

I kind of caught wind of this when Sanders camp & DeRay agreed to meet but didn't think much of it. Thanks again for the detailed information and added revelations of the background into all this.

Not sure what to make of it but it sure is bizarre...

Chathamization

(1,638 posts)
6. I should say that I don't know how much dream hampton (the BLM org member in the exchange)
Tue Aug 18, 2015, 10:49 PM
Aug 2015

represents the group itself - maybe the rest of the org will come out and say they don't agree with her, and maybe they will have good explanations for why they seemingly turned down requests for meetings with campaigns (I can't think of a good reason, but who knows). It is worth noting that Johnetta seems to think that the BLM org is problematic in general, and DeRay has stated that the attacks against him seem to be coordinated.

I suppose internecine fighting among activists is nothing new, but it's problematic when people start conflating the Black Lives Matter organization with the Black Lives Matter movement (I've seen a ton of this on DU).

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