This morning at Eclectablog, I published a Guest Post from my friend Sommer Foster. Foster is an African American woman from Michigan who, like me, was at the #BlackLivesMatter protest during the Netroots Nation presidential candidate townhall meeting. I have written about my transformation during that event from white-privileged, irritated spectator to supportive, encouraging ally in my essay White progressives get a taste of anger & frustration as #BlackLivesMatter activists upstage Bernie Sanders and in my follow-up piece Post-Netroots Nation reflections on the #BlackLivesMatter protest – it’s time to reject “respectability politics”. My wife documented the event with her camera in her photoblog [PHOTOS] #BlackLivesMatter protest at Netroots Nation through the eyes of a photographer.
But Sommer gives a black woman's perspective that Anne and I will, of course, never have.
Her piece is titled GUEST POST: A perspective of the Netroots Nation #BlackLivesMatter protest from a person of color.
In it, she describes her impressions including being cornered by a Sanders supporter in a way that frightened her and made her feel unsafe at a progressive gathering.
Here are a couple of excerpts. Click HERE to read the entire thing. I don't use the phrase "must read" that often but it applies here.
After the protest, random people walked up to me to ask what I thought. When I told them I was disappointed in the candidates’ responses, they would tell me that Bernie marched with Martin Luther King. When I told them that wasn’t relevant, they would tell me that he marched with Farrakhan. When I said that wasn’t enough, they would tell me he wanted free college. As the conversations would go on, their voices would get louder, their fingers would start pointing, and I would get frustrated, end the conversation, and walk away. I tried to engage with many people, until one guy cornered me at the Netroots Nation after-party, put his hands on my shoulders, and told me that the protestors had no class and that Bernie Sanders deserves our respect for 50 years of fighting for civil rights. I stopped engaging at that point. I no longer felt safe in a progressive space.
Though I was disappointed in the candidates, I was even more disappointed in the people in the room. As I looked around, I saw progressive “allies” look annoyed, uncomfortable, and inconvenienced. As the protest was ending, I noticed one Black woman take off her Bernie Sanders button and leave her sign on the table.
According to Sommer, the guy was 6-foot plus while she is short. This sort of physical intimidation is inexcusable.
I am fully aware that this does not represent the entirety of the Sanders supporter cohort. But here's my plea: If you see ANYONE doing this sort of thing, intervene. Make it clear that we can challenge our candidates without being agents of destruction of our own movement and political party. If you see something, say something.
I have been critical in the past of attacks on our candidates during the height of the campaign. But it is during primary season when it is exactly appropriate to challenge our candidates to make sure they are fully representing our progressive values and Bernie Sanders isn't immune from that.
I'll finish with a quote from my second essay:
I cannot and do not fault protesters from interrupting him when he was refusing to address their question. That is what holding our candidates accountable is all about and during the presidential primary is EXACTLY when we should be doing that. The idea that it’s a “circular firing squad” is absurd and shows that people aren’t interested in a real primary; they simply want to anoint their favorite candidate and be done with it.
Finally, I have read comments suggesting that this protest somehow hurts Democrats or the #BlackLivesMatter movement or the #SayHerName movement and divides us. These protesters, we’re told, should be more respectful and know their place. I reject this with the core of my progressive belief system. No significant social change in this country has EVER happened without disruptive action. From the courageous activists in the ACT-UP movement to civil rights demonstrators and beyond, every major cultural shift took place using disruption tactics and claiming a space for communicating when no space existed. If we cannot get our own allies to address important issues like police brutality and lethality, how can we expect change to happen? The notion of “respectability politics” is one that should be rejected by progressives in this situation and if you’re not rejecting it loudly, you should take a very hard look at yourself and ask why not. Because there is a strong likelihood that you are jaded by your own white privilege or your participation in the cult of personality surrounding your candidate.