Marissa Janae Johnson (1991?- ), a Black American civil rights leader, is a founder of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) chapter in Seattle. She is best known nationally for stopping Bernie Sanders from giving a speech in Seattle on August 8th 2015.
Bernie Sanders is the most “progressive” (liberal or left-leaning) of those running for US president. He is a White senator from the second Whitest state in the nation. As Johnson rightly notes, he is a class reductionist, making policies that address issues of class in place of race.
Sanders had been interrupted by BLM protesters before. On July 18th at a Netroots Nation gathering in Arizona, they challenged him and fellow presidential candidate Martin O’Malley to make public their policies on structural racism. O’Malley did that a few days later. Sanders did not.
So in Seattle they interrupted him again. Marissa Johnson and Mara Willaford took the stage shortly after Sanders began to speak. Johnson gained control of the microphone and said:
“Join us now in holding Bernie Sanders accountable for his actions.”
She motioned for Sanders to join her at the microphone. He did not move.
While Johnson was on stage she gave several examples of how Seattle is racist, the city that Sanders had just called “one of the most progressive” in the nation. She asked for four and a half minutes of silence for Michael Brown, during which some yelled profanities or gave her the middle finger.
When interviewed and asked whether she was turning people off from her cause, she said:
“I don’t give a fuck about the White gaze.”
She is against respectability politics:
“This whole notion that there are conditions on our humanity, fuck that”
She also does not think much of police body cameras:
“I don’t need a home video of my oppression.”
Of Bernie Sanders:
“If he is our best option, then I’m burning it down.”
When people ask if she hates White people, she asks:
“Do you love Black people?”
Some doubted whether she was part of BLM, but Patrisse Cullors, the head of BLM, said of Johnson and Willaford:
“BLM did not circulate a petition asking for an apology. We are not circulating articles that are slandering these women’s names. Cut this shit out, yall.”
Many doubted whether Johnson knew what she was doing, but a few days later Sanders did, at last, put up his Racial Justice policies on his website (even if they are largely class reductionist).
Her mother is White, her father is Black. Both are part of the far-right, racist Tea Party. Johnson herself used to be a Sarah Palin supporter. She grew up a Black token in White spaces. The turning point for her came when Trayvon Martin was killed – and none of her White friends cared. She now sees it as her duty to make people uncomfortable about living in a racist society.
She is an evangelical Christian, which she says means that, “you lay down your life for other people and the most marginalized.”
– Abagond, 2015.
See also:
- Black Spring
- Black Lives Matter
- Black People: The White Liberal User’s Guide
- Bernie Sanders
- Who talks about structural racism?
- Michael Brown
- Sarah Palin Kool-Aid Society
- respectability politics
- Trayvon Martin
555
Does anyone have a link to what O’Malley said?
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Hmmmmm…… I smell an agent provocateur. Stay awake at all times.
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http://www.latinpost.com/articles/71394/20150812/2016-presidential-race-senator-bernie-sanders-vows-to-fight-to-end-institutional-racism-la-campaign-event.htm
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“Capitalism” is an empty word. I would never say it’s what’s wrong with America.
What is wrong with America is the desire to make that which is local and particular, global and eternal.
HBDers believe that this snapshot of history must be representative of all time and the result of innate tendancy.
Libertardians believe that the “state of nature” looked something like modern society with less technology (and barter economies). Libertardians believe that whoever “has money” now “must” deserve it and their families must have always deserved it.
These ideologies can only arise in divisive societies with irrational animus extended toward several groups. That’s all they are: ways of justifying the suffering of the “unfavored.”
Rather than question society, the HBDer appeals to “behavioral genes” (none of which have been found and no independent effect mechanisms expounded — it’s just astrology or “noble blood” redux); the libertardian appeals to a fantasyland paradise that never existed. Even psychologists pathologize individuals with a plethora of “disorders” that show a remarkable correlation with societal income inequality.
These are all ways to reinforce basic cognitive biases, with the just world hypothesis being at the fore. They allow one to ignore reality and posit some hypothetical situation that will free them from any guilt.
Where does that leave “capitalism?”
Capitalism began as moral philosophy. The whole aim and objective was to improve the lot of those who lived under it. It was a new method of producing an outcome. It was never intended to be “good per se.” So when less regulation is producing a bad outcome for individuals, anyone who starts arguing that the “market” should be further set free is an imbecile.
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Abagond, the information you provided on this lady and her group worries me. It appears that all they do is engage in mindless protests. Sanders and the other aspirants to the white house will not give them what they want, because only a social and cultural revolution can bring about the re-ordering of priority they say they want. This will end up being another occupy wall street. I didn’t have a problem with their interruption of the Sanders rally, but with the fact that they didn’t have anything of substance to say. Whining about racism isn’t a political program. They need to come up with concrete demands.
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I am not impressed with her with that being said blacks in the tea party and Sarah Palin all of this triggers my acid reflux. They are all clowns.
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“What candidate, then, do you support?”
“I, personally, don’t support any of the candidates. . . . The system we’re in doesn’t work for us. So I don’t affirm any part of the system.”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ajWs3z8rs0)
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Gro jo said
“This will end up being another occupy wall street. I didn’t have a problem with their interruption of the Sanders rally, but with the fact that they didn’t have anything of substance to say. Whining about racism isn’t a political program. They need to come up with concrete demands.”
They have a list of demands here:
http://blacklivesmatter.com/state-of-the-black-union/
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@ Swank
That’s a strange definition of “Libertardians” that I haven’t heard of before.
Libertariansim is a pretty big tent.
Their are socialist libertarians like Chomsky and their are corporatist libertarians like the Koch brothers who are socially progressive. Their are LINO’s (libertarian in name only) like Rand and Ron Paul who hold to the Koch’s Randian corporatism but are social conservative and Republican. Their are libertarian race realists and libertarian feminists. Their is Muslims for Liberty an Islamic libertarian think tank. Their are left libertarians who are anti state, work for social justice and are market anarchists. Their are libertarians who combine anarchism within their world view. Its a motley crew of fringe thinkers.
Libertarians are majority white centric. Their is a sizable group of racists who think bigotry is fine if you don’t use agression.
“Markets not Capitalism” influenced my thinking. http://www.amazon.com/Markets-Not-Capitalism-Individualist-Inequality/dp/1570272425
I’m left libertarian/anti state/social justice/market anarchist.
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Michael Jon Barker, thanks. The demands are fine as far as they go, but to expect any of the candidates to act on any of these demands is not serious. Given the fact that this movement was started by police killings, why is there no demand to disband the police as it presently is and its reconstitution as a civilian force instead of the para-military organization it has become?
Pumpkin, you make it sound like black women have no stake in this and that they are fighting solely on behalf of black men. Why do you make such claim?
“…more people now seeing black women as “the angry black sapphire stereotype,” more people treating black women like we’re not real women..even though they do that already…” If they already do that, why not give them a reason for doing so? What do you care how people perceive black women? you have no control over the perception of others. I hope you’re not advocating quiescence on the part of black women.
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Peanut, most of the people being murdered by white police happen to be black males (men and boys). That aside with *some* black women, black men can’t win for losing. In Philadelphia, Tommy Joshua took all or your criticisms to heart and organized a rally specifically for black people (black men) to support black women and girls murdered or harassed by police. He was interrupted, insulted and harassed by black women who felt that as a man he shouldn’t even have been speaking in the first place. =) So if black men are quiet they get criticized. If they speak out they get criticized.
http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/the-sexism-of-activism-confronted-at-say-her-name-demonstration/zsJogB—CpnqSdfKfkF8U/
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Pumpkin, have you failed to notice that these women made the decision to protest on their own? Why do you assume that because you share common traits with them such as sex and race, you should get a say in what they choose to do? I would see a point in your comment if you had provided information showing they were being forced against their will to do what they do. If protest isn’t your thing, that’s fine, nobody is forcing you to protest. Your bringing your feelings about how, somehow, black male victims of police violence are hogging the limelight sounds like you want to create a debate about whose victimization is greatest. If you want to do that, have the decency to document your claims, instead of just telling us how you feel.
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Lordy, the only thing I liked about your post was your owning up to the ‘Lordy” moniker. ” *Lordy gives off a loud sigh* ” very good.
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@Michael Jon Barker
I didn’t “define” libertarianism there as it defines itself, that’s true. If you want what libertarians believe their values represent, it’s something like maximizing autonomy and personal freedom (I keep it vague because the term is, as you point out, quite the tent).
I’m left libertarian/anti state/social justice/market anarchist.
It’s the same difference just shifted to another level. There is no such thing as “the market” and even less of a such thing as a “free market.”
Civilization, when the ideology is boiled from it, is simple: there are rules for why I own this and you own that and (supposedly) good reasons for why I can own more and you can own less or vice versa; and then there is the force that backs those rules. That is reality.
Libertarianism, socialism, etc. are just ideologies that attach to this state of affairs.
I’m not against ideology, either. The only point is that people ignore reality and they want to talk about entities that do not exist. The first principle should be to take stock in reality; people who wield the same ideological hammer for every problem (we need less regulation, more “social freedom,” more X, more Y) aren’t going to create good policy.
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This Marissa sounds like quite an outspoken, brave woman (even if she does come off as a bit “brash”) to some-I have to give her props for not drinking the Kool-Aid of “white supremacy”, especially given her “mixed ethnic/political” background via her parents, too!
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
Are you Catholic? Do you understand what your French swearing is about?
Going forward, I am deleting ALL of your comments that use French.
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
(My numbering does not match yours:)
1. It was not Bernie Sander’s event. That is why he had to give way to the rally organizer (Robby Stern, the man in the hat). The rally was to mark the 80th anniversary of Social Security and the 50th of Medicare. It was not about Bernie.
2. She did have several BLM people with her, partly for protection. It took a huge amount of courage to do what she did, whether you agree with it or not.
3. She is an agitator. She is trying to shake people out of their racist complacency. So of course she is not always going to be well-mannered. And, yes, she is going to call people racist. Boo hoo. As Johnson said later:
I agree with that.
4. Seattle is on Duwamish land: she is talking about racism in Seattle, so of course she is going to bring that up. It is relevant and extremely material.
5. White supremacist liberalism: if you listened to her speech you would know that that is not a contradiction. Seattle is supposed to be so liberal – and yet it is racist. She listed the ways. She supported her statement. Here is some of what she was talking about:
That post uses “progressive” Seattle as an example. White liberals are racist too. It is not just White Republicans.
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
Johnson said the reason she is disrupting Democrats instead of Republicans at this point is because hardly any Blacks vote in Republican state primaries.
As it stands right now, Sanders may win New Hampshire and Iowa, but he will get slaughtered by Hillary Clinton in South Carolina and other states with tons of Black voters. He comes from Vermont, the second Whitest state in the nation, and it shows.
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I took Pumkins comments to mean how the white crowd perceived Marissa Johnson. The crowd saw her and her friends as “angry black women” and at the mention of white supremacy their eyes glazed, their jaws clenched and their white fragility kicked in.
Thanks for the response Swank and I agree with most of your points. I have more to say but its not worth derailing the thread over.
Mirkwood said;
It’s absolutely relevant because it is a part of U.S. history that CONFIRMS white supremacy as the primary ideology behind the U.S. government and is reflected in all its policies. The continued murder of blacks is a continuation of that policy. It doesn’t need to be official because it is hard wired into society.
I’m beginning to dislike you Mirkwood. Your not here to learn. Your here to troll for Sanders and gather material for your blog. If we went out for beers it wouldn’t end well. You would say something that would require me to punch your lights out.
Gro jo worries that BLM will go the way of Occupy and eventually fizzel out. Occupy was directed at Wall Street and bankers, was white centric, and its participants weren’t all working class poor but mostly came from privileged homes.
BLM by contrast is focused in part on the continual murder of blacks by the police and unfortunately we all know that these murders will not stop. That makes it personal. That makes it real.
If BLM stays self funding and refuses monies from political action committees, Democratic operatives ect then their message will stay focused. The Democrats would like nothing more then to control BLM and indirectly control the conversation. BLM needs to remain independent and black centric.
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Jay Smooth’s take, addressed to Bernie Sanders supporters:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PU0rPx7vQ0)
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A post on the Duwamish would be interesting. I just read that they were awarded Federal recognition briefly, but had it revoked during the Bush Administration.
A post on the shared interests between Native Americans and blacks would also be interesting (as this was indirectly brought up by the BLM campaign).
It would be good if all presidential candidates addressed the status of the native peoples for the regions surrounding every single location that they do any campaigning or speeches, as well as the status of any treaties that the US had made with them.
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“As it stands right now, Sanders may win New Hampshire and Iowa, but he will get slaughtered by Hillary Clinton in South Carolina and other states with tons of Black voters. He comes from Vermont, the second Whitest state in the nation, and it shows.”
I get why Blacks don’t like Sanders that much, but why are they so supportive of Clinton? She seems like the least genuine person on earth.
@ Michael Jon Barker
On another thread I also expressed the opinion that BLM is in danger of going the way of Occupy because they didn’t have clear, verifiable goals (other than the Civil Rights Movement, or the Anti-Vietnam Movement). Now I saw the goals you posted and I feel half-confirmed. Most of their demands regarding health, housing, private prisons seem politically quite smart – independent of them being good policy or not.. But their demands regarding police brutality and police racism (the first two) are not.
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[…] Sourced through Scoop.it from: abagond.wordpress.com […]
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I love this. I love seeing black women being leaders in this “leaderless” movement. I love black people unapologetically demanding their rights.
So people don’t like their tactics. They didn’t like mlks tactics either. Or the nation of islam’s tactics. It is a protest. Protests aren’t polite.
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Pumpkin, you seem to believe this movement is for the sole benefit of black men. These women are fighting for themselves. They arent being martyrs.
You say black ppl should stop begging white politicians to help us. Maybe black women should stop begging black men to love us.
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Kartoffel,
“I get why Blacks don’t like Sanders that much, but why are they so supportive of Clinton? She seems like the least genuine person on earth.”
I think you are mixing up BLM with “Blacks”. Most ” Blacks” like most other crayons don’t even know who Bernie Sanders is.
BLM doesn’t support Hillary Clinton. They just can’t get to her.
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Do not go silent; scream, shout, jump, boycott until they squirm with discomfort. Turn the heat up until they look at themselves in the mirror and scream with horror at the reflection. #BlackLivesMatter
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Pumpkin,
“black men should be the ones jumping in front of the mike and black women should be standing by supporting them, not the other way around…”
What a sexist thing to say. If you want to play the background then so be it, but don’t try to push the rest of us to the back. These women chose this for themselves. Who better to speak about black women’s issues than black women.
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Pumpkin,
“I understand Johnson’s feelings, ultimately what she said was correct and I agree with it, but I thought her strategy was inappropriate and somewhat embarrassing. Now, I have to worry about people retaliating even more so at black women because of this and on top of that we have no one to protect us when stuff happens.”
Our government is supposed to protect us. That’s what these black women are protesting about. Black men can’t even protect themselves. You are basically saying we should just shut up and go with status quo.
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“no gro jo, it’s about black women carrying this movement and not getting anything in return.” Such as?
“It is relevant to me because when people look at Johnson, they associate her with Black women. Any negativity that comes from this I have to deal with as a Black women NOT YOU as a Black man.” Are you joking? People make up their minds about you the moment you show up with your black skin, regardless of your gender. You seem to have swallowed the positive role model nonsense, where every black person should be on their best behavior, instead of being the flawed beings everybody else gets to be. You must be very young and sheltered to write such naive comments. I’m sorry these things depress you and make you lash out at black men. Your comments seem to me an attempt to displace the blame for racism away from those who benefit from it to one of its victims. You’re being a very silly girl. If being black is such burden, you can always lighten your skin and get plastic surgery to try and pass as white. Just something for you to consider, that way, you’ll never get embarrassed no matter what.
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Lordy, you comedian, now Bernie from the sticks is going to save the world, is that so? The man has been doing his thing in Vermont for sometime now, tell us what he’s done there that leads you to place such high hope in him? Why isn’t Vermont the best place on earth?
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Yeah Pumpkin, you sound pretty racist. Thankfully, these women don’t think, the way you do. They believe in the power o women, particularly back women and they rail against both white supremacy as well as heteropatriarchy. The #BlackLivesMatter movement was created by three queer black women and is largely comprised of and lead by black women. The movement seeks and does speak for the voiceless and the marginalized, there is no one in America (aside from the native woman) who is more voiceless and marginalized than the black woman. Instead of sitting their waiting for some black man to save them they have, as black women have done historically, taken matters into their own hands because, you know, women CAN do that. They don’t have to wait for men to come to their defense, they’re perfectly capable. Also, let’s not resort to respectability politics instead of dismissing these women for being “embarrassing” to you what you should be doing is dismissing the ignorant and racist who would paint two women as the sole representatives of millions of women in this country.
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Social activism was not intended to be pretty and clean
but what does matter, is that social activism has to have a short and long term strategy – and the tactics used, need to be effective for the long-term goal.
I am not a Bernie Sanders supporter, so I don’t care that they interrupted him… but I do care that Marissa came off looking like a pretentious, a’hole…
this tactic’s only outcome is to “disrupt” and be heard — but to effect change, the audience has to be receptive to the message.
When Erika Totten of BLM did this to Al Sharpton, (#MarchOnWashington) it was because they felt he was sending the wrong message and they did not want him to be the face of the Black Lives Matter movement.
They felt that the younger generation needed to be the face of the BLM movement and that’s why they interrupted the rally and pushed for Ferguson protestors to speak — and Al Sharpton accepted that.
http://oogeewoogee.com/erika-totten-tells-us-why-she-took-over-the-stage-at-the-marchonwashington/
The tea party used these agitating tactics on Republican political candidates because they wanted them to change their message. Did it help the Republicans win the white house– not it didn’t.
The fact that Bernie Sanders changed his message to accommodate BLM, does not mean anything in the long run – it just means Bernie will get BLM to get off his case right now
As I stated in the other thread, Marissa might be authentic, it seems she has done positive things with BLM but
I can’t take her seriously because Christian evangelicals is synonymous with “Tea Party”
as she stated herself, “she was raised in the Tea Party” (supporting Sarah Palin was not a fad) and she also stated that the “GOP could have groomed me but now they have to see me work the other side”
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Abagond,
Marissa says all the right things in regards to BLM but that’s what people do when they want to be accepted
I can’t buy her “f’ck white people/white supremacy” stance because if the Tea Party comes knocking on her door to help agitate for them, she will be right there front and center
(Since BLM takes no political sides and her political leanings are already clear)
For me, my antennas remained raised because the end-game has not been reached yet.
There are forces that are against BLM – that’s why the media and FOX news applauded the black families of South Carolina for “forgiving” Dylan Roof and asking BLM to keep out of their fight.
If people think that the government or other powers that be, are not trying to break up this group, you’re kidding yourself. BLM allies with other groups that are also on the government watch group.
Marissa might be authentic but that doesn’t mean that there are not infiltrators doing the devil’s work – and her tactics went beyond what has been done before—the ante was upped and this is what made me skeptical initially.
As Assata Shakur said: Informers and infiltrators
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Bernie Sanders is from hyper white Vermont. I have to wonder what does this man know about black people being from lilly white Vermont. Other than maple syrup,how many black people even live in Vermont. I always thought of states like Vermont and Maine along with Wyoming and Montana as places were there are no black people. I don’t care for any of these candidates. And just like Linda said Christian evangelical is synonymous with Tea Party. Tea Party and Sarah Palin just makes me sick. If Johnson got a wake up call good for her. But i am not caring much about this chick and her antics.
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Pumpkin, you are a confused young lady who ‘s coming to grips with the fact that the sheltered environment your parents created for you while growing up is at odds with the reality of this world. The fact that they gave you the opportunity to be as innocent as you are, required the same energy that these two women showed when they confronted Bernie. Do you consider that the effort your parents put in raising you futile? Using your criterion for judging the protest in Seattle, did raising you end racial oppression? Your attempt to turn this discussion into a rant against black men is a sign of your confusion, you can’t even state what black women should get from protesting nor can you back your absurd claim that you are being punished for their action. ” i just vented a lot of what I was feeling, without putting it together fully in my mind.” The only true thing you’ve written. Since you find being black is so embarrassing, I suggested you do what that lady who felt she was black or transgender people do. My comment to Lordy was addressed to him not you. I won’t continue to discuss this subject with you since it’s obvious to me you don’t have anything serious to contribute.
Lordy, thanks for listing your wish list that you hope Santa Bernie will bring you for Christmas. I’ve seen this movie before so I’ll tell you how it ends. You’ll be lucky if he does 10 percent of what he claims. The only part he’ll fulfill is the economic nationalist part, where he’ll start a trade war with China, leading to the real thing shortly thereafter.
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@MB,
Actually, he was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY in a Jewish family and attended the Univ. of Chicago where he joined CORE and SNCC and attended the March on Washington in 1963 and got married in Baltimore.
I am not defending him, but he did have some experience in the black civil rights movement when he was a student in the early 60s. That was when Jews were often on the same team.
But having said that, it should be even more reason why he needs to address BLM.
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Mary
Bernie Sanders doesn’t have a snow balls chance in h’ll to win this election anyway – so going after him to me was a waste of time.
The Democratic “powers that be” want Hillary and they will get Hillary. The only real competition she might have, is if Joe Biden decides to run – the money people will then be slightly divided.
As for the Republicans, baby Bush will get the nod from the Republican powers that be
and Trump will continue to make noise, accept the inevitable, or be a 3rd party candidate.
and where will BLM be as for as the political candidates? the same place they started because neither side is courting young black voters right now.
Hillary is and will continue to say all the right things to black people because that’s what she and Bill are all about
but I’ve experienced Bill, he did not live up to his promises to the immigrant community, so I don’t trust Hillary or any politician to really effect change for POC
As Trump truthfully stated, all politicians are “bought and paid for”
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@Jefe: Thanks for the clarification. Yes you are right with that back ground is why he does need to address the BLM. I am truly disillusioned with politics seeing what’s happening in this country. I thought Obama was going to bring that “change” he always talked about but look at the state of the country.
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Well compared to Hillary Clinton he seems more authentic than she does. Because Hillary Clinton is just phoney to me.
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@ Mary
I think she is fake too because she truly is a ball buster and she is trying to play down her hard personality.
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This article might be of use to BLM. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/audiocparenti.html
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@MB,
Another reason why the whiteness of Vermont may not be that relevant.
Martin O’Malley was born in majority black DC (but probably on the white side of town), grew up in suburban MD (in the majority white areas of Montgomery) but attended a Catholic boys school in what was then, and largely still is, a black neighborhood in DC. Later he attended Catholic Univ. (also a black area of DC at that time). He was later a state senator in majority black Baltimore, then the mayor, then the Governor of Maryland (which has the 4th highest black percentage at about 30%).
He, of all, should have the most experience in politics in majority black areas.
But, does that fact make him more sensitive to BLM issues? What does his record in Baltimore and Maryland tell you?
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@Linda: Yes, there is something duplicitous about Hillary Clinton somethings not right about that woman i don’t trust her.
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@ Mary & Linda
Hillary supported Bill’s “war on drugs” and mandatory minimums that sent tons of Blacks to jail for an entire generation. They’re both now trying to backtrack in order to get the Black vote. I say eff both of them.
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Sorry, made an error.
Martin O’Malley failed to win the Maryland state senate seat representing Baltimore, but later made the city council.
He won the mayorship in an election where he was the only white candidate running against a full field of blacks in a city that was / is majority black.
So, if anything, he should be the most attuned to the needs and wants from a black constituency. Well, at least in theory.
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@jefe: Baltimore is pretty jacked up in regards to black people so i get your point.
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@ A : Yes, i have been reading that very comment you posted about Bill Clinton and blacks in prison. That’s being bought up a lot on many comment boards
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I am watching Meet The Press and they were speaking to Bernie Sanders in Iowa. He was saying some good things he was saying practical things that actually touched with what i am concerned about. But i guess time will tell how strong he is as the battle wages on.
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@Kartoffel
“I get why Blacks don’t like Sanders that much, but why are they so supportive of Clinton?”
I have no idea why black Americans love the Clintons so much. As I’ve said before, I stopped liking Hilary when she told a black church that the US House of Representatives “has been run like a plantation and you know what I’m talking about”:.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoKT6djIfNM&w=854&h=480)
And worse, and in the same speech, she tried to convince them it was Democrats (not all the non-Democrat black civil rights activists) who were responsible for bringing civil rights for all, even though it was Democrats at the state level who were responsible for the segregationist and Jim Crow policies in the first place.
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
She used ALL CAPS appropriately.
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
Bernie Sanders was fighting for civil rights more like 50 YEARS AGO. Marissa Johnson is fighting for them NOW. So she has every right to bring up those issues. Particularly to Sanders, who expects Blacks to vote for him, unlike Cruz or Trump.
She is not trying to knock him out or make him look bad. She is trying to hold him accountable.
If Bernie Sanders had been at Stonewall, would that give him or his supporters the right to brush off gay activists who want to know why he does not have any policies that specifically address gay issues? Of course not. If anything, it makes it worse since he should know better.
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My agent provocateur alarms are sounding. For now I’m in “watch and wait” mode.
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I think this conversation lacks a critical analysis. Is there merit to #BlackLivesMatter in the first place? Who said they didn’t? There is no reason to believe that blacks are being treated unfairly on any kind of significant scale. If you tally up all the alleged black victims over the last say, twenty years, the number is statistically insignificant.
Without first questioning the activist’s premise, one cannot seriously discuss the topic.
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@Critical Equality Studies
“Who said they didn’t?”
The disproportionate amount of unarmed blacks who are shot by police than unarmed whites suggests that many police do not think black lives matter.
“There is no reason to believe that blacks are being treated unfairly on any kind of significant scale.”
Sure there is. There is ample evidence that blacks are being treated unfairly. A far higher percentage of unarmed blacks are shot by police officers than unarmed whites. When unarmed whites are shot, it is normally after a significant struggle (i.e., scuffle) with police occurs. It’s very rare that an unarmed black person can fight an officer and not be killed immediately.
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resw77,
That’s an incomplete analysis. It is the same kind of fallacy activists make when they claim blacks are punished more severely for drug possession. It is just as likely, if not more likely, that blacks are treated more harshly because they react or place themselves in a more suspicious position.
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Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter regardless of race or skin colour. How do you all think that arguing about who is right or wrong is going to make a difference? We need to put aside our prejudices, because we are all human and we all surely want equality so lets work together to achieve that instead of arguing and continuing the racism that has gone on for so long before us. Yes of course we do need to fight for our rights but the hatred must stop as it is what is preventing positive change.
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@Critical Equality Studies
You can fabricate excuses why the statistics are the way they are, but that’s irrelevant to your statement that “There is no reason to believe that blacks are being treated unfairly on any kind of significant scale”
There is a reason (among others) and I gave it to you.
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It is just as likely, if not more likely, that blacks are treated more harshly because they react or place themselves in a more suspicious position.
Give me a break, fucktard.
SCOTUS has stated that “reasonable suspicion” standards change depending solely on the area, i.e. “a high crime” area. The standards closely conform to where blacks live versus where whites live.
There are several studies showing heightened stop and search rates for blacks vis a vis whites with equivalent hit rates. The only way people like you can maintain that this is accurate is to assume that police are “good” at identifying suspicious individuals, and thus, police getting the same hit rate even though they are searching X-times as many individuals is a testament tot their accuracy. But newsflash: they aren’t. Behavioral profiling, in most cases, isn’t much better than just randomly sampling the population.
And even if you disagree with the above:
“The results of these hit rate studies were striking, all the more so for their consistency across many different jurisdictions and law enforcement agencies. The data on hit rates show that targeting law enforcement using racial or ethnic appearance does not, in fact, improve policing. It actually makes policing worse—less successful, less productive, less likely to find guns, drugs, and bad guys. Contrary to what the proponents of profiling might expect, hit rates were not higher using racial profiling. In fact, hit rates for race-based stops were lower—significantly lower—than the hit rates for traditional, nonprofile-based policing”
http://www.americanbar.org/publications/criminal_justice_magazine_home/crimjust_cjmag_17_2_profiling.html
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She was a ditz most of her life and then suddenly becomes a completely moron in her approach because an awakening. Her parents, both white and black, are tea-baggers and her white friends, not all white people, obviously didn’t sympathize nor had the intelligence to see beyond White America. And now she wants to do something about it in the most ditzy fashion. I think a good portion of “black lives matter” would push her antics away.
If she didn’t see it before and couldn’t put together the greater society of America from brushes of experience in the past then why even bother now? She’s doing it for attention.
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I like her and think she’s legit. She is courageous and based on her MSNBC interview understands the issues.
I don’t think her fundamentalist up bringing and her parents right wing views necessarily means her real intentions should be suspected. If anything that gives her a greater understanding of the Christian right.
I too was raised in a simular setting and though it affected my life negatively in my younger years it allows me today to debate these people using their own arguments and thinking against them because I understand where they are coming from.
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How do people afford all this free time? And then they wonder why they have no clout. Get a job.
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Wow guys, critical Equality Studies is the very voice of privilege. He or she makes wild assertions and does not provide any evidence to back whatever he or she is saying. Critical Equality Studies seems to know the black American experience even more than blacks. Read through the lines of whatever he or she is saying and all you get is fluff, whining, excuses, deflection and the voice of privilege. Ignore whoever he or she is. I had a similar encounter with an Australian who was as liberal as anyone can be but made assertions about Africa that bordered racism. He seemed to think he knew more about the African experience than I did (despite the fact that I live in Africa and have studied African History).
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PUMPKIN PUMPKIN PUMPKIN CAN YOU PLEASE post your comments to where all black men can see it. I am so serious. We always support our men however, they dont support us. This is one one who no longer support black men who dont support us……for example…straight out of compton…lmao
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LOM
Because of your flawed logic you don’t get it. Blacks are not for any politician because they all lie. Period.
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@Lord of Mirkwood
Wrong. I am not going to care like I didn’t for the last few elections. Black people know our place in these elections and they have little or nothing to do with us. Our focus needs to be on us (which I am sure you have no clue what that means or entails). Your scare tactics do not work on me. *shrugs*
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@Lord of Mirkwood
How do you put it?…..FAIL.
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@Lord of Mirkwood
I pity you because you have reading comprehension issues. I said not once, not twice, but several times now that I do not vote support dems or repubs. I also said I hate politicians and don’t trust them period not even a few comments above.
You are slow and the 157 Iq is beginning to sound more like that 57.
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@Lord of Mirkwood
I don’t refuse to see it, although if I did it really is not an IQ issue. I just refuse to support who you want me to support. Which is evident in my posts. The idea that you are consecutively not seeing that even though it is quite clear not only indicates my IQ is higher than yours, but you simply aren’t working with a full deck.
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@Sharinalr
Why waste your time with blind Ghostwood?
His thinking is retarded. He’s unable to see that at best political parties are TWO sides of the SAME coin.. neither side pays real dividends where Black people are concerned. The only difference might be that one side makes more appealing noises than the other, but at the end of the day, it’s lots of noise, nothing more. Just another smoke and mirrors production.
The goodies, prizes and jackpots always go to players (after the politicats first takes their cut off the top!) WHO PAY in the world’s most – yet somehow invisible – corrupt political system.
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@Fan …
“Why waste your time with blind Ghostwood?”—Because I’m bored.
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@Lord of Mirkwood
And none of that has anything to do with you not being about to understand simple concepts.
I don’t support any politician does not equal I support Hillary or Wall street.
The idea that not one post, not two posts, but several post now you have concluded that is not a sign of someone who has a 157 IQ. I am sorry but it is not. No person with even a smidgen of logic would conclude that. If that website is telling you that then it must have a glitch or the bar has most certainly been lowered.
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@Lord of Mirkwood
I am not being inconsistent. You don’t comprehend what you read. If you did then you would realize that.
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@Lord of Mirkwood
I am not interested in your deflection tactics and I don’t care enough about you to ask you anything.
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Why waste your time with blind Ghostwood?
This occurs when watching paint dry becomes less exciting! Besides the comedy inherent in Mirkwood’s responses is entertaining!
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^^^^
Do you mean that the comedy inherent in Lord of the Pale’s responses is embarrassingly beguiling?
I find listening to the drone of my dishwasher hum, soap-up, rattle, rinse and rinse again far more entertaining. It’s music compared to you know who blathering on about everything he’s purposely clueless about. But I have to admit that THIS, coming from Murky, is hilarious:
“Here’s a deal: I’ll grant you three completely truthful answers to any questions you have, if you answer this one.”
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Mirkwood hasn’t offered anything original on this blog though has has helped prove some of Abagond’s posts.
He’s like a Sanders commercial that won’t shut up.
You can say what you want about Thad and BR but at least they got some stuff right and were way smarter then this guy.
Anybody who makes a big thing about I.Q. has issues in other areas and is using I.Q. to compensate for other inadequacies.
The first time I ever saw Obama speak it gave me goose bumps and I was hooked. I was so sure that Obama was going to change things.
Hillary spoke yesterday to an all Black crowd and said she would continue “Obama’s legacy” for Blacks. I’m suprised nobody asked her what that was exactly.
People need to be careful about emotionally investing in leaders they believe have the silver bullet to fix things.
Mirkwood attitude is condescending to the non white posters here. All everybody has tried to do here is point out the fantasy land he has built for himself.
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he’s still kind of a newb
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@ Hernieth and Fan…
No. It is you that provides the comedic relief.
Having one’s wisdom teeth extracted without anaesthesia is more tolerable than this pain in the neck.
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^^^ mirkwood, I mean
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I think she really has no idea what it is like to be oppressed. She is just a loud mouth b—- with a chip on her shoulder cause mommy and daddy didn’t hand her quite everything on a silver platter. All she does is perpetuate racism. What an ass!!! People like her are a disgrace to her race.
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@Pat
I am sure as a black female she would know more than you realize and because blacks are not a monolith I find it hard to believe her behavior effects me because we share a race.
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