Bernie Sanders at an April 20th event. CNN.
Two protesters were able to completely shut down an speech given by presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. CNN. The event, held in Seattle Washington was disrupted when protesters jumped the barricades and took the microphone from his hands. Two protesters affiliated with the #blacklivesmatter movement then took over the rally. They then proceeded to claim that the entire city of Seattle, one of the most progressive cities in America, was full of "liberal racists". The protesters then demanded and got a four and half minute moment of silence for Michael Brown, the man who was shot by a police officer after an altercation, which lead to riots and the birth of the black lives matter movement. Sanders then realized that he wasn't going to get the mic back and shut down the event. Later, he told reporters that he wanted to talk about the relationship between police and the African American community. Sanders then went to a 2nd rally that was not disrupted.
My Comment:
Video from the scene. AP.
There is a word for what I am feeling right now and it is called schadenfreude. It's pretty clear that the radical left is eating itself, and I couldn't be happier. And they are doing it in a surreal way. Bernie Sanders is about as far to the left as you can get without being an actual communist, but even he isn't far enough to the left for these protesters. He was literally there to talk about criminal justice reform, but nobody got to hear him speak. Instead a couple of protesters took him out with hardly a fight.
This isn't the only time that this has happened to Sanders. Hell, Martin O'Malley had the same thing happen to him and eventually had to apologize for saying all lives matter. So far though, it hasn't happened to Hillary Clinton, as far as I can tell. In news that probably has nothing whatsoever with these protests aimed at Clinton's rivals, it's important to note that the black lives matter has gotten millions of dollars from George Soros. And George Soros has given money to Hillary Clinton's campaign. But I am sure that this is all just a huge coincidence and not a cynical attempt to discredit Hillary Clinton's primary opponents. Nothing like that ever happens in American politics. That's my tinfoil hat theory and while I won't bet my life on it, I do think it may have some truth to it.
I'm going to try and be objective here for a second and evaluate Sanders reaction to this protest as a candidate. I have to say it makes him look weak. He wasn't even able to regain control from a group of people that looked like it was less then 10 people strong. And only two of them were really leaders. Had Sanders been a proper leader he could have taken control back of the rally and given his speech. But he failed and I can't help but to think that this hurts his chances. If he can't control an event that he set up in front of a friendly audience, how on earth is he going to be president? And it's not like the people on the other side would have taken this kind of disruption laying down. Donald Trump alone would have blown these protesters out of the water, and I am guessing most of the Republican field would have done the same. I'd love to see how Ben Carson would react. My guess is the protesters would call him racist... somehow.
As for the protesters themselves, how does this help your cause? More then anything else, the black lives matter movement needs the support of young white liberals. That might not be the most politically correct thing to say but history has shown that they are the ones that can get people elected. They got Obama elected and, even though he made race relations worse, he was elected on a mandate of fixing race relations. Bernie Sanders is this years Obama in terms of popularity and impact among young liberals. Calling his supporters racist is not the way to get them on your side. If you want their support you should call everyone they hate racist, or at least refrain from criticizing people that probably want to help you. Going it alone isn't going to work, you need people who would otherwise be natural allies. From purely strategic standpoint it makes little sense... unless it really is just a plot to help Clinton.
And they picked a terrible symbol to base their movement on. Michael Brown was many things, most of them bad, but he was not an innocent victim. Darren Wilson was cleared of any wrongdoing and by all accounts he did everything right when he shot Brown. These protesters either are so far into conspiratorial thinking that they can't see that or they know and don't care. The worst part is that there actually are a few better candidates for this kind of thing. People like Eric Garner or Freddie Gray at least have a claim of police misconduct, even though there cases aren't open and shut either.. That doesn't exist in Brown's case. He's not a martyr. He's a criminal who got what he deserved. And even if you don't believe that, then, at the very least he contributed to his death. He isn't as sympathetic as a martyr should be. I don't think Garner or Gray are either, but with them there is at least a discussion to be had.
The worst part of this whole movement is that the criminal justice system does need to be reformed. And if it wasn't for the race issue, it would be solved or at the very least worked on. There are a lot of people right now that are for reform. Obviously, liberals want to roll back police power and criminal laws because those laws do impact the black community as well as other Democratic voting blocks. Libertarians normally would be natural allies in this but they largely don't buy the race argument. Instead they think big government in general is the problem. On the right, things like the Bundy Ranch standoff and the IRS scandal has put Republicans on notice as well. They, of course, blame progressives for the problems. I think they all have logical reasons to want to limit police power and roll back some harmful laws.
All of these groups want police and criminal justice reform. None of them agree on why the system is broken but, in theory, they should all agree on reform that could help all three groups feel safe. Yes there would be disagreement in some cases , but for popular measures like body cams or ending civil forfeiture there would be wide support across ideological lines. But that won't ever happen if the progressives are too busy calling everyone else, including other progressives, racist. People tend to not respond well to the "r" word and calling everyone interested in reform that word will make them focus on other issues instead.
I've said before that the right was all ready to take down the police state when Ferguson and Baltimore happened and made it look like the police state might be a good idea after all. It still isn't but when people are burning cars and throwing rocks at cops, the idea at least makes a little sense. People hate the police state when it is targeting them but when it is targeting their enemies? They love it. And that is just as true for the right as it is the left. As long as the people you don't like that are getting screwed over, it's fine. It doesn't matter if the people you don't like are white guys with rifles at a ranch or black guys with rocks and bottles in the inner city. When the situation is reversed, then you get mad. That's not to say that everyone on the right is afraid of black guys in the inner city or everyone on the right is afraid of white guys in the country, but there is enough of that on both sides to drown out the voices of moderation on both sides. As long as that is true, not much will get done. And these protests will only make the situation worse, especially if they are as rude as they were to Bernie Sanders.
Of course, it's not just the wild accusations of racism that makes me uncomfortable with the black lives matter movement. I care very much about the right to self defense and the right to due process. It's clear that if the movement had their way they would destroy both in the name of fighting racism. Because if what George Zimmerman and Darren Wilson did isn't self defense then absolutely nothing is and the right no longer exists. And it's clear to me at least that they would love to set aside the judicial systems verdicts in those cases if it means they could string up Zimmerman and Wilson. That would be wrong even if Zimmerman and Wilson were black and Martin and Brown were white. The justice system exists to prevent people from taking revenge, and from what I can tell that's what these protesters want.
I, personally, am for criminal justice reform. Not because black lives matter, or even because all lives matter. I'm for it because I support freedom and all human's rights, black, white, or whatever. But reform won't happen if we focus on polarizing wedge cases that have little to do with reality. Until that changes nothing positive will happen.
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