By Bud Gankhuyag
The highly publicized disruption of a Bernie Sanders speech on August 8th in Seattle, Washington, caused by Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists Marissa Johnson and Mara Willaford, has sparked widespread condemnation and even outright dismissal of the entire movement for black lives. Many are unable to make sense of why these activists interjected a speech of an outspoken socially progressive candidate; others have reasoned that this act was indeed senseless. By taking such a reactionary and antagonistic stance, however, critics are bypassing any consideration of the perspectives of the activists and importantly the very reasons behind their choices. Instead, what has taken the place of critical understanding is an ignorant ascription of lack of intelligence and political acumen, accusations that are racial and gendered. Demonizing BLM and movements for racial justice only serve to bolster the relative privilege and myopia of white progressivism.
 |
| Elaine Thompson / AP |
As activists Marissa Johnson and Mara Willaford firmly stood on stage, juxtaposed to a silent, deferred Sanders. They welcomed the Senator to the city that has spent $200 million to imprison black children and houses a police force riddled by use of force, racial profiling,and scandals throughout the year. They left the stage after five minutes, but not before commemorating the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death and declaring to Sanders that the BLM movement will persist regardless of who is elected president. The crowd of mostly white Sanders supporters quickly expressed their outrage; when Johnson pressed to the crowd that "it is time that we honor [the life of Michael Brown] here and now," one heckler claimed "we've already done it!" On public facebook comments responding to videos of the incident, angered Sanders supporters called the two women "uneducated on politics" and "Idiots... This is why you do your research, so you don't make yourself, cause and people look like idiots. What a shame."