Did you know you can support Sanders and BLM at the same time?

[JDPriestly]

68. BLM wants to be heard. We Sanders supporters are listening and agreeing with it.

You should have heard the ovation for BLM last night in the Stadium at the Los Angeles Bernie event. No where do Sanders supporters more support his BLM stance than in Los Angeles, where we rank maybe even above New York in terms of our multiculturalism and our diversity and mutual acceptance. We still have a ways to go, but even with all our problems including police and justice violence toward Black people, Los Angeles and California have no really strong racial or ethnic majority. And that, already puts us necessarily on a path to more racial justice. Not claiming we are even near there yet.

Demonstrations are fine, but respecting and nurturing democracy and listening to and respecting each other is the most important, highest value in our civic lives. And when a demonstration completely silences political voices and interferes with democracy in our civic lives, then they are not good.

Any group can take over a meeting and shut it down. That silences voices and destroys a bit of the democratic process. We have the right to speak. We have the right to demonstrate. But the speaking and the demonstrating have to take turns so that each side can be heard and judged on its merits.

I agree with the purposes of BLM. I do not agree with any group, whether it is BLM or the KKK or women's liberation, or anti-abortion, ending participation in the democratic process by silencing a speaker and not allowing that speaker to speak at his or her own event. Only if someone is advocating violence should they be silenced. Otherwise, we should each speak in our turn.