Most of you may know me from Black Kos as the science writer. I haven't written a diary here in a long time (been busy with work and health). I pretty much just stuck with the Black Kos arena. Don't get me wrong, I lurk in other diaries, and sometimes comment but haven't done one in a long.
However, with the BLM movement becoming more prominent and this...ahem...blind spot that was exposed (and it is a blind spot) at NN15, we need to address the issue(s) and not become human political signs sitting along the road of discussion. Those of us in marginalized communities need our fellow progressives to began understanding our issues on a more intimate level, not just boiler plate. I have been struggling with explaining to friends why what the BLM movement did WAS needed. However, the common refrain is "....but he/she is on your side....". So here's my attempt in, long form, to rebut that kind of thinking.
First, I'm excited by our list of smart candidates running for president. We don't have the clown car the other side does. But like I said before, we have a blind spot in the progressive movement. Let's call it -- Seen, But Not Heard.
I want to divide this concept into 2 parts, Boiler Plate (Seen), and Intimate (Not Heard).
With the BLM making themselves known at NN15 convention, some progressives were taken aback. I mean "How dare they [BLM].....these candidate are on your side." This misses the whole reason for why the BLM activist were there. Some progressives took it as a personal attack against candidate X. The sentiment was as if the activist were being ungrateful (at least that's how I took it). The candidates responses were...ummm....boiler plate (even Hillary's response later). The democratic candidates are going to have to become more comfortable with talking about these issues on a intimate level.
This intimacy, however, is something that must be fostered when you are "baby" democrat / progressive. This can occur when you donate your time to minority causes like tutoring, mentoring, or generally serving your fellow man. Just like if you want to learn a new language, the best way is to totally immerse your self in the culture. And you must come with no judgments -- meet people were they are on this journey.
Yes, it will be hard. Yes, there will be some misunderstandings, but you have to show up and sit at the table and at least try. In fact, so much of the misunderstanding occurs when we just throw up our hands. We are use to boiler plate rhetoric when discussing tough issues like race, gender, LGBT, age, religion, etc. And the reason we repeat these boiler plate diatribes is because they have been given a sort of societal approval. They are not explicitly seen as offensive. Often time we as African Americans will sometimes bite our tongue in order to not stress the coalition being built, even when the rhetoric is implicitly misguided.
As an example of this friendship vs. strain, I go to Fredrick Douglass and his ally William Lloyd Garrison.
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After Douglass had been touring with Garrison for a while, a common accusation began to be leveled at him. Critics said that Douglass spoke too well to have been a slave, and some doubted his story as a result. Garrison and others had recommended to Douglass that he should try to talk more like an ex-slave, saying that white audiences in the North were more likely to be won over by him if he sounded less educated. Douglass, however, was proud of the way that he talked, so rather than give in to his critics and dumb down his speeches in order to sound less intelligent, he did nearly the polar opposite. He decided to put his stories into writing, to prove that not only were his stories true, but also to demonstrate how intelligent he was.
[...]
Because of some of the stories that Douglass told in his Narrative, Garrison and his other anti-slavery friends arranged for him to go on a speaking tour in Great Britain prior to its publication. By writing his autobiography, Douglass was admitting that he was a runaway slave, and inviting his master and others to try and take him back into slavery. Garrison and others recognized this threat, and thought that it would be best for him to get away for a while. Also, there was a strong anti-slavery group in England that was eager to see Douglass in person. It was a plan that worked out well for both parties. In the evolution of Douglass's ideas, his trip to Great Britain would be a turning point for him.
[...]
Douglass did not receive the same support from Garrison and his American associates. When Douglass told them of his plan for a newspaper they tried to talk him out of it. Garrison told him that it would be a waste for him to devote all of his time to working as an editor because his best talents were as an orator. He reminded Douglass that there were already a few newspapers in existence run by black men, so his venture could not be justified as breaking any racial barriers.
Link
Garrison and Douglass were allies and fought for the same ideals. But when Douglass began to find his "true" voice (Intimate revelation, if you will). Garrison began essentially making lazy arguments..."hey why are you doing this...you are alienating possible allies...". Intimacy on any level requires you to be vulnerable. Douglass knew what he was saying, and knew it would put a little strain on his relationship with his supporters, but he had to open himself up to speak on all aspects of black-dom, and not fall into the false framing of the "articulate black man" (read: nice negro). This exposing of Douglass soul made his supporters become critics, fearing he was somehow not appreciative of their support (sound familiar...like those critical of BLM for daring to challenge the democratic candidates). But Douglass wasn't trying to be implicitly divisive, he was trying expose more intimate aspects of being black.
So, too, BLM was trying to expose a more intimate level of being black in america...now. And like Douglass, BLM wanted to use their own voice to express their issue and not be grouped into a issue's queue, to be forgotten....again. Unfortunately, many progressives took it as a slight, as BLM being unappreciative of democratic allies. This is a blind spot in the progressive community, to be seen but not heard. Just sell your BLM shirts, and posters, but don't you dare ask anything of the people wanting to run this country, rather you should use "these" approve ways of talking to our representatives. This is why Sanders, OMalley, and Clinton were caught off guard and gave boiler plate answers. If by now you do not have a defined, well thought-out, policy of how to talk to different cultural communities on an intimate level, then maybe you shouldn't run this country -- which is becoming more, and more, diverse.
So having said all that, I decided to share examples of what I mean when I say Boiler Plate vs. Intimate. Below are some of the issue I use to evaluate my political leaders:
EDUCATION
- Boiler Plate Statement: We need better schools in the inner cities.
- Boiler Plate Answer: Kids should have access to a quality education. (this usually means charter school).
- Intimate Understanding: Busing kid out of the community removes vital tax dollars from that community. Thus, to prop up the community they allow businesses like liquor stores and check cashing places. This in turn facilitate building of jails because of the substance abuse of alcohol and drugs.
- Intimate Understanding: Black/brown children (especially males) are often times shoved into remedial classes, whether needed or not, which in most cases is a pipeline directly to jail. There's a stigma attached, and once there, it is really hard to get out of the remedial program.
VOTING
- Boiler Plate Statement: All people should be allowed to vote.
- Boiler Plate Answer: I will enact policies that allow all people to vote
- Intimate Understanding: Most minorities work jobs were their choice is losing a days pay or vote, also most employers will maybe give there employees 1, or 2, hours to vote but not half a day (republicans are counting on this)
- Intimate Understanding: There is an apathy within minority communities at the state and local level. We don't hear/see enough democrats putting skin in the game. They are afraid of being accused of facilitating "voter fraud", meanwhile black/brown people are being defrauded their right to vote.
COMMUNITY SERVICES
- Boiler Plate Statement: We need more services in under-served community
- Boiler Plate Answer: I will create services that help kids stay out trouble
- Intimate Understanding: While we do need services to help kids stay focused, we also need services for adults. If a person can clean up the side of the road as part of their rehabilitation for being a criminal, then can't they be EMPLOYED with the state before they become a criminal.
- Intimate Understanding: A lot of inner cities suffer from food deserts. You'll see more liquor stores and check cashing places than a grocery store. A lot of rundown buildings can be turn into housing directly employing the people in the community to build that housing. Never underestimate what having a beautiful community does to psyche of a young person
- Minority job seekers are often not hired for the pure fact that they have a ethnic sound name, who then get accused of being lazy.
- Intimate Understanding: Law enforcement is included here because they need to understand they are a part of community too. It's not us vs. them. We need more services that allow the community and the LE that serve them to interact on a different level. Maybe something as simple as a community meet-and-greet, or a picnic
These are just some of the issues I use (I'm quite sure everyone has there own set of issues). We at least need to try to operate on a intimate level with one another, because what happened at NN15 cannot happen again. Minorities wish to be SEEN AND HEARD!!!