The Nation

Well, which part?

I'll just start with the last statement, " But if there are consequences for insufficiently anti-racist local, state, and federal politicians with presidential aspirations in the immediate future, somewhere down the line, possibly, things might be different."

TBH, I shrugged. Vague statements about "consequences" are unhelpful. If you want something to change, then change it. Is it hard to do? Sure, it takes organization. But it starts with your city council election, the election for county executive, the election for school board. One of the reasons why the country skews to benefit old people is because they vote. A lot. If people who were truly, emphatically committed to anti-racist school, police and societal policies, they would turn out in droves and vote in notoriously low-participation local elections. But they don't and when policies don't change, the belly-aching starts. This isn't to somehow excuse politicians- they are self-interested and often untrustworthy. Decisions are made by the people who show up. Flex your muscles- show up and enact the changes you want.

 

Well what was glaringly obvious is the elephant in the room...forget about the candidates for president...how about THE president for the last 7 years plus? Did Tamir's death not happen on his watch? And if he can't do anything about it, why is he any better than Clinton or Sanders would be? Is he not anti-racist as well? What I am saying is that it takes a lot more than being a president to get change going. Look at the obstructions Obama has had to face-the presidency is not some dictator-like position whereby absolute power is wielded at will(as much as Trump thinks it is just this).

Really it is a little (ok, a lot) deeper than this article suggests. JMHO.

And again, if I am out of line here let me know, but why just the 'black lives matter' slogan? Instead why not break that down into goals that can be attained, like 'police body cams for every police officer in America-and this is how we should go about making it happen and fund it...' -a definite goal that can be fought for and a rallying point for allies as well? I get that 'black lives matter' but it needs to be a broken down into specifics to get action taken. If the goal is saving black lives from discriminatory practices then those practices need to be directly attacked to get progress started as well as engaging the public in discourse about institutional racism and societal bias.

And again, blacks are 14 percent of the population. To get change done at a societal level you need allies- who are either persuaded by reason or pushed to action through whatever means will get them to act. I think many white people hear 'black lives matter' and it has just become a slogan and they think 'well of course they do' and that is why they say the 'all lives matter' stuff-they are not getting what the slogan really means and the points of action that have been delineated by the movement that stands behind the slogan.
Again JMHO.