#BlackLivesMatter and the wrong target

benfell

I should be clear that I remain skeptical of Bernie Sanders as a presidential candidate because he is attempting to reform a system which I believe must be overturned entirely. As I have said before, the idealistic nonsense about a so-called ‘representative democracy’ is James Madison’s cover, made perfectly clear in Federalist no. 10, for protecting the minority rights not of any subaltern group but rather the property rights of wealthy white males.[1] Objections to the Citizens United decision are, therefore, nonsense. The system, corrupted by greed and run for big money interests, is working exactly and precisely as intended.

Further, this republic is one aspect of an entirely failed system of social organization that fails to respond to multiple existential threats to human survival.[2]

But I appreciate many of the things that Bernie Sanders has said. Even if he fails to recognize what Madison was actually trying to do, he seems to recognize that social inequality is a problem, that the bankers who caused the financial crisis that began in 2007 should be punished for their criminality, and that ordinary people should be getting a lot more help than they are.

I also want to be clear that I think I have been entirely sympathetic with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. I wrote about the problems of policing long before it was fashionable, locating the problem with the role that police are assigned in our society.[3] As I wrote then,

The role of police in developed society is problematic because it invests lawful authority paired with authorization to use even lethal force to compel compliance. That authorization complicated not only Mehserle’s case,[4] but another case which arose from the Danziger Bridge shootings during the Hurricane Katrina disaster.[5] Indeed it so colors any officer’s actions that in effect, the credible threat of lethal force is their only tool for resolving any conflict. Moreover, they act in service of a principle of “preserving law and order,” where law is passed by an elite consisting overwhelmingly of wealthy white males to apply to everyone else; where “order” refers to the status quo, meaning the social hierarchy in its present form; and where “justice” is reduced to the enforcement of law.

Yet, in effect, and particularly for residents in neighborhoods like the one I traversed today in Oakland, police bear a strong resemblance to the gangs they pursue. Gangs and police both operate under rigid hierarchies, rigid rules, and a sense of impunity (which for police is offended in the prosecution of cases like the Danziger Bridge shootings in New Orleans[6] and the Grant shooting in Oakland,[7] and, as well, in the reaction to the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., at his home in Cambridge,[8] which ultimately led to a trip for both Gates and the officer concerned to the White House for a beer and a failed attempt at reconciliation.[9] Police and gangs also both identify themselves using particular colors and valorize their own sense of control over others (failure to comply with an officer is often labeled “disorderly conduct” the offense Gates was charged with,[10][/ref] but it was also another officer’s perception that Grant had interfered with a police investigation at the scene that led to his killing[12]).[13]

I have written about the problem several times since, about Trayvon Martin[14] Michael Brown,[15] Eric Garner,[16] and Freddie Gray.[17] I simply don’t have anything to add to what I have said in those postings even in response to numerous other incidents that have occurred since. It goes without saying that these killings are all tragic and unnecessary and I’m not even for a millisecond impressed by police rationalizations for them.

But Bernie Sanders is running for president. And for some reason, the #BlackLivesMatter movement has, twice now, singled his campaign appearances out for disruption.[18] I don’t know what that reason is.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said on Sunday that 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is a life-long defender of minorities.

Booker added that his Senate colleague’s record is one of deep respect for civil rights.

“Bernie has become somebody I have tremendous respect for and is an ally of mine in addressing issues in the United States Senate that affect minority communities,” he said.

“He has a long record of civil rights,” Booker told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.”[19]

It seems to me that #BlackLivesMatter folks need to explain themselves in a way that is not drowned out by their disruptions of Bernie Sanders’ campaign appearances. Because until they do, it very much appears as if they’ve picked the wrong target.

  1. [1]James Madison, “Federalist No. 10,” in The Federalist Papers, ed. Garry Wills (1982; repr., New York: Bantam, 2003).↩
  2. [2]David Benfell, “‘We have found the enemy, and he is us’ — and our system of social organization,” March 6, 2013, https://parts-unknown.org/drupal7/journal/2013/03/06/we-have-found-enemy-and-he-us-and-our-system-social-organization↩
  3. [3]David Benfell, “Cops, gangs, and the conflation of roles,” August 6, 2011, https://parts-unknown.org/drupal7/journal/2011/08/06/cops-gangs-and-conflation-roles↩
  4. [4]Erin Allday, “Rally in Oakland over Johannes Mehserle’s release,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 2011, http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-06-13/bay-area/29651973_1_oscar-grant-mehserle-shot-grant-hundreds-protest↩
  5. [5]Richard Fausset, “Five police convicted in post-Katrina shootings,” Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2011, http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-katrina-bridge-shooting-20110806,0,4887609.story↩
  6. [6]Richard Fausset, “Five police convicted in post-Katrina shootings,” Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2011, http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-katrina-bridge-shooting-20110806,0,4887609.story↩
  7. [7]Erin Allday, “Rally in Oakland over Johannes Mehserle’s release,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 2011, http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-06-13/bay-area/29651973_1_oscar-grant-mehserle-shot-grant-hundreds-protest↩
  8. [8]Tracy Jan, “Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home,” Boston Globe, July 20, 2009, http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/harvard.html↩
  9. [9]Associated Press, “Cop, scholar to meet again after Obama chat,” MSNBC, July 31, 2009, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32210408/ns/politics-white_house/t/cop-scholar-meet-again-after-obama-chat/↩
  10. [11]↩
  11. [10][11]Tracy Jan, “Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home,” Boston Globe, July 20, 2009, http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/harvard.html↩
  12. [12]Erin Allday, “Rally in Oakland over Johannes Mehserle’s release,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 2011, http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-06-13/bay-area/29651973_1_oscar-grant-mehserle-shot-grant-hundreds-protest↩
  13. [13]David Benfell, “Cops, gangs, and the conflation of roles,” August 6, 2011, https://parts-unknown.org/drupal7/journal/2011/08/06/cops-gangs-and-conflation-roles↩
  14. [14]David Benfell, “‘An iced tea and some Skittles’,” Not Housebroken, March 24, 2012, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=4581; David Benfell, “Open season,” Not Housebroken, July 16, 2013, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=5708↩
  15. [15]David Benfell, “It’s so much easier to wave a Confederate flag,” Not Housebroken, August 30, 2014, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=6588; David Benfell, “We need to change,” Not Housebroken, November 25, 2014, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=6986↩
  16. [16]David Benfell, “‘Checks and balances’ is code for complicity,” Not Housebroken, December 4, 2014, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=7013; David Benfell, “Cops and complicity,” Not Housebroken, December 6, 2014, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=7024; David Benfell, “Time to take the guns away,” Not Housebroken, January 6, 2015, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=7126; David Benfell, “The ‘arc of the moral universe’ and the undefeated South,” Not Housebroken, February 24, 2015, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=7341↩
  17. [17]David Benfell, “It’s time to shut up about nonviolence,” Not Housebroken, April 29, 2015, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=7488↩
  18. [18]Mark Hensch, “Booker: Sanders has ‘long record of civil rights’,” Hill, August 9, 2015, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/250686-booker-sanders-has-long-record-of-civil-rights↩
  19. [19]Mark Hensch, “Booker: Sanders has ‘long record of civil rights’,” Hill, August 9, 2015, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/250686-booker-sanders-has-long-record-of-civil-rights↩

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