# Why are Black Lives Matter activists disrupting Bernie Sanders' appearances and what effects? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 9, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345 "2015-08-09T00:04:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/121 "2015-08-12T05:35:04Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > No, my point was just that at the top level it’s high-minded goals, but at the lower levels it’s “let’s bust some heads.” > > For the most part, both Republicans and Democrats supported both the war on drugs and anti-poverty measures. The controversies didn’t really get started until it was seen what happened once those ideas filtered down to the people who actually had to carry them out. Then everyone got really uncomfortable. No, Reagan ran a rather racially charged campaign if you go back and look at it. Sure, later administrations realized they had to compete in this arena to win, but Reagan started it by going after the racist Democrat vote. Hopefully the pendulum has swung far enough in this direction that politicians can compete with each other for proposals to achieve real justice. Wouldn’t that be grand? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/122 "2015-08-12T08:54:42Z")
Racially charged is in the eye of the beholder. YOu don’t think that Democrats’ “middle class” this and “middle class” that is code language? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/123 "2015-08-12T09:41:14Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Racially charged is in the eye of the beholder. YOu don’t think that Democrats’ “middle class” this and “middle class” that is code language? Is this like the assertion that when liberals talk about “Wall Street bankers” it’s really code language for “Jews”? Because I’m not buying that one either. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/124 "2015-08-12T10:27:41Z")
No, I don’t think Wall Street Bankers is code language, at least not in the context they use it. But when Democrats talk about the middle class incessantly I have no doubt they are trying to represent themselves as the party of the white working class. They didn’t adopt this fixation until their white working class electoral problem started. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/125 "2015-08-12T14:03:32Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Racially charged is in the eye of the beholder. YOu don’t think that Democrats’ “middle class” this and “middle class” that is code language? The Reagan campaign involved all kinds of rhetoric about Welfare Queens and appeals for Law and Order against those criminal black people. Shrouded in innuendo? Sure. But it was definitely there. I’ll get more detailed later when I have time. But the rhetoric was followed up with the mass incarceration of black people, the gutting of public housing, huge increases to law enforcement funding for what turned out to be shady practice. What misdeeds can you point to that follow on the heels of the dems’ ‘middle class’ rhetoric? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/126 "2015-08-12T14:12:07Z")
No misdeeds followed from what you believe to be coded language either. Crime went down, and we reformed welfare. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/127 "2015-08-12T14:22:40Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Crime went down, and we reformed welfare. Which is another way of saying > [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > the mass incarceration of black people, the gutting of public housing, huge increases to law enforcement funding for what turned out to be shady practice. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/128 "2015-08-12T15:03:21Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Two is not several > > There was a BLM disruption attempt at a Hillary rally today, but the Secret Service put paid to it. There were several pro-BLM signs in the crowd. Only two BLM assholes stormed the stage. The BLM does not support free speech for “others”. The BLM idolizes Mike “petty criminal” Brown and hopes to keep the memory of his crimes at the forefront of the public. Who told you that the BLM attempted to disrupt Hillary’s rally? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/129 "2015-08-12T17:50:02Z")
[Boston Globe](http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2015/08/12/black-lives-matter-activists-tried-disrupt-hillary-clinton-speech/NvX5KMjKPUHwv2GMKkEJQL/story.html) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/130 "2015-08-12T18:09:54Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Which is another way of saying Am I to assume that Democrats, who enthusiastically aided Republicans in these policies, now renounce them? They want to turn the clock back to the 1980s, when crime was out of control and welfare was an entitlement? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/131 "2015-08-12T18:13:39Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Am I to assume that Democrats, who enthusiastically aided Republicans in these policies, now renounce them? They want to turn the clock back to the 1980s, when crime was out of control and welfare was an entitlement? They should renounce them (at least the “3 strikes and your out”-style harsh sentencing and anti-crime initiatives). The crime wave of the 80s and 90s weren’t caused by a permissive justice system, and they weren’t solved by harsh sentencing. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/132 "2015-08-12T18:15:46Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > No, I don’t think Wall Street Bankers is code language, at least not in the context they use it. But when Democrats talk about the middle class incessantly I have no doubt they are trying to represent themselves as the party of the white working class. They didn’t adopt this fixation until their white working class electoral problem started. So, you’re claiming that when Democrats use the phrase “the middle class,” it’s actually code for… the… middle class? I’m not sure you’ve thought this one through. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/133 "2015-08-12T18:17:20Z")
Not totally, but those policies did contribute. Yes, there are flaws in the policies that should be corrected, and Republicans have signed on to correct those problems. But the fact remains that if the Republicans used coded language, Democrats were quite ready to cooperate to win elections. And if they went reluctantly at first, they sure didn’t hesitate to brag loudly about the success of those policies once the success became apparent. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/134 "2015-08-12T18:18:22Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > So, you’re claiming that when Democrats use the phrase “the middle class,” it’s actually code for… the… middle class? > > I’m not sure you’ve thought this one through. Code for the white middle class, yes. It is a fairly direct appeal to white voters whenever they invoke the middle class. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/135 "2015-08-12T18:18:51Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > No, my point was just that at the top level it’s high-minded goals, but at the lower levels it’s “let’s bust some heads.” > > For the most part, both Republicans and Democrats supported both the war on drugs and anti-poverty measures. The controversies didn’t really get started until it was seen what happened once those ideas filtered down to the people who actually had to carry them out. Then everyone got really uncomfortable. First, Reagan started the drug war at a time when it wasn’t necessary. It is a high-minded goal if you think actions fit for a KKK grand dragon are “high minded”. And the results do not appear to be making everyone uncomfortable- I watched both debates and I don’t recall hearing a peep about this issue. Not surprising really, considering Trump has rocketed to the top of the polls by broadcasting raw ethnic prejudice. If he forms a 3rd party ticket and takes these voters with him, everyone believes the GOP loses. Try to be real. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/136 "2015-08-12T18:22:00Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Racially charged is in the eye of the beholder. YOu don’t think that Democrats’ “middle class” this and “middle class” that is code language? We’ve been through this. Reagan kicked off his campaign in Mississippi with a speech about state’s rights. When it comes to codes, you’re no Turing. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/137 "2015-08-12T18:24:33Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > First, Reagan started the drug war at a time when it wasn’t necessary. It is a high-minded goal if you think actions fit for a KKK grand dragon are “high minded”. And the results do not appear to be making everyone uncomfortable- I watched both debates and I don’t recall hearing a peep about this issue. Not surprising really, considering Trump has rocketed to the top of the polls by broadcasting raw ethnic prejudice. If he forms a 3rd party ticket and takes these voters with him, everyone believes the GOP loses. > > Try to be real. The drug war was not racist in intent. Otherwise, why have a “Just Say No” campaign? The idea was to actually get people to not use drugs. And it worked about as well as any prohibition campaign ever does. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/138 "2015-08-12T18:24:36Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > But when Democrats talk about the middle class incessantly I have no doubt they are trying to represent themselves as the party of the white working class. They didn’t adopt this fixation until their white working class electoral problem started. Your use of the word white here is your own projecting. Unless you feel that Obama has been using this code word the many thousands of times he’s mentored the middle class. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/139 "2015-08-12T18:25:43Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > We’ve been through this. Reagan kicked off his campaign in Mississippi with a speech about state’s rights. When it comes to codes, you’re no Turing. Well, at least there you have an issue where Democrats actually disagreed, even though it’s in the Constitution. I wonder if the 7 justices that voted to strike down mandatory Medicaid expansion were giving a shout out to Jim Crow. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345/140 "2015-08-12T18:27:18Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Am I to assume that Democrats, who enthusiastically aided Republicans in these policies, now renounce them? Yes. As do a lot of Republicans. Some people can see when something isn’t working as planned that they can change it. It’s even easier in politics when you can blame the last generation of pols instead of having to flip-flop your own views. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-black-lives-matter-activists-disrupting-bernie-sanders-appearances-and-what-effects/727345.md?page=8)