Thread by @groove_sdc

At what point do we ask ourselves are these folks fighting "against the establishment" just interlopers trying to overturn the will of the Black base of the Democratic Party? There's something very weird about jamming your agenda down the throat of folks that don't want it.

If you listen to them, they'll quote all kinds of surveys about how popular their agenda is. But in practicality they have problems answering about how they will get it done. And they really struggle at times with persuading Black folks to join their cause.

And they seem rather impatient. No real hunger for the work or grind. They want it all RIGHT NOW. And if you don't give them what they feel entitled to then the here comes the name calling

Neoliberal
Centrist
Establishment Dem
Corporate Dem
Corrupt
Sh*tlib
And on and on ...

The problem is the base of the Democratic Party is none of these things. We're just regular ass people. We want things to change but we know how viciously them other folk fight against that and us. We're willing to work with folks but that has not been their MO towards us.

So at first I was willing to give these folks the benefit of the doubt. They're just young and impressionable. Full of vigor and fire. But no. There is something more insidious going on. They believe their agenda takes precedence over our opinion in our own damn party. It's wild.

It really is Bernie's platform or nothing with them. It's #M4A or nothing. It's #GND or nothing. It's #CancelStudentDebt or nothing. No discussion. Do as I say or you're corrupt. Can you imagine speaking to weary Black folks like this? After all we go through, we need THIS too?

In the matchups between Hillary-Bernie, Warren-Kamala, Shontel Brown and Nina Turner the ideological difference is not vast. But the way some progressives talk about Black folks and the candidates we choose is filled with self-righteous condemnation and it's weird.

Until I realized what they're doing. They're priming themselves and their followers to inoculate themselves from us during this hostile takeover. If you demonize your opponent, there's no need to listen to them once you're in control. That's where they're at.

So all this talk about running "for the people" is a lie. They're running for THEIR people. And those folks are a roundtable of folks with problematic views about Black people. They would much rather fight against us than fight with us.

If you listen to their rhetoric or just read the mission statement of their organization, their stated goal is to take over the Democratic Party through hostile means. Think about that. Not win a debate on the merits of a marketplace of ideas. A. HOSTILE. TAKEOVER.

So what does that mean? In practice? What that means is the displacement of Black people and Black power in the party. That means dismantling Black organizations within the party and replacing them with handpicked surrogates who are tethered to them and not us.

A good example of this is their strategic attacking of Black icons. President Obama is a prime example of this and is beloved by the Black base but they have been painting him as a war criminal for years. Just talk to them about him. Their seething anger toward him is bottomless.

So who is the replace for President Obama, who is the standard bearer for the Democratic Party? Bernie of course. So you see a strategic pattern of invoking his name and inventing ways where he's had influence while downplaying Obama's achievements or reinventing them as failures

Good example of this is health care. Bernie pretty much took his #M4A plan from a Black socialist from Oakland. Hasn't done much with it. But Obama actually got a health care bill passed. Guess who they credit more for driving the dialogue on this issue? Hint: not the Black guy.

Another example is mass incarceration and police accountability. Bernie has more interest in solidarity with the white working class than these topics. Obama passed a bill to decrease racial disparities in sentencing. Guess who they call a failure for not ending police shootings?

Demonize. Displace. Replace. We see this pattern unfold with the Congressional Black Caucus as well. The CBC is the originator/promulgator of too many progressive causes to count. But they will never obtain power like they want with the CBC in the way. So they're attacking them.

They've gone after Rep. Jim Clyburn. They've gone after Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. They've become the boogeyman in the Shontel Brown-Nina Turner race even though people in the CBC are pulling for both. The rhetoric towards them is and has unbelievably harsh. But that's the plan.

So who do we replace the Congressional Black Caucus with? The Justice Democrats of course. That's the organization they would prefer wield power in the party. And pay no attention for the lack of actual Black folks in that organization. They have your best interests in mind.

So if you replace Black folks in the Democratic Party and you replace the largest Black legislative body in the country (Congressional Black Caucus) what do you have? A vastly different party. And that's really the point.

Even if you weaken the power of Black folks in the Democratic Party and you permanently hobble the authority of the CBC and center special interest groups like Justice Democrats and Sunrise Movement, you have a totally transformed party. And not for the better IMO.

Because these folks are not defined by anything but yelling at people to do things they've already tried, already done or are in the process of doing. None of these folks are trying to negotiate or have experience of navigating a ruthless, lawless gang of thugs known as the GOP.

And that's scary. Because Black people and our dogged determination to vote is the only thing stopping us from some pretty dark authoritarian urges from the right. If so-called progressives remove us from the equation there might not be a way back from where we're headed.

At times I lament how none of this had to happen. It didn't need to come to this. There is a natural alliance between Black folks and so-called progressives. We've been making their best arguments against capitalism, the police state, war and institutional racism for decades now.

But as I see this strategic war against Black voters and Black politicians in the Democratic Party being played out on social media and primaries and I see left-wing publications joining in to signal boost it ... these feelings of remorse are building towards anger.

It didn't have to be this way. But it is this way. And because it is this way, it needs to play out to its eventual conclusion. They chose this path. So be it.

F*ck around. Find out.

Expect us.

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