Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Its about training, Walker began, and went on to completely dodge the issue of race.
Disappointingly, no more questions were asked about this issue, and no one made the
decision to speak on it for the rest of the two hour long debate. Coincidently, the debate
was held in Cleveland the same city where unarmed African-American child Tamir
Rice was shot and killed by a police officer for holding a toy gun in a state that has open
carry laws.
Bernie Sanders, another presidential hopeful, was delivering a speech in Seattle, WA on
August 8 when Black Lives Matter activists interrupted his speech and confronted the
audience and Sanders with their concerns over gentrification, law enforcement, and
school disparity in Seattle. After offering a moment of silence for Michael Brown, they
urged the crowd to hold Sanders accountable for his actions.
The move was heavily criticized by social media because many supporters of
#BlackLivesMatter saw Sanders as an ally, not the problem. This event came after Julys
Netroots Nation forum where similar activists interrupted both Sanders and fellow
presidential candidate Martin OMalley.
A call for equality is meaningful and necessary because no candidate will succeed if the
issue of racially charged police brutality is not addressed in the coming months. The
#BlackLivesMatter activists are working hard to confront these contenders with the
realities of being black in America, and no supporter of equality will be ignored during
this election. Those running to be president of America, a country built on the ideals of
equality, justice, and liberty, must educate themselves and speak to the country about
their plan to end police brutality and institutionalized racism. Otherwise, millions of votes
from the #BlackLivesMatter movement and their supporters will be lost.