People making signs outside a session at Netroots Nation 17 in Atlanta to carry at the march in solidarity with Charlottesville

Thoughts about Netroots Nation 17 in Atlanta

Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez

For those of you who missed Netroots Nation 17 in Atlanta this year, next year it is going to be in New Orleans. Yay!

Now that I’m home from Atlanta I can begin to process my impressions—the highlights and low-lights of the experience this year.

This is not an unbiased report. Nor is it a review of the big ticket events like Elizabeth Warren’s speech. It’s a commentary on the way I experienced it from my particular perspective as a black woman of a certain age (70).

Black Kos has been engaged in pushing Netroots Nation to be more representative for years. My first experience was at Netroots Nation 2009 in Pittsburgh, and from the perspective of representation of people of color — both as attendees, panelists and engagement of people from the local black community it was a failure. I did get to meet dopper0189 (David) face to face and we talked about pushing the organization to change. That push wound up as a panel in 2011: NNPanel: Promoting People of Color in the Progressive Blogosphere, and another in 2012. Things started to slowly get a bit better and in Detroit 2014 many of us were elated that the keynote speaker was going to be Rev. Barber. Sadly though there were Detroit activists at the conference, and Rev. Barber was beyond awesome, the turnout to hear him, and them was abysmal, which I covered in Thoughts on Netroots Nation, Detroit and activism and TrueBlueMajority wrote about in: I'm glad I didn't miss it: Transcript of The Rev. Dr. William Barber at NN14

This year, TBM, shanikka and I were reunited in Atlanta. The good news, from my pov, was that brothers, and especially sisters — were everywhere.

Was thrilled to see Kimberlé Crenshaw, who is the theoretical mother of intersectionality.

Attended a panel that included Higher Heights who are building a national strategy to mobilize one million Black women and dollars by 2020 in order to harness their collective economic and voting power.”

x Stand with elected Black women whose leadership is under attack. Sign the petition #BlackWomenLead https://t.co/icIar4IUQG Ã¢ÂÂ Denise Oliver-Velez (@Deoliver47) August 15, 2017

Black Women lead was tweeted by many — including Kelly from DKos.

x The Democratic Party would be a different, stronger and more inclusive place if black women were in leadership. #BlackWomenLead #NN17 Ã¢ÂÂ Kelly MacÃÂ­as, Ph.D. (@kelmacias) August 10, 2017

Got to hear Stacy Abrams who is running for Gov of GA.

x We can win the highest office in Georgia without changing my hair, my gender, my race or my beliefs. #NN17 #TeamAbrams Ã¢ÂÂ Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) August 10, 2017

The following day another woman running for Gov. of GA spoke — her name is also Stacey (surname Evans) and those of us not from GA got confused when a demonstration took place as she spoke.

Also running for Gov, though in Florida, is Andrew Gillum.

x YouTube Video

And there was Ben Jealous, running for Gov. in Maryland.

x "We must get back to public universities being essentially free. We can do it by ending mass incarceration." -@BenJealous #NN17 pic.twitter.com/65TtFsUurM Ã¢ÂÂ Netroots Nation (@Netroots_Nation) August 12, 2017

I give Ben an “A” for content — but a “C” for delivery. He needs to stay away from trying to do black church cadence.

There was a DACA protest:

and a protest against fake reproductive health clinics.

x @SisterSong_WOC out here defending the people of GA against fake clinics like #curafakeclinic #nn17 pic.twitter.com/YzUGTOperl Ã¢ÂÂ Tanisha Humphrey (@tanishaangelh) August 12, 2017

But the crowning activist event was a spontaneous march to the GA state house across from Atlanta City Hall in solidarity with Charlottesville.

x Hundreds of people protested in #Atlanta today against white supremacy. #Charlottesviille pic.twitter.com/nJK1rcPkto Ã¢ÂÂ Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) August 13, 2017

x "No Trump! No #KKK! No fascist USA!"



Thousands march through streets of Atlanta to stand w/ #Charlottesville against white supremacy. #NN17 pic.twitter.com/VGMIrqFVKi Ã¢ÂÂ Collin Rees (@collinrees) August 13, 2017

Dolores Huerta who spoke at NN17 joined the marchers.

x DOLORES HUERTA! "This was a brown country first. When white supremacists say they want their country backÃ¢ÂÂtell the Native Americans!" #NN17 pic.twitter.com/L3ZrY2FgZb Ã¢ÂÂ Devyn Powell Ã°ÂÂÂ¹ (@DevynFromOregon) August 12, 2017

x Led by #BLM and @DoloresHuerta, we have taken the streets of Atlanta. Racism and hate will not defeat us. #Charlottesville pic.twitter.com/zwKFoX70nf Ã¢ÂÂ Adam Greenberg (@pragmactivist) August 12, 2017

Brother Khalid who founded BlackLivesMatter Atlanta — and is also on the city council will always be a fond memory — since he saw I couldn’t walk well, and drove me to the end point of the march.

x Khalid Kamau, ATL Councilmember & @BLM_Atlanta founder: we will elect local progressives to office & we will fight hate #Charlottesville pic.twitter.com/qZ0879qV4N Ã¢ÂÂ Popular Democracy (@popdemoc) August 13, 2017

x We marched to Georgia State Capitol for #Charlottesville. We will end White Supremacy at work, at home and on the streets Ã°ÂÂÂ¸ @rafaelshimunov pic.twitter.com/uYjVahZdD5 Ã¢ÂÂ WorkingFamiliesParty (@WorkingFamilies) August 13, 2017

Shanikka and I sat on the steps with our signs.

It was exhilarating to be a part of this action as we watched our twitter feeds from Charlottesville as things were happening there.

There was only one major sour note for me. Saw a panel listed and thought it was going to be about organizing against white supremacy like the events taking place in VA.

Shanikka, her husband and I went. It turned out to be a screed from its moderator and a young woman in the audience who rambled and ranted about white people being responsible for all the worlds violence because they are “not human.” Shanikka’s husband left saying “F-this shit”, she followed, and I left after cursing them out. Afterwards we had long conversations with the mostly white people who had been at the panel who were stunned — and shook up — for good reason. The young woman who ranted the most demanded that white people could pay reparations via her organization, Needless to say — I would not advise donating. I hope that whoever vetted that panel doesn’t let it happen again.

I got to see many old friends from DKos, went to an uplifting panel for religious leftists, enjoyed the C&J dinner, and meeting so many motivated young people.

I ended my trip at the Interfaith Service, and then headed home.

Can’t wait to go to New Orleans!

If you went — please share your impressions, thoughts and pictures!

P.S.

Happy Birthday Auntie Maxine!

x Happy Birthday to our shero, Auntie @MaxineWaters! Ã°ÂÂÂÃ°ÂÂÂ Reclaim your time today, and celebrate. pic.twitter.com/3hmVC65cAJ Ã¢ÂÂ theGrio.com (@theGrio) August 15, 2017

and #DefendDACA

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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor

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Blacks didn’t land on the idea of identity politics, identity politics landed on us. Slate: A Reminder That White Supremacists, not Black People, Invented “Identity Politics”

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One prominent line of conservative response to this weekend's events in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been to admit that murderous white supremacist violence is bad while noting that liberals who engage in "identity politics" are bad too. An editorial about Charlottesville in the Wall Street Journal took time to complain about leftists who "divide Americans by race, ethnicity, gender and even religion" and asserted that "a politics fixated on indelible differences will inevitably lead to resentments that extremists can exploit in ugly ways." An otherwise laudable op-ed by right-wing pundit Erick Erickson in the New York Times opened by arguing that "the social justice warrior alt-left and the white supremacist alt-right" are "two sides of the same coin." Donald Trump himself alluded to the activist left by suggesting that "many sides" deserved blame for an incident in which a white supremacist appears to have murdered a nonviolent anti-racism protester.

The idea that the Black Lives Matter–style groups are being "divisive" by highlighting the role of racial identity in American society is not a new trope, but it is particularly ridiculous to bring up in reference to an actual white supremacist riot.

Here's a short history of racial categorization in the United States:

1619 : African slaves are brought to North America.

: African slaves are brought to North America. 1787 : The United States Constitution approves the continued existence of black/African slavery.

: The United States Constitution approves the continued existence of black/African slavery. 1857 : The Supreme Court rules in the Dred Scott case that "Negroes" cannot be American citizens.

: The Supreme Court rules in the Dred Scott case that "Negroes" cannot be American citizens. 1865 : Slavery is outlawed, but [most] black Americans are subsequently denied the right to vote, among many other rights, often via violence.

: Slavery is outlawed, but [most] black Americans are subsequently denied the right to vote, among many other rights, often via violence. 1896 : The Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation is constitutionally permissible.

: The Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation is constitutionally permissible. 1960s: Congress finally passes laws ending segregation and guaranteeing black Americans the right to vote.

In short, the first 350 years or so of U.S. history involved white Americans insisting that black Americans were members of an inferior racial group and setting up systems of employment, housing, education, and law enforcement that reflected that belief. The subsequent 50 years have involved whites presuming to be flabbergasted that anyone could think racial identity was a relevant subject in American life. It's a neat trick!

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No Tweets about Nazisb but when a black CEO takes a stand…. Newsweek: TRUMP ATTACKS AFRICAN-AMERICAN MERCK CEO WHO RESIGNED IN PROTEST AT PRESIDENT'S FAILURE TO CONDEMN WHITE SUPREMACISTS

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President Donald Trump has criticized an African-American pharmaceuticals executive who resigned from a federal manufacturing panel in protest at Trump's failure to explicitly condemn white nationalists after Saturday’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Kenneth C. Frazier, chairman and chief executive officer at Merck pharmaceuticals, announced Monday he was resigning from the President’s American Manufacturing Council.

“America’s leaders must honor our fundamental views by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal,” Frazier said in the statement. "As CEO of Merck, and as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism."

Frazier is one of a small handful of black executives of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S.

Trump faced widespread criticism from Democrats and Republicans after his statement on the violence at a far-right protest in Charlottesville. White supremacists and other groups in the so-called alt-right had gathered to protest the removal of a statue of a Confederate general, with the gathering turning violent and resulting in the death of a counter-protester, run down by a man in a car. Trump had on Saturday failed to condemn white nationalists outright in a statement on the situation, instead referring to violence “on many sides.”

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides—on many sides," Trump said at a press conference from his New Jersey golf course, where he is taking a 17-day break.

Less than an hour after Frazier's announcement Monday, Trump responded on Twitter as he departed for a day trip back to Washington from his Bedminster, New Jersey, course.

“Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President's Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” he tweeted.

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Remember all the police in protest gear that show up before #BLM protest? The Root: Those Va. Police Really F@cked The Dog in Charlottesville, Eh?

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If you’re like me, you’ve been glued to the television for much of this morning watching the events unfold in Charlottesville, Va., as white nationalists descended into the city for a “Unite the Right” rally in protest of an earlier city council decision to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

If you’re like me, you’ve watched protestors on both sides engage in fights, pepper spray on one another, throw shit, break shit, punch each other, erupt into a melee and basically engage in any manner of what can best be called societal anarchy. If you’re like me, you’ve ALSO noticed just how ABSENT the f@cking police have been during the entire shit. As a black man, you almost never hear me ask the following question, but: where the f@ck were the police? I’ve been watching for HOURS and in the vast majority of footage broadcast nationwide you ain’t seen nan’ police officer breaking up shit, de-escalating shit or arresting people. It’s all been reminiscent of what happens after some big state school loses a game in any college town where white people burn shit to the ground and some random dude goes to jail for jay-walking. It took HOURS for the police to show up ANYWHERE. For a f@cking rally they KNEW was happening. JUST LAST NIGHT, a bunch of racists marched through the campus of the University of Virginia with torches saying shit like “white lives matter.” How in the f@ck is a police force unprepared for what was clearly a coordinated, planned and organized rally taking place? This wasn’t tweeted out the night before, like some fucking flash mob white racist river dance and a bunch of groups showed up. How the shit did the state government whiff this badly?

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His remarks on violence in Charlottesville were ignorance to the point of callousness. Vox: Donald Trump refuses to name the problem of white supremacist violence

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White nationalists rallied in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend against the removal of Confederate statues in public spaces. White nationalists attacked counter-protesters on Friday night, punching and kicking them and (reportedly) pepper-spraying them. One counter-protester was killed and several were injured when a car rammed into them after accelerating for over a block.

President Trump blamed both sides.

In a statement read before a scheduled bill signing for the Department of Veterans Affairs, he did everything but say “All Lives Matter” to avoid talking about who had perpetrated the violence. And he left plenty of opportunity for people who are inclined to assume that the problem lay with counterprotesters to do just that.

Here is how the president began his statement:

We're closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville, Virginia. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides. It's been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama, this has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America. What is vital now is a swift restoration of law and order and the protection of innocent lives. No citizen should ever fear for their safety and security in our society. And no child should ever be afraid to go outside and play or be with their parents and have a good time.

This is not just a failure to condemn the white nationalists who were responsible for the bulk of the violence and disorder in Charlottesville with the same vehemence that Trump condemns “radical Islamic terrorism” during any attack of any size in the US or abroad. It is an actively misleading account of what happened.

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The middle-class, clean-cut racism of Richard Spencer’s acolytes. Slate: Khakis and Tiki Torches

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I first met Richard Spencer, one of the organizers of Saturday’s white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in Cleveland during last year’s Republican National Convention. He was one of several alt-right figures who’d descended on the city to network and celebrate Donald Trump’s ascension. “Trump seems to be emotionally connected to us,” he told me. “Not really intellectually connected to us, but emotionally connected to millions of white people who think like I do.”

The next time I saw Spencer was when he crashed February’s Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual Republican showcase in Washington. I’ve been attending CPAC on and off for more than a decade, and have often listened to attendees angrily denouncing those who’d paint conservatism as racist. But after Trump’s election, swarms of collegiate right-wingers at the conference received Spencer like an underground hero. Some posed for selfies. One young man shouted, “Praise Kek!”—an alt-right in-joke about an Egyptian frog-headed god of darkness. J.P. Sheehan, a 26-year-old in a black MAGA hat, giddily pulled a “Radix” T-shirt—the name of Spencer’s online journal—from his bag. “I know a lot of people are afraid of him, but Richard Spencer is like, the coolest guy,” he told me.

Sheehan spoke with shining eyes about how embracing whiteness salved his spirit, made him feel like he wasn’t just an isolated consumer adrift in a shopping mall as big as the world. What shocked me most about this conversation was that Sheehan, the president of his school’s college Republican chapter, didn’t hesitate to let me quote him by name. He wasn’t just a white nationalist—he was a wholly unashamed one.

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