The people that manage the Bushnell Theatre decided to host this forum on race December 3, 2015 with four nationally known panelists. While well meaning people [ mostly white ] put together an agenda they forgot one critical element, to include local activists on stage who are fighting for racial justice in Greater Connecticut. Bishop John Selders and wife Pamela Selders started Moral Monday CT over one year ago to address issues of racial injustice locally and nationally- Bushnell forum planners forgot (?) to include both Selders on the panel. In the last year MMCT held die-ins at Hartford City Hall, blockaded streets and highways to send a message, went to Ferguson, Missouri for Michael Brown's one year anniversary shooting death by police. In addition the Selders et al., received national media coverage while in Ferguson. However, none of this mattered because white managers of Bushnell Theatre did not consider the Selders or #blacklivesmatter activists in Springfield, Massachusetts to be part of the racism panel. With this thought in mind, MMCT went to the forum and held a light weight protest, stating the same facts in the previous lines above.
We entered the Bushnell armed with protest plan and megaphone. There were white allies in the vestibule and in the theatre seating; it was assumed when the "#blacklivesmatter" chanting started these white allies would at least lend their voices to the protest. In the back of the Bushnell people on an arranged signal hollered #blacklivesmatter ,while other activists went to the front and read their statement. In amazement MMCT people noticed white allies frowning with arms folded plus scowling faces while the chanting took place. After the protest ended the reason for white allies silence became crystal clear- they stated "to them the protest did not make sense." Say what ? Yeah you are reading correctly, white people that pledged allegiance to working with MMCT black leadership flaked out, because "in their esteemed opinion the Bushnell was talking about race, ergo, why disrupt the event." Let me be clear. Just because white people decide to host some sort of sanitized meeting does not mean that it is something black people must endorse. Maybe those so called white allies do not understand that it is for black people-engaged in resisting state sanctioned police terror against blacks- to determine what is proper content for such forums to take place. Those so called white allies saw nothing wrong, then or now, with the absence of local activists on that Bushnell panel. I would argue that the criticism, before and after the forum, from whites revolves around their inability to comprehend why black leadership did not approve of yet another talkathon about race. We understand that many white allies have blind spots about race due to their worldview on process and procedure in addressing America's unsolved social problem. In all honesty white privilege affords so called white allies the luxury of not having to endure the indignities of living black in America. White allies do not have to think about being hunted and shot by police, nor do white allies face humiliating racial slights daily like black people. Yet there they were after the Bushnell forum offering a damn critique that MMCT activists did not ask for.
The best part of this is how what white allies did is not unexpected; historically the narrative with white allies goes like this- they are with us until ideological or theoretical concerns from blacks do not juxtapose with white worldviews, then they become critics. When the Selders first started MMCT white liberals pledged support and allegiance to black leadership. Now it is apparent that the historical narrative of white worldviews clashing with black thought is happening again. Martin Luther King, Stokley Carmichael, Black Nationalists and Freedom Riders went through the same criticism from white allies of certain black tactics. In Connecticut white allies are showing their true colors by not chanting during the Bushnell Theatre MMCT protest ; there are deep underlying currents of paternalistic bias from so called white allies. These whites believe they know what to do in terms of strategy better than the Selders and other people associated with MMCT. Now these whites will not publicly say they have problems with the Selders black leadership but in subtle ways act these feelings out- like at the Bushnell by not chanting.. then offering some bullshit critique of MMCT. It is time to do what is necessary and call out white liberals who are obstructionists to the black liberation movement. James Baldwin might be correct in writing " a liberal is someone who thinks they know more about your condition than you do." Well. It is now out in the open for all to see. Yes Lawd, white allies opposed to black leadership in MMCT. It is time to get rid of all flotsam that hinders MMCT and #blacklivesmatter, this includes white allies who secretly are diametrically opposed to working with black leadership. Man this road toward black liberation is hard enough without those secret haters lurking in the background. Whites believe they are doing MMCT a favor by tagging along or pledging solidarity, hey white folks read Sophocles who wrote "enemies gifts are no gifts and do no good." Are these white liberals who pledge solidarity really enemies ? Well all you have to do in order to answer that question is wonder about why they did not chant with us, "#blacklivesmatter", at the Bushnell Theatre during our protest to answer that question.
In closing many of those so called white allies are religious and attend churches. After what they did to members of MMCT at the Bushnell Theatre, it is appropriate to quote this scripture from the book of Zechariah chapter 13:6 "I was wounded in the house of my friends."
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