Thread by @DrJasonJohnson, Democrats have often failed to address the needs of their most important [...]

Dr. Jason Johnson

DrJasonJohnson

Democrats have often failed to address the needs of their most important base of voters : African Americans, so when organic black centered movements like #BlackLivesMatter

and #DefundThePolice arise Dems fail to act which makes it easier for Republicans to define the issue

Remember "progressive" candidates like Sanders and moderates like Clinton were essentially saying "All Lives Matter" throughout much of the 2016 campaign https://www.vox.com/2015/7/20/9001639/bernie-sanders-black-lives-matter

#BernieSoBlack: Why progressives are fighting about Bernie Sanders and race

Sanders's appearance at a major progressive conference turned into a standoff with #BlackLivesMatter activists.

https://www.vox.com/2015/7/20/9001639/bernie-sanders-black-lives-matter

So when even the 'progressive' wing of the party ignores or dismisses discussions of reparations and #BlackLivesMatter

for YEARS and now in 2020 #DefundThePolice it's not hard to see why there are challenges engaging young black voters and activists

Black people still came out and voted in historic numbers, mostly for Biden, in order to end the tyranny of Donald Trump, but if you want folks to keep that same energy you can't treat specific movements emanating from your base on the sidelines for two cycles

In 2016 if you were a white Democrat and said "Black Lives Matter" everyone said it would kill you in the suburbs. By Summer 2020 I see more #BlackLivesMatter

signs in suburban DC yards than I saw #BidenHarris . Embracing your base helps more than it hurts

Support for "Police" is often a proxy for anti-black sentiment, and there are almost NO Democrats who've ever run on a #DefundThePolice message, it suggests catering to people who are concerned about defunding the police is a fool's errand https://news.northeastern.edu/2020/06/09/the-black-lives-matter-protests-motivated-voters-in-2016-will-they-do-the-same-in-2020/

Many people who voted in 2016 were motivated by the Black Lives Matter protests. Will the same hold...

A recent study found that the Black Lives Matter movement and its subsequent backlash not only energized people to vote in 2016, but affected which candidate they chose, as well. This year, one thing...

https://news.northeastern.edu/2020/06/09/the-black-lives-matter-protests-motivated-voters-in-2016-will-they-do-the-same-in-2020/

Protests about #GeorgeFloyd exploded across the Minnesota and Wisconsin. Yet Biden won both states handily. If arguments over police reform are such dangerous messages they certainly didn't stop those states from flipping

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