Local BLM group and their boycott blackmail

[KingsGambit]

I used to hang out at this coffee shop in college and play chess there late into the night, mainly because it was open 24 hours. The owner is some hippie-looking guy with a big Ron Paul bumper sticker on his truck and he had a sign at the front of the store that mocked some conservative strawman guy who was bagging on the coffee shop for serving "homos", hippies, etc. He was kind of a jerk but it was clearly a very open place in a liberal college town.

A local Black Lives Matter group put the business on a boycott list because they had not signed a letter of solidarity with Black Lives Matter. The problem? They put them on the list before they even asked them to sign such a letter of solidarity. This is basically blackmail. It's backfiring, though, I think... the business is popular enough that people see through it. I have one friend from college who is black and involved in local liberal activism, and she is publicly calling BLM out as "bullies" and admitting this seems to discredit BLM.

Here's a news story about it. Most of the actual story is in the open letter from the business owner it links to, but that letter does contain F-bombs.

http://6lawrence.com/news/local-news...es-to-lawrence

[Spartacus]

This certainly discredits the local chapter, and if the national org becomes aware of this and does not act on it it will reflect badly on them, too.

My own experience with college-level activism is that the kids have no idea what they're doing. Without competent leadership (a relatively rare commodity), they'll end up doing stupid stuff like this.

[Cow Poke]

This certainly discredits the local chapter, and if the national org becomes aware of this and does not act on it it will reflect badly on them, too.

My own experience with college-level activism is that the kids have no idea what they're doing. Without competent leadership (a relatively rare commodity), they'll end up doing stupid stuff like this.

When I was a college minister, the term for this was "herd mentality" -- many of the college students will do whatever the herd does, often for no other reason than it's the herd. My job was to round up the herd and direct it.

[KingsGambit]

My guess is this incident will soon be quickly forgotten, because this town's BLM chapter also got itself involved in an even bigger controversy in the last couple of days (involving shutting down a school board meeting by screaming profanity).

[Cow Poke]

My guess is this incident will soon be quickly forgotten, because this town's BLM chapter also got itself involved in an even bigger controversy in the last couple of days (involving shutting down a school board meeting by screaming profanity).

I think BLM is like the Occupy movements, but to a greater degree - easily co-opted by hooligans.

[KingsGambit]

I think BLM is like the Occupy movements, but to a greater degree - easily co-opted by hooligans.

The level of brazenness you see in stories like this seems to be the rule, not the exception from BLM.

[Cow Poke]

The level of brazenness you see in stories like this seems to be the rule, not the exception from BLM.

Yeah, I'm trying to be charitable, but I think the "real" BLM (if there is one) has gotten lost in the chaos.

[Sparko]

If I were in that town I would make it a point to go to the boycotted businesses and tell them I fully support them not allowing BLM to blackmail them. And if I were a business, I would consider it a bonus that these racist weenies would be avoiding my business.

[KingsGambit]

Another gem from another article about this:

http://m.ljworld.com/news/2016/dec/1...mplates=mobile

The group also put a black-owned barbershop on the list for reasons that are unclear.

Given that they seem to have put nearly every locally owned business in town on the list, I doubt many people are going to take it seriously.

[Zymologist]

The level of brazenness you see in stories like this seems to be the rule, not the exception from BLM.

That's really too bad. I see the point of BLM (i.e., not saying that only black lives matter, but rather emphasizing black lives matter also), but it doesn't seem to be doing much good. That's not a great way to put it...it doesn't seem to be going about its goals in the right way, might be better.

[Cow Poke]

Another gem from another article about this:



http://m.ljworld.com/news/2016/dec/1...mplates=mobile

The group also put a black-owned barbershop on the list for reasons that are unclear.

Given that they seem to have put nearly every locally owned business in town on the list, I doubt many people are going to take it seriously.

In the case of BLM, you cannot even HINT that "Black Lives Matter, and so do ...."

It's like this is the opposite of the KKK - it's about Black Supremacy. You can ONLY say "black lives matter" if you append nothing else to it, and pay it the honor they think it deserves.

[Cow Poke]

That's really too bad. I see the point of BLM (i.e., not saying that only black lives matter, but rather emphasizing black lives matter also), but it doesn't seem to be doing much good. That's not a great way to put it...it doesn't seem to be going about its goals in the right way, might be better.

Yup - like I just posted.... you cannot append ANYTHING to "Black Lives Matter" -- it has to be exclusive.

[Sparko]

Another gem from another article about this:



http://m.ljworld.com/news/2016/dec/1...mplates=mobile

The group also put a black-owned barbershop on the list for reasons that are unclear.

Given that they seem to have put nearly every locally owned business in town on the list, I doubt many people are going to take it seriously.

who except the very idiots who are doing this, even KNOW about it or care? The average citizen is not going to even know about this facebook page or the boycott, or even care. The news stories about it are the only thing giving it legs. If the news hounds would ignore them, it would not even be known or matter to anyone.

[KingsGambit]

who except the very idiots who are doing this, even KNOW about it or care? The average citizen is not going to even know about this facebook page or the boycott, or even care. The news stories about it are the only thing giving it legs. If the news hounds would ignore them, it would not even be known or matter to anyone.

More than you think. I have some old college acquaintances who are still in town and friendly with BLM. They may post things on Facebook calling for various boycotts and people who don't keep up might read it and assume somebody did something hideously racist. It's good to correct the message.

[Darth Executor]

BLM was founded to demand that white people allow blacks to beat them without retaliation so these antics shouldn't be even the least bit surprising.