And Isn't Hillary Glad Now She Stayed Away ?

#BlackLivesMatter co-founder warns presidential candidates: ‘We will shut down every single debate’

Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors criticized both Sen. Bernie Sanders and ex-Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley after Saturday’s protest at the Netroots Nation progressive conference.

“He couldn’t take 15 more minutes of the heat,” Cullors said of Sanders in an interview on This Week in Blackness, making reference to the senator ending his appearance as demonstrators at the event walked out en masse.

Journalist and activist Jose Antonio Vargas, who interviewed both Democratic candidates during the forum, later told The Raw Story that he was directed to wrap up his discussion with Sanders 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

Cullors told This Week host L. Joy Williams that she felt neither O’Malley nor Sanders were “humble enough” during their town hall appearance, and called on presidential candidates to be willing to openly discuss issues of race and gender.

“No more skirting around the issues,” Cullor said. “We will shut down every single debate.”

Well, that's good to know, I guess.  The Democratic primaries should be fun.

All I have to say on that particular shit-show that took place at Netroots Nation (you'll find plenty of videos on YouTube if you want to watch it) is this:

We have two overlapping issues here, police-violence and racism, both of which are complicated, one of which would be extremely difficult for any president to address, even given eight years (as Obama could probably attest), and the other of which, endemic as it is across all human society, will never be fully eradicated, and can only be worn down over time by education and engagement.  There are no simple solutions to these issues, and certainly nothing concise enough for a hashtag on Twitter.

If you want any kind of meaningful answer from politicians on these issues, it's going to have to involve a long ongoing conversation, and a lot of patience.  Or, sure, you could just shout them off stage.  It might make you feel better.  What it sure as hell won't do is prevent the further loss of black lives at the hands of trigger-happy, militarised, and oft-as-not racist cops.