The climate is thick.
And it's not going anywhere soon.
It's about time the United States faces it's demons head-to-head.

Racism Lives

and it's ruining our lives...like it always has.

photo courtesy Dr. Jason JohnsonThis is the calm before the storm - me and my crew preparing our social media at the O'Malley/Sanders townhall at Netroots Nation

More people are stepping up, speaking out; becoming activists and trying to make a difference. 
I can go on and on about the reasons why, the cases, the deaths and murders, and why solidarity is the only way to move on...
But that is not what this post is for.
(You can read more about my action on "What We Told Our Sons.")

But on Saturday July 18, 2015, activists supporting the Black Lives Matter movement made an emotional plea in action of a protest during the townhall chat with democratic Presidential candidates Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and Senator Bernie Sanders.

A lot has been written about what actually happened, and a lot of it has been wrong. Straight up lies...from people who were not there.
I was there!
I was invited to screen my documentary "What We Told Our Sons" after the townhall (in fact, one of Sen. Sanders aids said that he was going to show up at my screening...).
From the reports that have come out after the protest, I totally understand activists distaste for the media. AND I AM A MEDIA MEMBER!

Anyway, I recorded it all via Periscope and you can watch the full unedited version below. But first, here's a summary and then some links so you can get a gist of the media reaction and reports from the "game changing" event.

Netroots Nation attendees with connections to the #BlackLivesMatter movement took over the candidates’ forum at the progressive gathering, demanding to know what steps Democratic presidential candidates Senator Bernie Sanders and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley would take, if elected, to dismantle structural racism. Both candidates fumbled, with O’Malley shifting the focus away from protestors’ specific concerns about black lives and Sanders dismissively referencing his civil rights work as proof that he already gets it.   *summary via TheNation.com

Netroots Notebook: Sanders Slips, O'Malley Misses, #BlackLivesMatter Wins

How the Black Lives Matter Movement Is Upending Bernie Sanders’s Campaign — and the Entire Democratic Primary

BONUS VIDEO:

You can see me recording the Periscope in this Young Turks report at 1:16 in...




And they are still talking about Netroots Nation today (12 days after the conference) because of the protest. I can almost guarantee that they would not be talking about this conference two weeks later if not for this movement.

Anyway, the resounding message is that the Black Lives Matter activist are going to make people who want to run this country answer, in summary, the question "what are you going to do about systemic racism."

Here's the Periscope from the protest.




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