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A recent Harvard-Harris poll reveals that 57 percent of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Black Lives Matters protests and protesters. Broken down further, the results only get worse for the Democratic party, which has made support for the movement a litmus test for its candidates.

Over 60 percent of whites, suburbanites, rural voters, and people aged 35 and over share the unfavorable opinion of Black Lives Matters, according to the poll. Most strikingly, 60 percent of self-described independents and 55 percent of moderates join them. Hispanics, who tend to vote Democratic in large numbers, are evenly split.

This means that opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement is not just for Fox News viewers, right-wingers, or racists, as the Left likes to imply. It is a widespread view shared by voters whom Democrats need to win.

But the problems do not end there. The Democratic partys support for the Womens March Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Cory Booker, and many others publicly praised and endorsed it may prove just as damaging. Conservative media have long criticized the outrageous views and associations of the Marchs organizers, especially those of Linda Sarsour, its most visible leader. But the New York Times has lately joined in.

Last week, Times staff editor Bari Weiss wrote that the solidarity of the Womens March had moved her. In that, she definitely is not alone. One poll from February showed that 60 percent of Americans supported the March. But after finding out about the Marchs leadership, Weiss could no longer support it. What I stand against, Weiss wrote, is embracing terrorists, disdaining independent feminist voices, hating on democracies and celebrating dictatorships. If that puts me beyond the pale of the progressive feminist movement in America right now, so be it.

But this is about more than the progressive feminist movement. The question is: What if opposing the Womens March movement may put moderates beyond the pale of the Democratic party itself? So be it, many might say.

Weisss article in the New York Times will help spread the word about the organizers of the Womens March. Soon, and with help from other moderates in the mainstream media, Americans of all stripes will realize that they were swindled by the Womens March.

That is what happened with Black Lives Matter. Originally, it was a fairly popular movement. But over time, the movement discredited itself with its actions and support for cop killers, Fidel Castro, and a boycott of Israel. What seemed to be a movement protesting the polices seemingly disproportionate use of force against black people which the American people still believe to be true, according to the Harvard-Harris poll came to be associated with violence and hatred of police.

The Womens March, if it does not quickly change direction and leadership, may also come to be associated with disreputable radicalism. But all the evidence suggests that its leaders are choosing to double down instead.

In response to Weisss criticisms, Womens March co-president Bob Bland wrote a long, self-discrediting letter to the New York Times. Bland offered no defense of her organizations support for cop killers, anti-Semites, and racists. Instead, she excused it as a feature of the inclusive and intersectional movement, and made wild accusations: Ms. Weiss is endorsing a sensational alt-right attack, she wrote. But Bland would go even farther: Critics like Ms. Weiss, she concluded, remain apologists for the status quo, racist ideology, and white nationalists.

Did you catch that? If you are a liberal who thinks that, in 2017, enthusiastic support for Fidel Castro and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is a bit much, a co-president of the Womens March will call you an apologist for racism and white nationalism. Hows that for a campaign pitch to undecided voters and winnable independents?

But this is the Womens Marchs modus operandi. In response to Jake Tappers criticism of her support for Assata Shakur, a cop-killer and one of Americas most-wanted fugitives, co-president Linda Sarsour accused Tapper, a CNN anchor, of join[ing] the ranks of the alt-right to target me online.

Her false victimization was as transparent as her accusation was ridiculous. But no more ridiculous than when the official Womens March Twitter account repeatedly and incoherently defended Assata Shakur in the face of strong criticism.

These two movements are not going to shape up anytime soon. Nor are they likely to lose the support of progressives. These two facts combine to leave Democrats with a difficult choice. When they are pushed, will they stand with Black Lives Matters? Will they stand with Sarsour, Bland, and the rest of the Womens March radicals?

Abandoning them would incur the wrath of the party faithful. Not abandoning them could incur the wrath of nearly everyone else. Either way, Republicans will exploit the issue, and Democrats will embarrass themselves.

Astonishingly, the Democratic party may have found a way to squander the moral high ground and scare off the moderates gifted to them by President Trump.

READ MORE: A Detailed Evisceration of the Womens March from the New York Times The Lefts Love Affair with Radical Extremism The Jihad-Loving Left Loves Linda Sarsour

Elliot Kaufman is an editorial intern at National Review.

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Black Lives Matter and the Women's March movements, lauded by Democratic leaders, are discrediting themselves ... - National Review

Last November, Johnnie Walker seemed to make an ill-timed bet. The whiskey brand launched an ad on the theme of Woody Guthries This Land Is Your Land. It included standard Americana, including cowboys on horseback.

There was also a prevalence of Hispanic faces. Guthries lyrics were spoken by a narrator in accented English that eventually merged into fluent Spanish. Brown faces and Spanish speakers, their daily work completed, were invited to kick back with a scotch and dream American dreams.

This land was made for you and me, the narrator assured them.

President Donald Trump, that paragon and parody of white-bro culture, was not expected to become president of this emergent America. Yet November happened. Now, the Johnnie Walker ads dim lighting seems less a conduit for shared intimacy, more a darker shade of uncertainty.

So it was interesting to see the Procter & Gamble Co., the worlds largest consumer-goods manufacturer, home to familiar all-American brands such as Tide, Mr. Clean and Old Spice, wade last month into what looked to be fraught waters.

The corporation launched a web video featuring black parents and children having the talk. In P&Gs conception, the talk isnt just about black kids avoiding police brutality, its about dealing with racial bias as an inescapable, constantly evolving fact of American life.

In an email, Crystal Harrell, a P&G senior manager for communications, wrote:

The Talk highlights the impact of racial bias from the viewpoint of African-American mothers across several decades. It depicts the inevitable conversations many black parents have had with their children to prepare them for challenges they may face in the world, and importantly to encourage them to achieve despite these obstacles. It shows that while society and times change, bias still exists.

Showing consumers that you understand them is basic marketing. I think its existence tells us a great deal about whats on the minds of black consumers (rising tides of racism and vulnerability in public), emailed Lizabeth Cohen, author of A Consumers Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America.

But that understanding exists in a political context shaped by a president who doesnt share it. Trump ignores racial bias unless its perceived against whites. Many of his supporters dispute that bias against blacks is a genuine problem at all: Republicans tell pollsters they believe that whites face more racial discrimination than blacks do.

P&Gs video message may be subtle, discreet and narrow-casted to a black audience. But it still confronts such views head on.

P&G is obviously targeting African-American consumers and their growing spending power, but theyre also crowning themselves with a halo you can feel good about the Charmin or Tide, because P&G is not just some distant, staid, white-bread conglomerate. It cares, said Leslie Savan, author of The Sponsored Life: Ads, TV and American Culture, in an email. And maybe a bit of that is real. With a spot so overtly political, P&G does risk alienating a swath of angry white people who are sick and tired of being called racists.

I asked Harrell about the political implications of the videos. A corporate spokeswoman for brands that cross every geographic, class and racial line, Harrell was understandably cautious in her response. But she wasnt mealy-mouthed.

P&G and P&G brands are apolitical. We dont have a point of view on politics, but we do have a point of view that advocates for all our consumers. We know that bias exists in our society across age, sex, gender, race and many other dimensions of difference. And we know that acknowledging this fact may make some people uncomfortable. Our approach, with The Talk, and with other campaigns, has been to spark that dialogue in an inspirational and empowering way not in a way that places blame.

Of course, if someone is a victim of racial bias, someone else must be a perpetrator. Trumps electoral success suggested a new birth of prejudice across the land, at least for a while.

How powerful institutions respond to that invitation matters. Its hard to conceive of a more mainstream, ubiquitous, middle-of-the-road American company than the Ohio-based Procter & Gamble, which also enjoys a stellar reputation for marketing savvy. So the messages it sends, and the reputational investments it makes, seem significant.

Heres the bottom line, wrote Harrell. At P&G, we aspire to create a better world for everyone a world free from bias, with equal representation, equal voices and equal opportunity. Our hope is that people see our messages in this light.

Noted.

Francis Wilkinson writes editorials on politics and U.S. domestic policy for Bloomberg View.

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P&G isn't afraid to say black lives matter - Fairfield Daily Republic

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Posted by Charean Williams on August 5, 2017, 8:02 PM EDT

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Kenny Easley waited 25 years to earn induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, so he was going to make the most of his allotted time behind the microphone.

Easley didnt mention Colin Kaepernick by name, but the former Seahawks safety used a minute of his 21 minutes and 50 seconds to take a similar social stance as the former 49ers quarterback.

Please allow me this opportunity and this moment for a very serious message for which I feel very strongly about, said Easley, who went into the Hall as a seniors nominee. Black lives do matter, and all lives matter, too. But the carnage affecting young black men today from random violence to police shootings across this nation has to stop. Weve got to stand up as a country, as black Americans and fight the good fight to protect our youth and our American constitutional right not to die while driving or walking the streets black in America. It has to stop, and we can do it, and the lessons we learn in sports can help.

Easley, 59, long faced comparisons to Ronnie Lott, who entered the Hall in the Class of 2000. Easley continued the debate on stage.

Im going to settle it now publicly and for good, Easley said. In the last 30 years, there has no better thumper, ball-hawking, fiercely competitive or smarter defensive back in the NFL than Ronnie Lott. He was the best. There, its settled and because I said so.

Easley also thanked Seahawks owner Paul Allen, who ended the franchises 15-year estrangement with Easleys Ring of Honor induction.

I believe in the old adage: Water runs downhill, Easley said, and thus winning starts at the top, and you have run a great organization with a terrific head coach in Pete Carroll. How about the Seahawks back to the Super Bowl in 2018?

See original here:
Kenny Easley: Black lives matter, and all lives matter, too ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. The Latest on social media speculation after St. Paul man hanged himself. (all times local):

8:10 p.m.

Black Lives Matter Minneapolis has apologized on its Facebook page after sharing photos of a man who officials say hanged himself in a city park.

The post had sparked social media speculation that the man in the photo was black and that his hands were tied behind his back. Michael Bringle was white.

On the group's page Tuesday night, Black Lives Matter Minneapolis says it retracted its earlier statements after "more information came out & Mr.Bringle's family came forward." The group says "it became clear that this was an unfortunate incident caused by mental illness."

St. Paul police say a passerby discovered the 50-year-old Bringle hanging from a tree early Tuesday. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

___

7:45 p.m.

Police and relatives of a Minnesota man who officials say hanged himself in a city park want the public to stop sharing photos of his death that have sparked social media speculation that he was the victim of a hate crime.

St. Paul police say a passerby discovered 50-year-old Michael Bringle hanging from a tree early Tuesday. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports a Facebook post that featured a photo of Bringle included speculation that the man was black and that his hands were tied behind his back. Bringle was white.

The post has been shared thousands of times.

The Ramsey County medical examiner says there's no evidence the death was anything other than a suicide. St. Paul Police Sgt. Mike Ernster called the post disgusting.

Bringle's sister, Kelly Brown-Rozowski, said at a press conference that her brother should be remembered as a kind person and the rumors only compounded their tragedy.

See original here:
The Latest: Black Lives Matter Minneapolis issues apology ...

Kenny Easleys NFL career was so short that it was easy to overlook, and for years, the Pro Football Hall of Fame did just that to the 1980s second-most dominant safety.

No one will be overlooking his speech now that hes in, though.

From the video:

Please allow me this opportunity and this moment for a very serious message for which I feel very strongly about. Black livesdo matter, and all lives matter, too.

The clip might send a mixed message, given the hashtag movements evoked. The Seattle Seahawks legend continued on well past that clip, though. Via Pro Football Talk:

But the carnage affecting young black men today from random violence to police shootings across this nation has to stop. Weve got to stand up as a country, as black Americans and fight the good fight to protect our youth and our American constitutional right not to die while driving or walking the streets black in America. It has to stop, and we can do it, and the lessons we learn in sports can help.

Thats a powerful message to send during a Hall of Fame speech. This was Easleys moment of long-awaited recognition, and he chose to shine the spotlight on a greater issue. He also ended the debate and admitted Ronnie Lott was better than him.

Colin Kaepernicks name did not come up, but Easley would be welcome in the Seahawks current locker room, where multiple players have stood up for their former rival quarterback.

Excerpt from:
Kenny Easley's Hall of Fame speech: 'Black lives do matter, and all lives matter, too' - For The Win