Alright. I have to get this off my chest in a diary or I will never stop posting the same comment and will never get to have dinner tonight.
There is a popular misconception that the event that was interrupted Saturday night was a Bernie Sanders rally. It was NOT. He was invited to speak at a rally organized and paid for by a group dedicated to protecting Social Security called Social Security Works, in coordination with other groups.
Social Security Works
The mission of Social Security Works is to,
Protect and improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations
Safeguard the economic security of those dependent, now or in the future, on Social Security
Maintain Social Security as a vehicle of social justice
Through some probably very hard work, this activist org was built up through a grant and public donations. They held a rally Saturday. They invited lots of people to speak, they invited Senator Sanders to speak, probably with a focus on protecting social security, and Bernie was there. But some people from another group came, and they didn't care about how much work went into the event, didn't care how worthy the event's cause was, all they cared about was getting attention for their own cause.
So when these protestors hijacked the event, they weren't doing anything to Bernie Sanders, regardless of what they intended. They did it to Social Security Works and all the activists that worked at getting that event together. That is what I find angering about what happened Saturday. Because whatever their intentions, the protestors ruined the hard work of a whole lot of other committed & passionate people.
Anyway, I gave a tiny $5 donation (broke) to Social Security Works tonight and I won't be posting any more comments about the protestor action at this event, other than in this diary.
Mon Aug 10, 2015 at 8:05 PM PT: The attention this got kind of surprised me and I've stuck around longer than I intended, so off to bed with me. Thanks for reading, commenting, reccing. Even better if you donate too :)
6:32 AM PT: Apologies to all. It has been brought to my attention that there are TWO (at least) groups that are called Social Security Works. The other group is a Washington STATE based group that is more of a coalition with other groups and they are the ones who organized the rally.
I had been aware of the national group that I first posted about and wrongly assumed it was their event. From what I can tell, both groups are fighting for the same goals, but if you want to find out about the group responsible for the Seattle event in more detail, you can go to their website here: http://ssworkswa.org/
I used to the site form to email the group and ask for a link to their fundraising if they have one as I could not find it. Please message me if you have that info.