WASHINGTON (Sputnik), Thomas Zimmer — Black Lives Matter activists have recently targeted presidential campaign events, interrupting US Democratic candidate Senator Bernie Sanders when he was speaking at a rally in Seattle on August 9.
"I think that the interruption of campaign events by 'Black Lives Matter' activists is a demonstration of the extent of polarization in the nation and within each party," State University of New York at Buffalo Political Science Professor James Campbell said on Wednesday.
On August 11 in New Hampshire, Black Lives Matter activists tried to interrupt an event for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, but she met with them to discuss their issues. On August 13 in Las Vegas, they also disrupted a town hall event for Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, leading him to leave the auditorium.
"There is a great deal of anger in the electorate at both ends of the political poles," he continued. "This will make political life very difficult and unpleasant for establishment politicians in both parties."
However, Southern Methodist University Political Science Professor Cal Jillson told Sputnik on Wednesday that the Black Lives Matter activists could lose the affinity of the US public if they continue to disrupt events without offering any constructive political program of their own.
"They can lose sympathy and support if they are merely disruptive without having a policy agenda to put forward."
Jillson noted that the issue at hand is a political process and battle, "a fight over control of the message and the optics, though the candidates have a lot more to lose by misplaying the encounters than do the activists."
Black Lives Matter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-African American racism that permeates US society, according to the organization's web site.
