The organizers of this year's Netroots Nation conference, in part because of its location in Phoenix, chose to focus on the issue of immigration. That meant that other current issues, such as Police Killings of African-Americans, were given less attention. That careful plan was thrown aside today when a candidate forum featuring Democratic contenders Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders, was interrupted by a group of Black Lives Matter demonstrators, chanting the names of victims of police killings and preventing Governor O'Malley from speaking. At past Netroots conferences, I have seen Senator Harry Reid challenged, Leader Nancy Pelosi heckled, and President Obama's spokesman Dan Pfeiffer subjected to hostile questioning. Hillary Clinton was also reportedly booed at the 2007 event. (That might have been why she did not show up at the candidate forum today.) So this sort of thing is not only tolerated, but almost expected at this annual unruly gathering of progressive voices.

But I'm a believer in civil discourse and in listening to and trying to understand a variety of viewpoints. And a lot of that happens at Netroots conferences also. So I was initally annoyed when today's protesters would not stop chanting and would not give the candidate much of a chance to respond. They did not come to listen. They came to demand that attention be paid to a serious problem that has been ignored for much too long. And they proved their point when, sadly, both candidates revealed a somewhat dismissive and condescending attitude--O'Malley by making the dumb remark that white lives matter too, and Sanders by launching back into discussion of his economic proposals instead of acknowledging that racism as well as economic disadvantage plays a role in oppressing the black community--that made white members of the audience uncomfortable and defensive. The whole incident prompted a lot of interesting and important conversations (and tweets) for the rest of the day.

So the protesters beautifully fulfilled their purpose. And attendees got a much more revealing look at the candidates than we would have obtained from hearing out their campaign platforms.