Just focusing on that for a moment. The message isn't merely "black lives matter". Of course they do, and of course all lives matter. The point is that we ("we" as in society at large and our institutions) often treat black lives like they matter less. When someone responds with "all lives matter" or "police lives matter too" they're denying, in a sense, that our institutions don't treat black lives they matter less. The sane response to the hashtag/movement/etc is "yes, they do, and lets fix it so we don't have to say this anymore". Not doing so is a continuance of the denial our law enforcement, legislators, and even the media have been guilty of for decades.
So I don't fault these activists for standing up before a popular platform, even one that supports them in many ways, and demanding immediate and concise action. What typically happens here will be a placating response - something that will make everyone feel better but not fix any of the problems. And then we'll all go back to our regularly scheduled lives.
Furthermore, many act as if one group not being discriminated against means they're "privileged". Which misses the point. Not being discriminated against is not a privilege, it's a right. We shouldn't keep treating certain rights as if they're privileges. This leads to discrimination being accepted as the de facto standard. So yea, stand up and yell, disrupt press conferences, hold it up right in everyone's' faces and demand actual changes and not more of the same.
The Democratic ground-game was missing as well. It was running like a finely tuned machine during the national elections, beating on doors and showing strong presences at polling places and on social media. The DNC (I suppose that's the body ultimately responsible for this) didn't bother to make an effort for the mid-terms. I realize when focusing on fewer candidates and national messages it's easier, but they could have at least shown a real effort. Instead they rolled over and let unpopular GOP candidates waltz in.
