Who is their opponent, though? Are they actually opposed to supporting Sanders, and they'd rather see Hillary get the nomination? What other even halfway decent options are there? I suppose if their intention is to make the most noise where they can, which I can understand, a Sander's rally is a much softer target than a potential clash with Clinton's secret service detail. Interesting, I hadn't thought of that when wondering about why they weren't really focusing on her.
I would argue that their opponent is police brutality... which is a side effect of a deeply entrenched, deeply regimented paramilitary organization with a hierarchical structure. There's a reason the Black Panthers established themselves like a paramilitary organization - they were adversarial to other paramilitary organizations.
I hope whoever is elected in 2016 can do something about this. I may be fortunate enough to not bear the brunt of police brutality because of my race, but they still me nervous; it's not the direction America should be going in. I feel Sanders has some good ideas for addressing it, better than I've seen from any other candidates, at least, but I guess that isn't say much. I wonder if BLM supporters will come to the same conclusion; their activists could be a great asset for him. Edit: I'd just like to add that it's hard to read Alicia Garza's herstory and not come away with a much deeper understanding of what "Black Lives Matter" means. I don't think there a single person here that could genuinely argue a person's life should be worth more or less on the basis of race. To understand all the ways that Black people, in particular are targeted for violence by the state and white supremacist terrorists, is sickening, and as a white person, I'll be the first to say that type of injustice is intolerable. I can also understand their need to keep it focused on the people who started it, not letting it be diluted, and the necessity of getting their message in front of people; there are far too many 'status quo' liberals who like the talk but aren't willing to walk the walk for equality. I'd like to think Bernie Sanders can make it happen if he were elected, but then again, I felt the same way about Obama in 2008. which is a side effect of a deeply entrenched, deeply regimented paramilitary organization with a hierarchical structure.
Who is "they" is the question at hand, and from what I've seen, the answer appears to be "black people." The idea that there must be a leader, or that government-sanctioned murder of black people somehow doesn't matter because a couple early-twenty-somethings got rowdy about their political beliefs is weird to me. People who won't stand for injustice are exactly who I want on my side. Sanders is only worth supporting inasmuch as he also supports #BlackLivesMatter (which I think he very much does).