Mr. Sanders wishes us to know two things. One, he has a book coming out and two, his life is in serious danger because he's black. I don't know where he thinks the threat to his life comes from, but if he thinks it comes from racist whites he's delusional. Statistically speaking, he has a far greater chance of having his life ended by another black man than he does by a white person, police officer or otherwise.
Sexton continues:
That combination of humble-bragging and self-pity gets repeated for a dozen or more paragraphs with the author repeatedly saying he’s tired of white friends texting to express their support which he sees as just a way to express guilt.
Actually, this is one point on which I find myself somewhat agreeing with Sanders. Liberal whites are often so eager to be granted absolution by a black person for the sin of being born white that they'll engage in the most obsequious groveling as penance. The behavior is demeaning to the white person and insulting to the black person who is, in fact, often treated as if he/she were a child.
Anyway, Sexton goes on:
[Sanders] doesn’t want them to say they care about him as a person, he wants them to do something practical for the cause. And one of the things he recommends is to text their relatives and let them know they are being cut off socially and emotionally unless and until those relatives show support for “black lives.” [emphasis added].
Here's Sanders' text:
So please, stop sending #love. Stop sending positive vibes. Stop sending your thoughts. Here are three suggestions on more immediately impactful things to offer instead:
Money: To funds that pay legal fees for black people who are unjustly arrested, imprisoned or killed or to black politicians running for office.
Texts: To your relatives and loved ones telling them you will not be visiting them or answering phone calls until they take significant action in supporting black lives either through protest or financial contributions.[emphasis added]
Protection: To fellow black protesters who are at greater risk of harm during demonstrations.
Yes, these actions may seem grave. But you insist that you love me, and love requires sacrifice. Text messages are unlimited on most data plans. Emojis are not sacrificial.
Sexton quotes Quillette editor Jonathan Kay as pointing out in a tweet that this is exactly the sort of demand that cult leaders impose upon their followers:
"only ppl I've seen who demand that you cut off relationships with family are either religious nuts seeking to punish family apostates, gender crazies on tumblr videos telling autistic girls to cut off body parts & run away from home, Scientologists... And this author [i.e. Sanders]. All cults."
Sexton adds these observations:
Kay's not wrong. This is exactly the kind of thing Scientology does, requiring those inside the cult to cut themselves off from those outside, even close family members. In fact, in Scientology those on the inside are denounced for failing to distance themselves from friends and family who aren’t supportive.
Even apart from the cultic nature of this, it should strike people as obviously wrong. The author isn’t recommending an appeal based on reason or empathy, he jumps directly to emotional blackmail. It would have been one thing if he’d merely said, ‘talk to your friends about why this matters.’ But he’s gone beyond that to saying anyone who really cares should demand compliance.The creepiest part is his justification of this demand, i.e. “love requires sacrifice.” If you love me, you’ll sacrifice your relationship with your friends and parents.
This is the point at which adults should suddenly realize they’ve been asked to join a cult and should tell author Chad Sanders they aren’t interested in his “friendship.”Seriously, have any of your friends ever told you to cut yourself off from your own parents? What would you say to them if they tried it?
This author is so self-involved he doesn’t seem to spare a thought for anyone else. Imagine being an elderly parent or grandparent whose child calls to say that they’ve decided they can’t speak to you again unless you send money to Black Lives Matter or go out in the midst of a pandemic to join a march. The author doesn’t even hesitate.
He’s far more concerned about the vanishingly small possibility that he’ll be murdered (before his book comes out).
As horrid as all this sounds it's not all that unusual on the left. In fact, it's the way leftists have always viewed allegiance to their cause - absolute conformity to the party line or total excommunication.
It's very much the way twentieth century communist totalitarians treated "deviationists." No one was allowed to dissent in even the smallest degree from the doctrines handed down by the party elites on pain of banishment to Siberia or the firing squad. Indeed, the only thing that prevents contemporary leftists from destroying anyone who disagrees with them, whether family or former friends, is their lack, for now, of the power to do so.
Nevertheless, attempts to achieve "ideological purity" are all over university campuses and social media. No matter who you are, if you refuse to toe the line laid down by the bullies, you'll be fired, cancelled, censored, censured and turned into a pariah or non-person.
Parents, siblings and friends must either drink the ideological Kool-aid themselves or they're dead to those they love.
What an awful testimony to what happens to people when they make their ideology their religion.