Demonstrators crashed the stage at progressive conference Netroots Nation to demand more people of color in leadership roles within the organization, and to involve people from “frontline” communities to create the programming, from what’s being taught in workshops and panels to the kinds of candidates who get considerable stage time in front of a national audience.

Throughout this year’s conference in New Orleans, organizers highlighted the predominance of people of color among its stages and panels, many of which addressed the dominance of white people in progressive groups and how activists can prevent the “white savior” mentality.

But protesters pointed to the conference’s undercurrent of people of color essentially being asked to volunteer their time to teach white progressives how to support the work already being done by people of color in communities of color, while emerging progressive groups often are reinventing the wheel of activism from a position of white comfort, unwilling to make a sacrifice.

https://www.theadvocate.com/gambit/new_orleans/news/article_a4163d18-9854-11e8-856f-e3a61894e18e.html