BLM Matters

BLM in the Intermountain West: Well, it’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), for one thing. The appropriation of that acronym to mean anything else is a source of confusion in the intermountain west where the non-white population is mostly Hispanics, not African-American.

Consider the last land-use meeting regarding grazing rights I attended. This was down near St George, Utah. Bundys were all there, sporting their firepower. MAGA hats and all. They’re gonna go bat-shit crazy when those BLM guys show up and propose restricting their grazing rights on the public’s land-BLM managed land-Your land.

Bundys think it’s their land. Bundys ain’t no BLM fans.

There’s a troupe of Black Lives Matter artists passing through St George, traveling from their Salt Lake City gig back to Vegas. Their bus breaks down just outside the venue where the land-use meetings were soon to be underway. I pulled alongside their disabled bus, and said, “Hi, I’m the mayor of St George . The city will fix your bus if you’d take the time to address the crowd in that venue.”

But of course I’m not the mayor. I’m just an itinerant cowboy looking to stir up trouble. These guys asked for no credentials. Just said okay. So naive.

Coincidentally, the BLM staff were running late, having hit a moose a few miles from the venue.

The Black Lives Matter group walks into the venue, crossing the stage waving a BLM banner and shouting “I can’t breathe! Take your knee off my neck!”

A few in the audience cheer, albeit weakly. They understand the references.

But the Bundy segment goes apoleptic. “Exactly, Exactly. We’re with you. So glad you BLM folks finally see our view. Get the government off our neck!

BLM troupe gathers center stage and sings “Do you want change? We want it too. What’s it gonna take to see this thing through?” Then: “No more lives! No more boundaries!”

I almost can’t breathe, I’m laughing so hard sitting in the last row of the venue.

Bundy boys are just astounded that the BLM is even offering to negotiate, let alone agree with them. They brandish their arms, shout ‘No more boundaries!’ and break into song ‘‘This land is my land, used be your land, BLM land. This land was made for me” They are a little confused as to why so many of the BLM group are non-white. They chalk it up as an undesirable result of equal rights bullshit being spread by the lamestream media.

Meanwhile, the BLM troupe is concluding that this venue may not be what they thought it was. Edging offstage,their leader calls out to the audience, “We need to revise our agenda. Be right back.”

I pull up along side their bus and offer them a ride to a hotel. I see the BLM van pull into the venue’s parking lot in my rearview mirror.

Be interesting to see what transpires when those boys take the stage.

Think I’ll pass on that. I’m just an itinerant cowboy who’s learned not to stay for endings.