There is not one white politician that even comes close to to this. Not one for many years.

[Luminous Animal]

From Shaun King quoting Bernie

https://www.facebook.com/shaunking/posts/985325834839668

"We are far from eradicating racism in this country. Today in America, if you are black, you can be killed for getting a pack of Skittles during a basketball game. Or murdered in your church while you are praying. This violence fills us with outrage, disgust and a deep, deep sadness. These hateful acts of violence amount to acts of terror. They are perpetrated by extremists who want to intimidate and terrorize black, brown and indigenous people in this country. It is an outrage that in these early years of the 21st century we are seeing intolerable acts of violence being perpetrated by police and racist acts of terrorism by white supremacists."

…..

"Millions of lives have been destroyed because people are in jail for nonviolent crimes. For decades, we have been engaged in a failed ‘War on Drugs’ with racially-biased mandatory minimums that punish people of color unfairly.

"It is an obscenity that we stigmatize so many young Americans with a criminal record for smoking marijuana, but not one major Wall Street executive has been prosecuted for causing the near collapse of our entire economy. This must change.

"If current trends continue, one in four black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during their lifetime. Blacks are imprisoned at six times the rate of whites, and a report by the Department of Justice found that blacks were three times more likely to be searched during a traffic stop, compared to white motorists. Together, African-Americans and Latinos comprised 57 percent of all prisoners in 2014, even though African-Americans and Latinos make up approximately one quarter of the US population.

"These outcomes are not reflective of increased crime by communities of color, but rather a disparity in enforcement and reporting mechanisms. African-Americans are twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police. This is an unspeakable tragedy."

https://www.facebook.com/shaunking/posts/985325834839668

[KeepItReal]

1. K&R

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. A big, fat K&R!

[Cali_Democrat]

3. I'm glad Bernie has had a change of heart from his 2014 position. nt

[jfern]

5. Has Bill Clinton had a change of heart from his 1992 position?

Which was you have to go execute a mentally retarded black man in the middle of a Presidential campaign?

[6chars]

13. What does Bill Clinton have to do with anything

He is not running for President

[azurnoir]

18. should Hillary win Bill will be back in the WH just as Hillary was when he was POTUS

I've read he referred to her as his co-president, think it'll be different now?

[Kentonio]

20. You mean except for when Hillary wants to claim credit for any positive parts of his Presidency?

It seems like an pretty good deal she has going. Anything positive is immediately linked to her, yet anything negative immediately triggers the 'Bill isn't the one running' line.

[Luminous Animal]

6. OoOhOhOhh. (Please tell)

[KeepItReal]

10. Actually, no you are not. Just throwin' shade with no context.

You do your cause no service.

[cui bono]

11. What's your point?

Besides disrupting with no substance?

.

[SwampG8r]

49. If he has a point

Its mitigated with haberdashery

[Eric J in MN]

19. Which 2014 position? NT

NT

[cali]

22. Hilly the dog whistler

[Autumn]

4. Thanks for posting this

Recommended

[beam me up scottie]

7. 1991: Bernie Sanders on Criminal Justice Reform

[senz]

14. "Let's not keep putting poor people in jail and disproportionately punishing Blacks!"

He was outraged! He was on fire! He was shouting at his fellow members of the House of Representatives!

When has Hillary ever spoken this way, aside from a primary campaign?

All those speeches she gave to the big banks, to Goldman Sachs, for hundreds of thousands of dollars -- did she ever say anything like this?

Which candidate genuinely cares about PoC and has always cared?

[Chitown Kev]

21. and then he voted for the crime bill 3 years later and look what happened

But all is not well in the Green Mountain State. With a population that's almost entirely white — 95.2%, according to 2014 Census estimates — and consists of just over 626,000 people, the brand of sequestered, small-scale liberalism that Vermont represents has rarely been tested by the strains of racial diversity. As such, a question arises: How does the state's progressivism apply across racial lines?

One answer lies in the numbers. According to data from Vermont's Department of Corrections, this liberal enclave has one of the most disproportionate rates of black incarceration in the country.

What does this mean? Black Vermonters make up just 1.2% of the state's general population, but 10.7% of its incarcerated population. Meaning that, proportionally, there are nearly 10 times more black people locked up in Vermont's jails and prisons on a given day than there are walking its streets.

Few in Vermont seem able to explain how this happened. The black incarceration rate grew faster than any other in the state between 1993 and 2007, before it leveled out and stayed relatively constant. But shortly before its peak, the Sentencing Project reported that Vermont had the second-highest black-to-white incarceration rate in America — topped only by Iowa, another state with a small black population.

http://mic.com/articles/124341/here-s-how-black-people-actually-fare-in-vermont-with-bernie-sanders-as-their-senator#.pX8cpQPLO

I know, I know, he voted for that bill for VAWA and the assault weapons ban but black folks in Vermont wound up being "collateral damage", I guess.

[jeff47]

24. So why should Sanders have voted against the Violence Against Women Act? (nt)

[Prism]

31. And they'd use that, too

Just imagine the meme that Bernie is ok with domestic violence against women if he had voted in the other direction.

[beam me up scottie]

36. Word.

[senz]

25. Responsible legislators make difficult decisions about imperfect legislation.

Bernie had problems with the bill but saw more good than bad in it. This is explained at feelthebern.org http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-criminal-justice/

Bernie admitted that “this is not a perfect bill”, but he understood that certain parts of the bill were tremendously important. In particular, Bernie was passionate about passing the Violence Against Women Act, one of the key provisions of the Crime Bill. Bernie said at the time, “I have a number of serious problems with the Crime Bill, but one part of it that I vigorously support is the Violence Against Women Act. We urgently need the $1.8 billion in this bill to combat the epidemic of violence against women on the streets and in the homes of America.”

Bernie did not write the bill, so he is not responsible for its flaws. When lawmakers wrap vital legislation into bad legislation, legislators have to make difficult choices. He spoke out against its flaws.

Rep. Sanders made the best choice he could with what was presented. If you had been a legislator, perhaps you might have voted differently, but then we could held that against you too, right? Sometimes there is no "perfect" choice.

Bernie Sanders is one of the most moral, intelligent, discriminating and responsible legislators we have. His judgment is, imo, about as close to perfect as you can find.

As for Vermont's problems: Bernie has never been governor of Vermont. Senators do not control the decisions made by state officials. You cannot hold him responsible for the laws and practices in Vermont. It doesn't work that way.

[Chitown Kev]

39. Understood

But if Hillary Clinton can't wash her hands of anything (and I don't think that she should be allowed to) then why should Bernie in this specific case?

[senz]

41. They are not equivalent.

Bernie voted on a bill that had a bad part and a good part. If he voted against the bad part of the bill, he would have had to throw out the Violence Against Women Act. His hands were tied, it's like being blackmailed. He made it clear how much he hated the bad part.

The two bills that are Hillary's biggest mistakes, the IWR and the Patriot Act, were not bifurcated. A vote in favor of either was a wholehearted "yes" vote.

Chitown Kev, your line of reasoning reminds me of the game of "Blemish" described in Eric Berne's Games People Play. It sounds like you're weighing the two candidates in terms of things that can be used against them, sort of a tit-for-tat comparison: "Well he's got this bad thing, but she's got that bad thing." We're not balancing people's mistakes. That would be silly. We're trying to figure out what the two candidates stand for, what they believe in, where they want to take the country. That's what's important.

The viewpoint you're presenting is microscopic. Try to look at the bigger picture.

[Chitown Kev]

42. Please stop

it's like being blackmailed

Russ Feingold voted no on the bill, as well, and I'm willing to bet that there won't be too many DUers calling Feingold a misogynist.

I completely get the murky part of the sausage-making of the rime bill and the ultimate result. You can't simply credit Bernie for voting for the good parts of the bills without taking the shit sandwich much of that bill was...and my criteria for judging candidates may not be yours.

(FTR, I don't support Clinton, either)

[senz]

45. Please stop?

I replied to your comment. That's how it works.

Have a nice one.

[virgogal]

28. Thanks for bringing out the truth about Vermont.

It's a picture postcard state.

[beam me up scottie]

32. And if he had voted against the Violence Against Women Act and assault weapons ban?

Hillary supporters would be calling him a misogynistic gun nut.

Oh wait, they already do.

And blaming Bernie for Vermont's incarceration rates is like blaming Hillary for New York's. He was a Vermont congressman and is now a US Senator, it's absurd to hold him responsible.

[Chitown Kev]

38. Hillary voted for the Iraq War

But she wasn't responsible for how that war was conducted (by and large)

And Clinton is excoriated (rightly, IMO) for that vote.

So why shouldn't the same standard be applied to Sanders w/r/t the crime bill vote and the repercussions of that vote in the state that he represents.

Especially when he had facts as to what the consequences might be (which Hillary may not have had in the case of the Iraq War)

[passiveporcupine]

16. This needs to go viral on facebook

I'm not a facebook user, but I hope someone here will do this.

thanks BMUS for posting this awesome youtube.

[beam me up scottie]

34. Another powerful video: THIS is why Bernie Sanders voted for the Violence Against Women Act:

[passiveporcupine]

40. Isn't he a wonderfully passionate man

The more I learn about him, the more amazing I find him to be.

Thanks for posting this BMUS! You are my star!

[senz]

46. Bernie cares.

[stage left]

29. +1

shared on facebook. For social justice yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

[beam me up scottie]

35. Thank you! Share this one too:

[stage left]

51. Glad to do so.

[The Roux Comes First]

8. Indeed

There is profiling, there is stigmatizing, and there is just that basic fear of the Other. "They" don't talk just like me. They move quite differently from me.

I only remember one AA in my high school in NE Seattle (1960's). He was a gifted athlete. (Go figure.)

My parents were mild-mannered progressives.

My upbringing did not involve any meaningful involvement with significant numbers of Afro-americans - or Asians or Hispanics, for that matter.

Way beyond that upbringing now, I have a wonderful multitude of cross-cultural and LGBT friendships But when it comes right down to it, lack of cross-cultural experience when I was young inevitably suggests that I will be fighting to overcome what amounts to a racial bias all my life.

[californiabernin]

9. He's the only one who tells it like it is, and he's got my vote! n/t

[avaistheone1]

12. K&R

[senz]

15. K&R for TRUTH.

[passiveporcupine]

17. Besides ending the war on drugs, one good thing about legalizing marijuana

would be the money they States will bring in to help their deficits and allow them to focus money on places we really need it, like education, helping the homeless, assistance for the poor. Infrastructure. And focus some of that money one harder drug treatment for the people we don't want to put in jail any more.

And Hillary is still against it.

[Warren DeMontague]

23. "The war on drugs is a failed policy"

Sanders has stated this, repeatedly, and called to end it.

Hillary wants to expand it, not end it.

[questionseverything]

37. this has not gotten nearly enough attention

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

27. Bernie's been meeting with the CampaignZero folks. I'm hoping he can come up with

a platform of concrete actions that are within the power of the Presidency to help address the points of the CampaignZero agenda that he will pledge to enact if elected.

[stage left]

30. K&Rnt

[snagglepuss]

33. k and r

[tblue37]

43. K&R. nt

[AzDar]

44. Bernie!!

[FrenchieCat]

48. So what is Bernie going to do about these issues?

It's great that he's saying what the problems are! That's great acknowledgment.

So now, here comes the hard part...since these problems have been identified for quite some time, and have been even written up in books… what is he proposing to do, that's within his power as president?

It's not like he can just write up a law that says OK all states, you guys have to stop doing what you're doing. The majority of The injustices done are in the various states.

So Since he's Identified the problems, now what? What's the master plan?

[SwampG8r]

50. Are you saying telling offenders to" cut it out!" wont work?