Bernie Sanders Still Has Work to Do With Black Voters

[Cali_Democrat]

Bernie Sanders Still Has Work to Do With Black Voters
By Suzy Khimm

If you had to explain in 60 seconds why Bernie Sanders remains a long shot to win the Democratic nomination, you could do worse than point to South Carolina, which will host a key primary in February that ushers in a string of Southern contests—and, on Friday night, was the setting for an MSNBC candidate forum. In the latest poll by Winthrop University, site of the forum, Sanders trails Hillary Clinton among South Carolina Democrats by a whopping 56-percent margin. The reason for the size of that gulf becomes clear when you drill down to the black voters who make up about 50 percent of the state’s Democratic turnout: Sanders has only 8 percent of black Democratic support in South Carolina, while Clinton has 80. The Vermont senator made a solid pitch to black voters on Friday night, but he largely stuck to his usual script; Clinton, in her turn, showed why it's going to be so tough to to wrest black voters away from her.

<...>

Right out of the gate, Maddow asked Sanders how he planned to win over black Democrats, pointing out that he comes from overwhelmingly white Vermont. More specifically, she pressed him: “Do you have enough real-world experience with the issues that racial minorities face to be able to convince African-American voters that in the South specifically?” Sanders responded with his old standby: He referenced his long history of fighting for racial justice, mentioned having marched with Martin Luther King Jr., but devoted the bulk of his answer to his core message of economic justice.

<..>

But on Friday, those issues too a back seat to populism. Sanders fundamentally believes that economic injustice is the issue behind all the other issues, and there was a strategic rationale for highlighting it on Friday: Many African Americans still say they simply don’t know who Bernie is or what he’s about. But Sanders needs to find more powerful ways to explain how his core priorities actually connect to black voters' broader concerns. On Friday, he did that on one key issue, voting rights, making the case that his vision of a “political revolution” is contingent on ensuring equal access to the ballot. “People who suppress the vote are political cowards and are undermining democracy,” he said, his voice rising with indignation. Sanders also got a nice parting gift from Maddow, who asked him to talk about an old photo of him in college, leading a protest against housing segregation. But it probably didn't escape the audience's attention that the image was from 1962.

Read more:

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123397/bernie-sanders-still-has-work-do-black-voters

[Armstead]

1. Yeah,Yeah yeah we know....

Clinton the Civil Rights Champion, Bernie the Nasty Old White Guy.

A lifetime fighting for economic justice and social justice doesn't mean shit.

[Cali_Democrat]

2. "Clinton the Civil Rights Champion, Bernie the Nasty Old White Guy."

Where are you reading that? That wasn't in the article.

[Armstead]

3. Just expressing frustration with the endless pounding of this meme

Sorry but when a guy who WAS putting himself in the line for civil rights in the 60's -- when he could have been kicking back and smoking pot at frat parties -- and has been fighting for economic and social justice ever since, is dismissed because he isn't a familiar brand name with a mixed record on such issues.....I get a little tired of it.

Just venting.

[Cali_Democrat]

4. Bernie is getting walloped when it comes to the black vote

80% to 8% according to the latest SC poll.

It's because he always pivots back to economic issues. Dylan Roof didn't ask the people in the church their yearly income before he shot them up. Trayvon Martin wasn't stalked and killed because he wasn't an investment banker. Much of the racism in America today has nothing to do with income inequality.

Bernie has no one to blame but himself for his poor polling with African Americans.

[BOSNYCDC]

10. Just out of curiosity

What, exactly, has HRC done to deserve her good polling numbers with Blacks?

She was my First Lady and I can't think of anything she/her husband did.

She was my Senator and nothing comes to mind.

She was my SOS and I'm still drawing blanks.

So if BS has no one to blame but himself, who, does HRC have to thank?

[Armstead]

12. So does Clinton, damn it all. Did you read her perscription for addressing AA issues the otehr day?

Much of what SHE said was needed to address the needs of AAs were like a carbon copy of what Sanders has said. Jobs, education, business oppotunities.

Bernie also addresses issues of justice, etc. and always has. Look at this fucking video from 1991, when most politicians were trying to see who could be tougher on crime and avoiding racism as an issue. Were the Clinton's pointing out that we were disproportionaly punishing blacks back then? Oh wait, that was around the time Bill was verbally beating up on political rap performers to distance himself from black radicals.

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And were the Clinton's the state chairs of the Jackson for President committee?

So those claims are FLAT OUT WRONG. Bernie has nothing to apologize for. Anyone who makes those claims is either misinformed and/or deliberately distorting his record and history and goals

[KingCharlemagne]

15. Hillary's husband, with his venomously titled 'Welfare Reform,' did more

To hurt black Americans than any other president in modern American history.

Please show me where HRC ever repudiated said 'reform.'

[beerandjesus]

9. Ha! Maybe it wasn't in the post you responded to, but it sure as hell came later....

Amazing how easy it is to see the shit coming, isn't it?


Incidentally, am I the only one who finds the whole narrative about how "the blacks just LOVE Hillary SO much!!" just a wee bit condescending toward African Americans?

[bravenak]

5. It's the way he talks that bugs me.

And his solutions are still primarily economic. For everything.

[Vattel]

6. Most voters don't have a clear picture of Sanders and Clinton's records on racial justice.

And black voters are no exception here. Plus, Clinton has been working hard to represent herself as a champion of racial justice in spite of her relatively weak record on issues of racial justice. And to make matters worse, Clinton has many powerful black allies and has a long relationship with various segments of the African American community.

It will be tough for Sanders to overcome these obstacles.

[Cheese Sandwich]

7. Not really. He just has to put his message out there.

If some black voters like it then great. If not then oh well, that's called democracy.

Bernie has been picking up some great and relevant support -->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017306779

[NorthCarolina]

8. You better have the party call

SC Dem headquarters because some Black Dem. SC State legislators were heard to say this:

“Sen. Sanders has the feel, the attitude of the common person, folks who are struggling day-by-day who are working everyday and still cannot pay their bills, ... do not have health insurance ... and cannot support their families,” SC State Rep. Terry Alexander said.

Apparently they are completely Off Message.... it's not about the 'economics'; sheesh

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251779571

[Cha]

11. But, he marched with Martin! the African Americans I've listened to aren't impressed by that.

[Armstead]

13. Well he's been on their side for 6o years. If people don't care, that's their problem

They ought to at least recognize the fact that he's been fighting for civil rights and social and economic justice for decades,
when the Clintons were trying to show how tough on crime they were, and verbally beating up on black radicals,

The fucking guy got arrested for organizing a protest against segregated housing fer Christ sake, and has never stopped fighting for justice.

[Cha]

14. Clinton spoke of the need for training school officials to defuse conflicts without violence,

but quickly pivoted to the racial dimension of school discipline, pointedly noting that "the suspension and expulsion rate is so much higher for black kids than for white kids.” Then she went into an impassioned plea to combat gun violence and to hold police officers, in particular, to a higher standard."

Thank you, Cali!

Bernie Sanders Still Has Work to Do With Black Voters

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123397/bernie-sanders-still-has-work-do-black-voters

[Armstead]

16. Just for curiousity how do you feel about school uniforms as the solution?

I know, since Hillary said it, it's absolutely correct.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/25/us/clinton-will-advise-schools-on-uniforms.html
NY Times 1996
In the name of putting "discipline and learning back in our schools" President Clinton instructed the Federal Education Department today to distribute manuals to the nation's 16,000 school districts advising them how they can legally enforce a school uniform policy.

"If it means that teen-agers will stop killing each other over designer jackets," the President said in his weekly radio address, "then our public schools should be able to require their students to require school uniforms."

By supporting measures like the school-uniform option, Mr. Clinton is trying to use the President's bully pulpit in this election year to articulate a moderate Democratic agenda that steps into the area of social issues that have long been the province of Republicans.

Mr. Clinton has put particular emphasis on issues affecting children and families in an effort to engage voters who see Washington's political debates as arcane and cut off from their own concerns. Such exhortations allow him to exert leadership without inaugurating new spending programs. And they borrow from the ideas of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has long put an emphasis on children, which Mr. Clinton acknowledged today in a rally outside the Jackie Robinson Academy, a Long Beach public school where students wear uniforms.

"For ten years, several times a year, before Long Beach finally took this groundbreaking step, the only person who ever talked to me about school uniforms was the First Lady," Mr. Clinton told a crowd of several thousand gathered on a brilliant sunny day.

After visiting a school, he said, Mrs. Clinton "would say, 'You know, if we had a uniform policy, it would make things better in this school.' I heard it over and over and over again," he recalled, "and, thanks to you, I have to live with 'I told you so.' "

[Cha]

17. If you had to explain in 60 seconds why Bernie Sanders remains a long shot to win the Democratic

nomination, you could do worse than point to South Carolina.."

Cali!

[DCBob]

18. Sanders is at a big disadvantage being who he is and where he is from.

It may not be fair but many cant imagine how an old white jewish guy from a pearly white rural state can possibly understand the plight of black folks in the inner city or the south.

That's the hill he has to climb... and so far it looks like he's made zero progress.