Fmr. NAACP Head Ben Jealous Endorses Sanders, Most Consistent Tackling Racism, Militarism, Greed

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Feb. 9, Democracy Now! Program interview.

-Ex-NAACP Head Ben Jealous: Sanders is Most Consistent Candidate Tackling Racism, Militarism & Greed-

Likening him to Jesse Jackson in the 1980s, former NAACP President Benjamin Jealous praises Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for consistently addressing the issues that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. referred to as the "giant triplets of evil"—racism, militarism and greed. We speak to Jealous in North Carolina. He was just in South Carolina campaigning for Sanders ahead of that state’s primary.

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: Ben Jealous is also with us. He’s from North—he’s in North Carolina right now, and he was just recently in New Hampshire. Ben, you came out last week and endorsed Bernie Sanders. Why?

BENJAMIN JEALOUS: You know, look, I looked at his record. And for the same reasons that I supported Jesse Jackson in 1988—which Bernie did, too—when I was 15 years old, I signed up for Bernie this time, which is that on the issues that Dr. Martin Luther King referred to as the "giant triplets of evil"—racism, militarism and greed—Bernie is the clearest and the most consistent.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Ben, what about this—the whole issue—obviously, there’s been a lot of attention drawn to the fact that Bernie Sanders so far has very little support in the African-American and Latino community in most of the polls, and very few major African-American leaders or Latino leaders have come out to support him. Keith Ellison of Minnesota has, and Raúl Grijalva of Arizona. But your decision to support him, and why—what you think the impact will be in terms of the African-American and Latino community as we get into the states that have many more African-American and Latino voters?

BENJAMIN JEALOUS: Well, look, we’ve already begun to see people switch down in South Carolina. Justin Bamberg, a state rep, switched from Hillary to Bernie. We will see many more. I was meeting with folks last weekend. People are very excited. And what’s happening is people are starting to tune in. And the reality is, because of their long history of connection to the black community, especially in the South, with Bill Clinton being the former governor of Arkansas, you know, they have built up a lot of loyalty and a lot of friends. But black voters, we take our votes extremely seriously. They come—you know, we earned them. If it wasn’t us personally, it was our parents or grandparents. And what you’ll see is that now that he’s seen as a top-tier contender, we’ll find that candidate Clinton has hit her high watermark. She will begin to lose support. How fast and how much remains to be seen.

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/2/9/ex_naacp_head_ben_jealous_sanders

Wiki, Ben Jealous
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Jealous

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1. Poor Ben.

It'll be under the bus with him now.

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2. Some negative response. Ben Jealous is seeing what many do in Bernie Sanders

and is a person of convictions with credentials and accomplishments. He knows what he's doing, and will be fine. If you've been following, many people of all backgrounds, including African Americans and Latinos, from regular folks to well known public figures who support Sanders are rapidly growing in number. Harry Belafonte for example. You think he's going to be thrown under the bus? And lawyer and activist Michelle Alexander too? FTLOG.

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3. Yup, by Hillary supporters.

They'll all go under the bus, and it will be claimed that they don't 'really' represent black people, no matter who they are, or what their history is. That's been the standard line any time any black person supports Bernie instead of Hillary.

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4. The Clinton Era is over, haven't you heard? Ben joins legions who are willing

to begin the effort of moving this country out of the decline and mire of 30 years. And he's in good company. Why are you worried about his standing with Clinton whose campaign has been crashing rapidly. You don't think Ben is aware of what's at stake like so many others? And would you prefer he not endorse Bernie?

Black people lived, suffered, worked and rose long before 'The Clintons', and will continue . You know, Phyllis Wheatley, Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Dubois, Paul Robeson, Martin Luther King Jr., A. Phillip Randolph, Ron Dellums, Doug Wilder, Danny Glover, Nina Turner, Killer Mike and many more.

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5. Black intellect & writer Ta-Nahesi Coates just said he'll vote Bernie. Another one 'under the bus'?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511190744