Sanders to visit Mississippi for anniversary of MLK assassination

[Hassin Bin Sober]

Sanders to visit Mississippi for anniversary of MLK assassination

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/380734-sanders-to-visit-mississippi-to-commemorate-anniversary-of-mlks-assassination

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will speak next week at an event in Jackson, Miss., to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The Clarion Ledger reported Wednesday that Sanders will join Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba for a town hall-style event on April 4. The gathering is titled “Examining Economic Justice 50 Years Later.”

Sanders hosted a digital town hall meeting last week focused on economic inequality. Sanders's event, titled “Inequality in America: The Rise of Oligarchy and Collapse of the Middle Class," was streamed live on Monday and drew 1.7 million viewers, HuffPost reported.

[MineralMan]

1. Why Not "Examining Racial Justice 50 Years Later?"

That has still not been achieved, as witnessed by the killing by police of a young black man in his grandmother's backyard in California. I'd think economics were secondary to the basic right not to be killed for the color of your skin.

But, what do I know? I hold no elected office.

[NurseJackie]

2. He seems to be stuck in a rut and unable to change or adjust.

I'd think economics were secondary to the basic right not to be killed for the color of your skin.

Many people agree with you. Including myself.

[MineralMan]

24. Thanks. I heard MLK give his "How long?"

Speech in person in 1965. There was always an economic element in his speeches, but that was not his main thrust. Racial equality was.

I know I'm not alone in thinking that is still a core issue.

[Hortensis]

95. "It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle

to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America." ~ Molly Ivins

Virtually all of our thousands of Democratic leaders will be marking this anniversary by attending and speaking around the nation. Of course.

Liberals are the ones who believe in equality in their guts; it's a key characteristic of liberal personality. Liberals enshrined it in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution over two centuries ago, liberals have fought continually to keep it alive and progressing ever since, and today liberals continue the march of progress toward true equality, mostly through the Democratic Party.

[guillaumeb]

29. See #7

[NurseJackie]

31. See #2

[Docreed2003]

55. The only...and I mean ONLY positive thing I can say

Is King did die while fighting for workers rights in Memphis and he did speak to economic equality frequently...that being said, I can't take Sanders seriously when it comes to the topic of Civil Rights. I've stated my reasons why previously, it was extremely eye opening to me I'll just leave it at that!

[NurseJackie]

60. Many people agree with you and share your opinions.

I've stated my reasons why previously, it was extremely eye opening to me I'll just leave it at that!

I listen, I read, and there are many sound and well-considered and justifiable reasons that POC have rejected him and his political agenda. And, like you, I'll just leave-it-at-that ... for obvious reasons.

[Docreed2003]

67. Thanks NJ!

[GulfCoast66]

141. Many white southern liberals totally agree.

I learned from my dad that the racist in our part of the country kept whites who disagreed with Jim Crow silent. There may not have been many, but there were some.

No amount of ‘economic justice’ will overcome the systemic racism that still exists, if somewhat disguised. It must be confronted head on and Trump is just the latest reaction of supporters of systemic racism to the fight for justice. There have been some before him and will be some after him.

[progressoid]

10. Memphis Sanitation Strike. That's why King was there!

King was there to support the sanitation workers' strike for economic equality.

But, what do I know? I hold no elected office.

Here, LMGTFY...

http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_memphis_sanitation_workers_strike_1968/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_sanitation_strike

[EffieBlack]

33. He was there to support the BLACK sanitation workers' strike for racial justice, of which economic

equality was only one part.

This was not a strike by all sanitation workers in one class fighting to eliminate class divisions and economic barriers. This was a strike by the black workers who, although in the same economic class as white workers, were treated unequally - in fact, they were treated like little more than animals while their white counterparts were not only paid more, but worked under considerably better conditions.

From your Wikipedia link: "Following years of poor pay and dangerous working conditions, and provoked by the crushing to death of workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker in garbage compactors, over 700 of the 1300 black sanitation workers met on Sunday, February 11, and agreed to strike ... Memphis sanitation workers were mostly black. They enjoyed few of the protections that other workers had; their pay was low and they could be fired (usually by white supervisors) without warning. In 1968, these workers were earning between $1.60 and $1.90 an hour. In addition to their sanitation work, often including unpaid overtime, many worked other jobs or appealed to welfare and public housing."

This perfectly illustrates one of the problems with Sanders' obsession with economic and class equality - he leaves out too much of the reality of the racial divisions WITHIN economic classes that continue to plague African Americans and won't be solved by simply removing barriers between the classes.

[progressoid]

51. Well, maybe Mayor Lumumba will set him straight.

I wonder if the mayor even knows how clueless Sanders is.

[EffieBlack]

53. If Bernie displays the same ignorance about Dr. King that you and some others have, Im sure he will

And if he says anything as historically inaccurate and frankly, ridiculous as claiming the sanitation strike wasn’t about economic justice and workers rights, but not civil rights, he’ll probably be laughed off the stage.

And, here’s a suggestion - when you’re in a discussion on race and civil rights, conjuring up a black person you think agrees with you - in your case, Mayor Lumumba - does nothing to help your case and is not far from saying you have a black friend. All black people don’t think alike and the fact that one black person may agree with you is not proof that what other black people are telling you is incorrect.

[progressoid]

61. Well thanks for setting ME straight.

At Easter dinner we generally try to avoid talking about hot topics. However, we are celebrating a couple birthdays the night before so if you have any suggestions for race relations, I'd welcome them because we have a mixture that could be volatile. Of the 13 of us gathering, only four of us will be Black though. There is a firefighter, a cook, an 8 yr old student, and someone from Zimbabwe. She wants to study medicine here, then return to her "shithole" country. My republican Mother-in-law is sponsoring her, but acceptance to school has been held up because the Trump administration is inept and she can't get her student visa.
Let's see...there will also be one octogenarian Japanese American. She's a big time Trump supporter.
The rest are boring White people (widow, teacher, retired teacher, psychiatrist, retired chef, photographer, auditor and a csr) - the auditor is also from France if that matters. They run the gamut from super-liberal leftist to old school republican.

So, how should I handle the evening? I want to talk about Robert Mugabe but my wife says to stick to the weather.

[EffieBlack]

65. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for THAT dinner!

Or better yet, can you just set an extra place? I don't eat much ...

Seriously, thanks for asking my opinion. My first reaction is to suggest that YOU not bring anything up about race but let the conversation unfold and encourage the guests to tell their own stories about what's going on in their lives. People are much more receptive to sensitive conversations about race once they've heard a real-life story about real people told, not in the context of race, but just as a person.

For example, if your friend from Zimbabwe talks about the difficulties she's having, the other guests - hopefully - will have some empathy. She won't be an "other," a faceless "illegal," but a smart, sweet young woman whom they're getting to know because she's sitting across from them.

And then, as the conversation continues, perhaps you - or maybe someone else will do it before you - can gently introduce the topic. The best way to do that, in my view, is to ask questions, not make any statements or offer any opinion. Asking the right questions can elicit information while encouraging everyone else to think about their own answers. This can lead to some very interesting conversations that people feel comfortable in because they've voluntarily and respectfully entered a space they helped to create instead of being dragged into what may feel like a trap set by someone else.

Does that make sense?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

102. That's kinda how I imagined the town hall referenced in the op would unfold.

Maybe we should all watch and see.

[EffieBlack]

106. If Bernie listens quietly while other people talk, asks good questions

intended to encourage others to share their views and then deftly guides an insightful discussion on race, I will applaud him.

I will also be shocked.

[Docreed2003]

66. This!!

While the sanitation workers were rightfully the focus of that strike, many people don't realize that janitors and housekeepers in hospitals and hotels went on strike as well. I lived in Memphis for four years and one of my most beloved mentors was a medical student in 68 and he said the most eye opening and humbling experience of his life was seeing the effect of no housekeeping in the hospital, namely because after 24hrs the medical students were tasked with that job. As liberal as this physician was, it took that act for him to see the impact of the work of people he likely had never given a second thought to.

[EffieBlack]

148. Wow - what an interesting story! Thanks for sharing it! nt

[Docreed2003]

160. Thanks!!!

And my wife and I will be in Memphis next week for the memorial!! #whyaintsandersinmemphis. (Shoooo...don't tell nobody cause we already know!!!)

[GulfCoast66]

142. They were striking against a system that went back to slavery

Read up more in the Memphis situation. Blacks held a long established role that often killed them and paid them peanuts compared to what white workers made.

Racism was the be-all and end-all of that strike.

All this BS about MLK switching from race to economics is just an effort after his death to minimize his message and goal.

He started pointing out racial inequalities in the North and many of the good Northern White Liberals began to question him. As they often have when it is pointed out that institutional racism is not a Southern thing, but as American thing.

[EffieBlack]

149. THANK you!

[Nevernose]

43. Wikipedia

The Poor People's Campaign, or Poor People's March on Washington, was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for poor people in the United States. It was organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and carried out under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy in the wake of King's assassination.

The Poor People’s Campaign was motivated by a desire for economic justice: the idea that all people should have what they need to live. King and the SCLC shifted their focus to these issues after observing that gains in civil rights had not improved the material conditions of life for many African Americans. The Poor People’s Campaign was a multiracial effort—including African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Native Americans—aimed at alleviating poverty regardless of race.[1][2]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People's_Campaign

Sadly, the person best able to answer your question was murdered fifty years ago, and he was murdered during a period of organizing for economic justice. He hadn’t given up on racial justice (nor have most of us), but he was one of the first I know of to bring the intersectionality to the forefront of public debate. The two are irrevocably interrelated. Economics is the whole point of racism.

There is room for both approaches to justice: both the specific and the broad.

Zinn’s hypothesis, which I adhere to, was that American racism was intentionally invented, by wealthy whites, primarily to create a division between poor whites and poor blacks. If Trump voters realized how much they had in common with minorities and immigrants and Muslims — and how little they had in common with Trump and the one percent — we would be living in a whole other society tomorrow.

[Docreed2003]

62. Excellent post...and I agree with you and Zinn on this

[GulfCoast66]

144. Your last paragraph is just ridiculous

Like these poor southern racist are children who we can show the light and move into the promised land of economic justice.

Those espousing the divide the poor theory forget that all people have agency and the poor whites were indeed better off than slaves and often were able to eventually buy their own. And that generation of researchers was overly influenced by the work of Marx and others that all divisions are based in economics.

I grew up surrounded by these people and still live amongst them. When I was a boy middle class southern families often had black maids who came in and cleaned. When my dad was a boy, all middle class southern families had that ability. Hell, even my farmer white maternal grandfather could afford to have blacks come in and pick his 40 acres of Cotten.

This is the class that fled the Democratic Party in the 50s and 60s. I saw it happen. My dad more than me.

They lost the economic advantage and privlage institutional racism gave them. And fled the party that removed that advantage.

Treating them like victims is just more white privileged Bullshit. Which the whole ‘rich divide the poor whites and blacks’ is about.

[EffieBlack]

150. Your posts are always awesome, but this one's a real keeper!

[betsuni]

152. +1

[EffieBlack]

151. You assume that Trump voters don't know what they have in common with whom

They have plenty in common with minorities, immigrants and Muslims from an economic perspective - but they also have plenty in common with Trump and his crowd, including their support for a social construct that allows them to be superior to other groups. And they have chosen the latter because that is more important to them.

That's why the "we need to help them understand that they're voting against their interests" approach is ridiculous. They may be voting against their economic interests, but they have other interests that take priority and they are voting fully in keeping with those by voting for people and a party that advance those interests for them. They're not clueless victims of an oligarchy who will join forces with minorities if only they understand how much they have in common with them. They know what they're doing.

[BeyondGeography]

52. You think Bernie is telling the Mayor of Jackson what his focus should be?

[kstewart33]

3. Geez Louise.

Economic injustice is a huge issue, but Bernie needs to expand his repertoire to have a chance in the 2020 primaries. He's passed up a great opportunity here.

[BoneyardDem]

4. *yawn*

people are still pushing this man?

It's interesting how many people have moved on. Even more interesting is the small vocal group that are trying so very very hard to keep Bernie relevant.

[Blue_true]

5. Sort like a broken record.

Bernie takes an event that is about a fight against appalling racial injustice and makes it about what he wants to talk about. In the Mississippi that a young MLK came to, black peoples stood a good chance of losing their lives for simply saying one cross word to a white person.

It was not until the gross humiliation of Jim Crow had been rolled back that Doctor King started looking at wages for working people, but Bernie seems intent to make Dr King's entire like about that.

[progressoid]

7. uh...you know why King was in Memphis right?

The Memphis sanitation workers strike was about economic injustice and...oh here, let's just let Dr. King say it,

"The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers. Now, we've got to keep attention on that. That's always the problem with a little violence. You know what happened the other day, and the press dealt only with the window-breaking. I read the articles. They very seldom got around to mentioning the fact that one thousand, three hundred sanitation workers were on strike, and that Memphis is not being fair to them, and that Mayor Loeb is in dire need of a doctor. They didn't get around to that.

Now we're going to march again, and we've got to march again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be. And force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God's children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out. That's the issue. And we've got to say to the nation: we know it's coming out. For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.

[Blue_true]

12. Did you even read what I wrote.

Or did you just have to clap back at the critique of Bernie? In the last few years of his life, after passage of the civil rights act, Doctor King moved toward working to fights against low pay for low wage workers, who at that time were overwhelmingly Black. He was in Memphis to lead a protest against low pay for garbage collection workers.

I'm main point in my post stand, Bernie took the activities of a man who started fighting against grotesque racial injustice in the late fifties when doing so could have gotten him killed and made a discussion of the man's life focus on a topic that Bernie stump speaks on constantly. I am not saying that the issues that Bernie wants to talk about are not important, it is just that he seem to have a habit of making anything that he participates in, invited and not invited, about only what he wants to talk about.

[progressoid]

16. Indeed. No one is denying Dr King's civil rights work.

However, in this case, King's focus was economic injustices and worker's rights. It seems entirely normal that Sanders would speak about this since, as everyone here keeps harping about, it's his only talking point. Now, if Sanders had shown up at a #metoo rally to talk about the economy, THAT would have been a reason to whine about him.

[Blue_true]

18. Doctor King in Mississippi was about fighting grotesque racial injustice.

If Bernie had gone to Memphis, where there almost is going to be a gathering to mark the 50th anniversary of Doctor King's death, then I could see him being there because Doctor King was there fighting for fair pay for garbage workers when he was murdered by a racist who killed Doctor King for his fight against racial injustice. But Bernie chooses to go and sit beside a mayor who is an Our Revolution member, at an event that likely will commemorate Doctor King's fight against horrid official racism, instead of going to Memphis and sitting with a regular democratic mayor at an event that should highlight what Doctor King was in the city fighting for on the day he was killed. Bernie seems, to me, to be about phrasing appearances in a way that conforms to what Bernie wants to discuss, that frankly bothers me.

[JCanete]

30. which has a huge economic component and King knew that full well.

[Blue_true]

32. No one disputes the connection of race and pay.

But Doctor King's activities in Mississippi were about gross racial injustices such as lynchings and denial of fundamental human rights. During those days, Blacks in Mississippi had more concern about staying alive than whether they earned what white peoples earned. I would hope that Bernie honors that instead of launching into lectures about big banks and oligarchs. Maybe it is just me, but to hear Bernie speak once is to hear him always speak, he seems to be narrowly focused in a world of many issues that need to be solved.

[JCanete]

36. I disagree that that is a narrow focus, because so much depends on it. It isn't everything, but it

is the core of everything. It is what makes it impossible to educate people correctly. It is what makes it easy to scapegoat a marginalized group for other's suffering and to continue to cause that suffering with relative impunity. It is, just as 1 recent example, why we have legislation(Bipartisan!) that among other things, strips out the auditing that has previously been used to show unequal lending practices to people of color, for which some banks have actually been fined in the past, but will not be in the future.

Nothing else changes for long if you don't change the economic situation that has consolidated so much wealth into so few hands, all of which benefit from us at the bottom tearing each other's faces off. That's why there's a fox news. You think the point is racial purity or something? Its about the money. Its about the tax cuts that just came in. Race baiting is just a means of achieving that.

Hell, why was it so important that we believe black people were inferior in the first place? because people wanted to keep them in chains and to have them continue to do their free labor. Now they want to continue to exploit them(everybody really, but when you are at the margins of the public's attention or caring you are easy pickings), with predatory lending practices and every other underhanded tactic in the book to pocket their hard earned wealth. Which is why, even if a few years ago, people of color had more money in their pockets, they had no more assets...no more inheritable wealth.

Tell you what, why don't you name an issue that isn't on some level ultimately about money? Why are cops so badly trained when it comes to what their job is supposed to be? Because that aint their job.... their job is to protect the assets of the wealthy. Of course that isn't explicitly stated nor do I think most cops are even aware of this, but ultimately, it is who their superiors answer to that informs their policing. So it often looks like keeping people in their place, harassing people(or worse) when they look like they don't belong...etc.

[EffieBlack]

42. You're right that racial injustice is sometimes based on the desire for economic superiority

But Bernie's approach completely ignores the intra-class nature of much of that dynamic. He behaves as if all lower middle-income people have the same interest - to remove the barriers to getting into the middle class and all middle class people have the same interest in moving from the middle to the upper class. And if the upper classes stopped blocking the lower classes, everyone could move up together.

However, that's bull. While the main impediment to white lower/working class moving up may be the class above them refusing to let them in, the black lower/working class also has to fight their white counterparts, many of whom do their best to keep their boots on their necks and benefit from the racial injustice within the class. So pretending that if everyone just worked together to remove the barriers to upward mobility, the race issue would take care of itself not only ignores history, it ignores what's happening right in our faces today.

Bernie's approach is absolutely tone-deaf. And it's even more frustrating that he and so many of his supporters refuse to listen to black people who try to tell him that. I got tired years ago of being lectured to by Bernie et al about how we just don't understand the REAL problem when we live it every day. His attitude smacks of white entitlement and more than a tinge of superiority.

This very thread, in which folks keep trying to teach us about what Martin Luther King REALLY stood for - as if we don't know - is not only annoying but it's almost funny in how wrong some of the claims are (such as Dr. King wasn't in Memphis to fight for racial justice but for economic justice - when he was there to support a strike by BLACK sanitation workers who were protesting how badly they were treated by their white co-workers and superiors.)

[JCanete]

44. Effie, you never addressed my point the last time we had this conversation. I assure you I'm

listening, but unless I tell you where I am with my understanding of MLK etc. then how are you going to educate me on how I'm wrong? That approach makes no sense. Besides that, we have different insights based upon our different experiences. You are perfectly content speaking about what racism is and why white people are racist, and yet that could not be your experience personally. While it certainly doesn't reflect me in most respects, I have done a lot of evolving on these issues over time, so I can see why certain incorrect and poisonous messaging might be seductive even to those who do not think they countenance racism or a notion of one race being genetically superior, etc.

Obviously I disagree that Sanders approach is tone deaf, and frankly, I do not see how you undercut my point by saying that people will continue to try to keep their boot on the necks of people of color to prevent them from having what they have. That is because we haven't changed the narrative. Of course they are going to do that and of course the powers that be are going to feed that animosity because it says "look down, in that direction is your problem." Please tell me how telling people to look up at their real problem is not at least on some level doing the work to help dismantle these impulses?

By the way, it is just as frustrating to me that people continue to mischaracterize the argument, and you mine here, by saying that I think this magically solves everytihng. That this is the only issue. It isn't. It is THE issue that makes solving the other issues impossible. Absolutely impossible, if this issue is not addressed. Nor would I for a second, lest this also get misconstrued, suggest that people of color and any other marginalized demographics set their issues aside and join in this fight. That is neithe recessary, nor respectful of history. Nor does Sanders suggest these issues be set aside. If you think certain language is unhelpful that is your legitimate beef, but nothing about the policies he espouses turns a blind eye to racial injustice. Nor does he shy away from it.

Yes, he tries to appeal to people's better nature by not calling them horrible bigots out the gate. Do you think any work can be done if you start from that premise with people? Or do you really think that one day these racists are just going to be outnumbered?

That just isn't the way it works. There is plenty of prejudice to be exploited within every community and it will be exploited...somebody will be the target, maybe the same target... because it will continue to be profitable to make people other. And if we do not deal with this vast wealth disparity that funds these machines of propaganda and buys our government, it will continue to effectively distract and confuse people from the issues most directly causing them harm.

I am merely saying take one element out of the equation. Point to a more appropriate villain. Point to the potential spoils of war if people take up a class war against them. Then see if you can't just start chipping away at the margins of those racist enclaves of communal thought, because the old prejudices will be shown to have less present value. They will be shown to be the ruse, the con. They won't get people what they need. They will stand in the way of getting people what they need because they will need the people they thought they hated to get it. It is nothing but a start.

what do you propose that could possibly work better?

[progressoid]

49. +1

[Blue_true]

63. The problem is that you are reverse conflating the issue.

If a person has little to no access to a job, economic parity is somewhat irrelevant. Dr. King fought in Mississippi to prevent the state and state supported groups like the KKK from outright killing anyone that asked for a job that was not "suitable" for them. Today, when a black person is denied a job that he or she is more than qualified and equal employment opportunity "procedures" are followed, though there was no intention to hire the person, economic fairness is irrelevant, the black person is screwed period. Like Effie pointed out, Bernie seem to assume that there is no race based favoritism in the system, or if he does believe it, the fact that it is there does not change his approach, which if brought to fruition will leave POC behind in a lot of cases.

Here on DU, I see people wax romantically about how great the New Deal was, the New Deal left out anyone that could not pass for white, totally left them out. If we have a second New Deal without finally addressing the racial inequities in our system, POC will again be left behind, even as poor and middleclass whites are elevated. I have seen nothing from Bernie that says that he understands that problem and has solutions that will work.

[JCanete]

94. when did Sanders assume that? Are you serious? You have got to show me where he made that assumption

I bet you dollars to donuts I could easily show you the opposite is true. That statement smacks of somebody who actually does not listen to the man and never has.

As to the New Deal's short-comings, I have no argument with that at all. That cannot be the way we do this going forward. We should not run away from the question of inequitable hiring practices, incarceration etc. and if we do we will not fix anything at all. Those are all part of the very story Sanders is telling. They are not separate from it. Did you tune into the recent town hall they had? I assure you this was an issue that was talked about at length.

[Docreed2003]

64. Exactly...Sanders should be going to Memphis

He won't and isn't, but if he really wanted to engage with the black communities of this country he would...#Buthemarchedwithmlk

[KPN]

77. Was Bernie invited to Memphis for that

event?

[EffieBlack]

38. You are just flat out wrong

Dr. King was in Memphis to fight for racial justice for the Black sanitation workers. Economic injustice and workers' rights were secondary to the larger issue. Black sanitation workers were treated horribly. They were paid less than their white co-workers and had to work under horrible conditions, far worse than the white workers were subjected to. Among other things, the black workers weren't allowed to take shelter inside with the white workers when it rained, but were forced to stay outside while the white workers went inside to stay dry. Two black workers tried to get out of a driving rainstorm by taking shelter in the back of a sanitation truck - and were crushed to death by the truck compactor. The city refused to pay their families any compensation. THAT was the last straw and led to the strike by the sanitation workers.

So, please don't rewrite history to try to wedge it into Bernie's narrow, revisionist "economic justice" narrative. Yes, economic justice was at play, but this was about far more than trying to get the workers higher wages. This was a fight for racial equality and dignity.

[Eliot Rosewater]

76. Are white people lecturing black people again about MLK?

[EffieBlack]

37. Yes-and it should be emphasized he was fighting for racial justice for black sanitation workers

This was a strike by the black workers protesting racial injustice, that included economic unfairness. But the white workers did not participate in the strike.

[lunasun]

28. Wonder why thier pay was economically unjust ?

?w=655
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_sanitation_strike

[Eliot Rosewater]

86. No you dont, you know exactly why. And the issue could get resolved quicker if

a certain group of people would stop lecturing black people about MLK.

Great pic, btw

[EffieBlack]

34. Yes, I know. But it sounds like you don't. He was there to fight RACIAL injustice.

Dr. King was talking about a strike of BLACK sanitation workers. This was not a strike by all workers for economic equality. It was a strike by the BLACK workers fighting for racial equality with white workers in their class.

[Blue_true]

68. Ok. I read your longer post, it gave a detailed litany of why Doctor King was in Memphis.

I was ignorant of the basic nature of why Dr. King came to Memphis, but I stand by my assertion that Bernie making economic justice the core aspiration of Dr. King's life and work is dead wrong and only serves Bernie's interests. Dr. King first went to Mississippi and Alabama to fight gross violations of Black people's human rights. Was there an economic component to that, yes, there always is, but the basic mission was to stop the killing of and daily brutally against Black peoples.

[EffieBlack]

81. Did you mean to direct this to me?

[Blue_true]

91. Yes, maybe you misposted to me earlier.

I had become ignorant to why Dr. King was in Memphis when he was killed. But you longest post laid out beautifully why he was there.
There are lots of good people on DU, but some get the issue of racial justice and economic justice wrong when applying the concept of economic justice to African Americans, I think Bernie count among people that has it all mixed up. If people don't have full racial justice, economic justice is a bitter-sweet pill at best.

[EffieBlack]

93. Gotcha

[Me.]

27. Stephon Clark Would Agree With You

It continues to this day as the bodies still pile up.

[leftstreet]

6. MLK's fight for economic justice was almost ignored by the media

As he shifted toward economic justice for all people, the media turned away



DURec

[Exotica]

9. Martin Luther King Jr.: The Economic Problem Is the Most Serious Problem

In February, 1968, Harry Belafonte hosted "The Tonight Show" and brought politics and activism into America's living rooms. In this clip, Martin Luther King Jr. talks to Belafonte about what is needed to achieve true civil rights.

[progressoid]

17. Yep. n/t

[Exotica]

21. MLK got double-tapped once he started to threaten the MIC and the systemic econ controllers

a staggeringly vital speech

Martin Luther King, Jr.,’s Searing Antiwar Speech, Fifty Years Later

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/martin-luther-king-jr-s-searing-antiwar-speech-fifty-years-later

[G_j]

71. everyone should hear this speech

[NCTraveler]

13. They didnt turn away.

They started focusing on black leaders with more aggressive approaches.

[leftstreet]

19. Well that's certainly true

[Blue_true]

20. Exactly, Heuy P. Newton, Angela Davis, the Black Panthers

were reaching the zenith of their protest in the years immediately before and after the civil rights act was passed, they loudly proclaimed that people like Doctor King, Farmer, Ralph Bunch were selling out black people for not demanding more aggressive remedies to past injustices. The media loves to cover hot protests instead of someone sitting down with political leaders to discuss low wages, or leading a protest of marginalized workers in support of higher wages.

[Blue_true]

14. The fight against grotesque racial injustice was much, much bigger.

Honestly, economic justice was not a hot button topic in the sixties, although it should have been. The media focuses on hot topics or trainwreck, that is why Trump's campaign, tweets and chaotic White House gets so much attention from the media.

[LexVegas]

8. I aint fooled. nt

[grantcart]

83. I wonder if we are going to be updated on his dining schedule

[NCTraveler]

11. People wont give him credit for what he is doing.

He’s running a solid campaign.

[G_j]

15. If Sanders helped his neighbor change a tire

people here would find something devious in it.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

22. Yep.

[BoneyardDem]

26. If Bernie did any good deed that was out of shot of a camera or a microphone

....or a bull horn, there would be no need for anyone to assume that he was trying to take over an event, subvert the topic, and turn it into a campaign stop.

[NurseJackie]

35. Thank you!

Perfect.

[Eliot Rosewater]

78. If HRC and her foundation did more for those in need in ONE day than

any random 100 people will do in their lifetimes combined, well.

She does.

[EffieBlack]

39. Yes, thank you.

[JCanete]

46. weird that the mayor is giving him one then...this issue clearly couldn't matter...right?

[BoneyardDem]

72. you do realize I was responding to this post?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=10430141

But that's ok, I understand your fervor. And in the context of showing up uninvited at an Anti Gun rally, in the context of brushing aside BLM and Hillary at several turns, and the milquetoast promotion of the Democratic nominees, the Democratic Party, and promoting and endorsing Berner candidates (many of whom had lost anyway) I continue to be suspect of Bernie's motives. Everything seems to turn into a Bernie rally rather than an Dem outreach. But that was certainly a nice try.

[JCanete]

110. so he is out there, talking with the mayor about incredibly important subject matter that

nowhere near gets enough attention, and rather than appreciating that these issues are being discussed and that he is bringing his current profile to them, you would rather focus on tearing him down and making him about himself. Even if he were an egomaniac of epic proportions, the exposure he is giving these issues would still be the most important part of the equation if you actually cared about these issues. And if you thought him wrong about the issues, then you might instead focus there. In the context of doing an event on them though, this is only bad if you don't want them to have exposure, or if you think you are already charged with undercutting any possible 2020 ambitions.

In contrast, I assure you that when those politicians who are not my favorites stand for an issue I care about, I praise them for it. I give them credit for it. I may give reserved support or continue to withhold it until I see more of the same, but I certainly will not bash a candidate or leader for promoting something important.

As to dem outreach...this is outreach of ideas. It is by far more important. It is introducing and talking about these ideas with people that actually changes minds. Not brand sales. The brand needs to speak to those ideas.

[BoneyardDem]

114. Just calling it as I see it, with the evidence provided

[NurseJackie]

80. .

[JCanete]

92. insert my own passive agressive emogie here in lieu of language and points...oh...LOL!

[Nanjeanne]

54. Since the Democratic leadership appointed Sanders to lead their Outreach campaign

he would be doing a very poor job if he wasn’t actually getting attention.

[EffieBlack]

57. Attention isnt necessarily outreach

The point of outreach is to bring in new voters and energize and mobilize existing ones to get to the polls. If he succeeds at that, great. But just getting attention is not enough.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

58. And holding a town hall on economic justice isn't a crime against humanity

[EffieBlack]

59. And mowing your lawn on Sundays isn't a capital offense

Ok, now that we've gotten those out of the way, we can go back to discussing reality.

[Eliot Rosewater]

79. It is weird, I find the VAST VAST VAST majority of black folk I meet on the net and

in real life have an issue like you do, with that person, yet somehow they keep getting lectured to why they shouldnt.

weird

[Nanjeanne]

69. Getting attention is the start. So of course energizing people to vote is the goal.

[BoneyardDem]

74. He is attempting to energize Bernie votes. nothing more, nothing less

If he were truly intent on outreach, he'd be matching or surpassing what the high school kids are doing with regards to registrations. They have done more in 1 month than Bernie has done in over a year with regards to firing up voter registrations.

[Nanjeanne]

101. Okey dokey. You obviously know much more about how many people he has registered and

what the Democratic leadership wanted from him. Who could argue with your insight. Certainly not me!!

[KPN]

89. Perhaps the Mayor invited Sanders in

order to help engage new voters and "energize and mobilize existing ones."

[BoneyardDem]

73. oh...is that was he is is doing...now?

It's taken a while to actually get around to doing that particular job, don't you think? I suppose the coincidence of some remembering that this was his assignment at a time when he and his followers are pressing a 2020 bid is just too much fun?

How much outreach has he actually done? How many Dem registrations are attributable to Bernie vs. the High School kids. I'd say this outreach assignment of Bernie's has been a bit of a bust.

[Nanjeanne]

97. I'm not going to list all the townhalls and meetings and events he has attended. You aren't really

interested. But thanks for playing.

[BoneyardDem]

103. "thank for playing"?

it's not a game....

[Nanjeanne]

104. No it's certainly not. Which is why I applaud Sanders and hope it inspires people to actually vote.

[KPN]

84. Oh, the irony of it all.

Maybe I could understand all of the heartburn if Senator Sanders had announced his candidacy for 2020.

What seems to be lost for the most part in all of this is a rational discussion of the title of Jackson's event, the intersection of racial and economic justice.

[Nanjeanne]

99. Discussion? When it comes to Bernie - the outrage over his existence is way more important!!!!

[KPN]

109. You got that right.

[NurseJackie]

85. Outreach, huh?

[Nanjeanne]

100. Well obviously not to you. But that goes without saying.

[NurseJackie]

105. Smearing Democrats and the Democratic party isn't my idea of "outreach"...

... and getting people to become interested in the party. It's terribly misguided and that goes without saying. So many missed opportunities, gone forever. We need more registered Democrats, more people to support Democratic candidates... not more "indies" who don't know the definition of disenfranchisement, and who'd rather complain about closed primaries. If we wanted to hear people talk about the "corrupt" Democratic party, or how Democrats are "feeble", then we could listen to the likes of Susan Sarandon or Nina Turner. Their job isn't "outreach"... they're just a couple of self-serving malcontents, so it actually makes sense to hear those two talking smack about Democrats.

[GaryCnf]

111. Two Words

Claire McCaskill

[Nanjeanne]

112. Yup got it. Susan Sarandon, Nina Turner, Bernie Sanders. Smearing Democrats. Smearing Democratic

Party. Yup. Yup.

The Democratic Party leadership that appointed him are just pulling their hair out.

*waves back*

[NurseJackie]

113. I doubt it.

Based on the lackluster results, it "goes without saying" that in all probability it was just a conciliatory position and olive-branch title. We hear a lot about this "outreach" position... there's a lot of talk about what an honor it is that the Democratic leadership trusted him with such an important mission. I just find it surprising that for such an important role, there's much more boasting going on among his fans than there are actual results.

The Democratic Party leadership that appointed him are just pulling their hair out.

I doubt it. It's exceedingly unlikely that Schumer was betting the farm on this being the party's primary (or most effective) source of "outreach". Schumer saw the same thing that everyone else had also seen, and it stands to reason that he may have been hoping that this honorary title would encourage and motivate him to ease up on the smears and to help find focus on doing things that actually benefit Democrats and the Democratic party.

Well... at least Schumer gave it a shot. He tried. So, good-for-him on that point, I guess!

[EffieBlack]

120. Yup.

[Nanjeanne]

124. I'm just glad that you have it all sorted out in your head and that it fits

with what you believe. Makes you happy and that makes me happy.

*Bigger Waves*

[progressoid]

116. So what's it like on the ground in your neigborhood?

Who do you see at your local Democratic party meetings? Who is working to GOTV?

Nearly all of the new volunteers that I work with on the local level joined BECAUSE of Bernie. If it weren't for them, our county activism would be stagnant right now. Here in my town of 65K people, the most active new Democrats are "Bernie Bros". Some of our brightest millenials joined the party because of Bernie. One now sits on the central committee of the county Dem party. She and her husband regularly participate in statewide Democratic functions. Two other former Bernie supporters who are running for local offices (as Democrats) spoke at our county convention last week. They were both independents prior to 2016.

Last night I attended a third campaign kick-off party. A retired union worker (and Hillary supporter) is running for a state office that hasn't had a Democratic candidate for 6 years. His campaign director is a Bernie supporter. In fact, the room was about half/half Clinton and Sanders people peacefully drinking and supporting a new candidate.

So what does it look like in your neighborhood?

[NurseJackie]

119. Imagine how much more it could have been.

Some of our brightest millenials joined the party because of Bernie.

And others become active in the Democratic party in spite of the smears and attacks (such as "the party is corrupt" and "Democrats are feeble", blah-blah, etc etc.) It wasn't helpful ... and you know in your heart that I'm right. It serves no good purpose other than to drive a wedge.

Imagine how much more it could have been, and how much further along we might have been if a more sincere effort was being made in this "outreach" role to do things that directly benefit Democrats and the Democratic party. I just see missed opportunities that we'll never come around again. We could be so much further along without the denigration of the party. Things like that weaken the party.

I mean, just as an example: Marie Osmond doesn't tell people about how awful Nutrisystem is... she doesn't complain about how terrible it tastes... and boasting that she's too smart to eat that crappy food. Right? Imagine if she did. Are the Nutrisystem people going to give Marie Osmond full credit for the few people who do buy their meals in spite of the lies she may be telling about their product.

[progressoid]

123. Huh?

OK, so you don't want to answer my question about your local level. Fine.

On to your "missed opportunities". No one is stopping Democrats from doing more outreach.
You want to minimize Bernie's role? MAKE A BIGGER IMPACT. But we are a little behind at the moment. Right now, who is on the ground making things happen? The Women's movement. BLM. March for Our Lives. Indivisible. Etc. None of these are officially aligned with the Democratic party.

On the local level, our Democrats are working to incorporate these non-Democratic entities into our process. Yes, some of them don't really like us. And some of us don't like some of them. But if we're going to stop the orange scourge and the GOP, it going to take all of us.

[NurseJackie]

126. Here! Try Nutrisystem... I hate it! It sucks!

None of these are officially aligned with the Democratic party.

But they all make an effort to register voters at their "rally" events and marches and protests.

No one is stopping Democrats from doing more outreach.

And we are. Democrats are. Yet everyone want to give credit where it's not due. Weird. I really haven't seen results worth bragging about, yet so few people miss an opportunity to tout that honorary post that was conferred.

None of these are officially aligned with the Democratic party.

None of them smear Democrats or the Democratic party either. (Thank you for not trying to sneak "Our Revolution" into that short laundry-list.)

[progressoid]

128. Sorry I forgot "Our Revolution"

I didn't include them because I've never interacted that organization IRL, so it would be disingenuous for me to include them.

The only impact I've seen them make is on DU's keyboard warriors. Just the mention of them get's DU's undies all bunched up.

[EffieBlack]

121. In my neighborhood, Bernie isn't even a blip

The people doing the work have been doing it for years - usually with little or no credit - and the new, younger people who are involved were brought in by them. The few Bernie supporters who are here started out thinking that Bernie had practically invented politics and tried to tell everyone else what they needed to do and how they needed to do it. But after a few kindly, patient, "Look here, baby. Let me tell you a little bit about what we've been doing"s, they figured out that they have much to learn and, for the most part, they've gotten with the program and are pitching in as part of the team. It's really very inspiring.

Bernie is pretty irrelevant to the people around here.

But, then, this is probably one of those communities that people like Claire McGaskill think don't need to be paid any attention since they can't see the numerous white working class folk mixed in with all of the black and brown people.

[progressoid]

125. So I'm confused.

Bernie is irrelevant around there. Except for his supporters who have, for the most part, gotten with the program and are part of the team. That is inspiring.

So, would you rather they were still on the outside? Maybe hanging with the Greens or Libertarians?

[murielm99]

178. In my neighborhood, there are a lot of new people

who joined BECAUSE of TRUMP. They are angry and frightened that he was elected. As usual, some of the new people supported the losing
Democratic candidate. But they are well aware that their candidate, Bernie, was beaten soundly in the primary by Hillary Clinton. Most of them have moved on. I have supported people in the past who lost the Presidential primary. I moved on, too.

Not all the new people are at that level of maturity. Many of the new activists are very naive, regardless of their age. They don't have a basic understanding of civics. When someone tries to educate them, they badmouth the people who have spent a lot of years working for Democrats when we could not even get some of these same people to go to the polls. For example, all Democratic central committees in my state have their convention on April 18. Only elected precinct committeemen are allowed to vote. You would not believe the whining by the Bernie supporters and other newbies.

Another example: I went to a precinct committeeman training session this morning. The presenter had some very good ideas, and we will stay in touch. However, he presented some serious misinformation. I questioned his information. The man sitting next to me became angry that I was asking questions and told me to shut up three times. The presenter went on to hand out two preprinted postcards to everyone to send to their representatives, asking them to support a certain bill. It is not a bill yet, and it has been an H.R. for years. He was wrong about the sponsorship of the bill. I questioned whether or not the bill would add another layer of bureaucracy, costing our already bankrupt state money we do not have. I asked him if he did not think it might be better for everyone to read the "bill", or to find out as much as possible about it before demanding its passage. There were other errors and things I did not agree with. Also, some of the audience members asked questions that they should have been embarrassed to ask. Did they go to school at all?

Of course we have new members who will mesh with existing activists, run for office, and make a great deal of positive difference. Of course some of them voted for Bernie in the primary and Hillary in the general without getting all upset about the process.

This is now. This is what it looks like in my neighborhood. What will it look like after the midterms? I do not believe we will get everything we want. When that happens, many of the new people will drift away. The ones who have learned something will figure it out and stay on. They will be in the minority.

Am I obnoxious to some of these people? You bet. I am tired of suffering fools who think they know everything. Do I know everything? Of course not. And I did learn some useful things this morning. But we don't have time for this. We have a democracy to save.

[progressoid]

115. Haaahahaha!

[diva77]

45. +1,000,000 This!!! What about all the harm done by Dump & his Rethug accomplices in the last hour?

Way more to criticize there rather than bashing Bernie for getting out there, trying to do some good in the world.

[KPN]

87. Almost comical ...

[Adrahil]

96. Well no doubt

Some Berner would post a fucking news story about it here. Sick to death of that guy.

[GaryCnf]

23. It's somehow not surprising

How many DU members are convinced that they know more about black folks than Chokwe.

[EffieBlack]

40. Even less surprising is how many DU members feel the need to teach black folk about Dr. King -

and don't know what the hell they're talking about

[betsuni]

48. +1

[GaryCnf]

50. They really don't want to know

I never met Reverend King when I was young, a combination of ignorance and anger. By the time I figured out we were on the same ship, he was gone. I can say now though, as an old man, that Harold Middlebrook, who was with him literally through the end, is among the few I count as friends.

It grieves me to see so many think that King's name can be used as part of some "But I have black friends" contest.

[EffieBlack]

56. Exactly

And to see him mission and message diluted into some pale, watery version of reality and used as a catchall justification for everything he fought against by people who would have hated, despised, and demonized him as a “race hustling libtard” if he were still alive would be funny if it weren’t so outrageous.

[NurseJackie]

70. ###

40. Even less surprising is how many DU members feel the need to teach black folk about Dr. King - and don't know what the hell they're talking about

[BoneyardDem]

75. the priviledged few who should figure out its time they actually stopped and learned something

...instead of schooling others from a level of ignorance.

[Eliot Rosewater]

82. It never stops. It happens elsewhere of course. Not just here, but happens a lot here.

White privilege allows us white folks to believe we are authorities on everything.

[SharonClark]

41. Good for him.

[Arazi]

47. KIck and rec. Solidarity!

[BoneyardDem]

88. I've been meaning to ask, are the candles for Bernie or MLK? n/t

[TCJ70]

90. So..according to this thread, economic justice is bad now...

...got it.

[BoneyardDem]

107. I don't understand why your extreme conclusion is the only one you could come up with?

...I really don't think you "got it"

[TCJ70]

136. Is it the message or the messenger?

Because the sense I’m getting from the posts here is that some would rather not see this thing, which won’t impact probably anyone on this board, happen simply because of who was invited. The amount of derision focused towards a certain senator on this board is, at this point, just sad.

[GaryCnf]

108. In what has turned into a whole comedy routine

some of the worst whitesplainers are parading around talking about how "their" white person is our "real friend."

Listen up folks, the economic justice crowd may well not get the fact that the stalwarts of 60s black liberation embraced socialism for different reasons than white workers embraced the same economic system, BUT if anyone thinks our centrist strategy of GE silence on criminal justice reform, reversing welfare reform, the establishment's war on young black males, did anything less than cost us the election, they can't count to 60,000.

EVERYONE needs to check their privilege when they start talking about what we think.

[LexVegas]

118. ...

[GaryCnf]

122. 60,000

Wayne County Michigan alone

[LexVegas]

127. We get it. You heart Bernie.

[GaryCnf]

130. No friend

I'm just not fooled by a bottle of hot sauce.

[EffieBlack]

133. Yes!

[SMC22307]

117. Wonderful. And how predictable that the grapes...

of the usual suspects are as sour as ever.

[LexVegas]

129. ...

[mountain grammy]

131. Mayor Lumumba is the future..

This should be a good town hall. I'll be streaming. The last one was terrific.

[GaryCnf]

132. True

[ucrdem]

134. I magine he'll make special mention of Barack Obama and his landmark health care legislation.

Yes?

[sheshe2]

157. Lol

[ucrdem]

167. There are so many issues Sanders could be working on or at least talking about

starting with defeating the Sessions agenda which is basically to reverse the Obama agenda and restore the injustices Barack worked tirelessly to redress. So what does Sanders make his evangelical purpose? Diminishing the Obama health care agenda and repealing the ACA.



It would be nice if he could focus on voting rights too.

[sheshe2]

168. Yes...all of that would be nice...

However, Bernie....

Have a great weekend, I am going to celebrate spring. It's gonna hit 60 degrees!

[ucrdem]

169. Yeah that LOL.

The ol' catch 22. Still if the ACA goes the way of the TPP it's going to be hard to follow that particular rule. Anyway have a great Easter weekend she!

[sheshe2]

170. You as well, ucrdem.

[EffieBlack]

174. Voter suppression, DOJ's attack on civil rights, increase in hate crimes and speech, police killings

of unarmed black men, etc.

None of which are being addressed in his economic equality agenda.

[ecstatic]

135. That's great news, but is he planning on running again...?

I hope it's a sincere visit and not a ploy to attract black voters in 2020. This visit will NOT change my opinion of him.

[BeyondGeography]

137. Bernie is as sincere as a heart attack

That’s a Joe Manchin quote. I believe that; what you see is what you get. He has plenty of warts and there are no image consultants getting in the way of what is, for better (he actually gives a shit) or worse (he can be rude and thin-skinned), a pretty straightforward presentation.

As for this event, he is there as a guest of a very progressive mayor, with whom he has worked before on unionizing the Nissan plant at Canton. What is the objection, really?

[EffieBlack]

139. Notwithstanding Manchin's quote, the actual phrase is "serious as a heart attack"

I don't even know what it means to be as "sincere as a heart attack"...

[BeyondGeography]

140. That is the quote

https://m.facebook.com/TheHill/posts/10153798287914087

[EffieBlack]

147. I know that's what Manchin said, but that's not how the saying goes

[sheshe2]

154. You should have read The Hill post you linked to.

Say what?

This doesn't sound like a compliment to me. Manchin actually said that?

BeyondGeography (30,456 posts)
137. Bernie is as sincere as a heart attack

That’s a Joe Manchin quote. I believe that; what you see is what you get. He has plenty of warts and there are no image consultants getting in the way of what is, for better (he actually gives a shit) or worse (he can be rude and thin-skinned), a pretty straightforward presentation.

As for this event, he is there as a guest of a very progressive mayor, with whom he has worked before on unionizing the Nissan plant at Canton. What is the objection, really?

Woah, wait...Manchin goes on to say...did you miss this part?

Dem senator: Sanders ‘doesn’t have a lot of answers’

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) says Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has a purity of idealism but lacks practical solutions for many of the nation’s challenges.

“Bernie’s always been that way,” Manchin said, citing Sanders’s opposition to Puerto Rico debt legislation and the Toxic Substances Control Act, according to Politico. “He’s sincere as a heart attack. I like him, he’s a good guy, brings a lot to the table, but doesn’t have a lot of answers for the problems that we’re dealing with.”

snip

“While this legislation allows Vermont to continue enforcing existing state regulations to keep adults and children safe from toxic chemicals such as [perfluorooctanoic acid], it makes it more difficult for states to set new, stricter standards,” he said in a statement. "That makes no sense.

“Federal chemical regulations should be a floor, not a ceiling. States should not be stopped from going above and beyond minimum federal safety standards.”

More: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/281355-dem-senator-sanders-doesnt-have-a-lot-of-answers

................................

You posted a selective portion of a quote. Please do not do that. Context is everything.

[EffieBlack]

158. LOL! Great catch

Now, let's see how quickly Manchin - who until now was the voice of all reason - will get thrown under the bus as a sellout.

[sheshe2]

159. Beep Beep

Bus a comin'.

[BeyondGeography]

161. Manchin is saying Bernie is for real

And he obviously respects him for that. Of course they disagree on just about everything. Thank you, Sherlock Holmes.

[sheshe2]

166. :)

[NurseJackie]

163. Da-a-a-amn! "Context is everything!" Yes, indeed it is!

You posted a selective portion of a quote. Please do not do that. Context is everything.

Yes, indeed it is! I completely agree with that. Manchin clearly saw the truth and has eloquently described what anyone who's paying attention already knew.

Thanks very much for giving everyone the entire quote and for exposing the hazards of not having (or not providing) complete quotes in context.

[sheshe2]

165. Good Morning, NurseJackie.

Context is good.

Have a great Easter weekend...it is going to be almost 60 here!

[ecstatic]

146. lol! nt

[ecstatic]

145. I don't object to him going there, I'm just saying

that he's probably wasting his time if he's only going to launch campaign 2020.

I just don't think he's the best answer to the problems we're facing. If he's the nominee against trump, obviously I'd vote for him. Until then, my focus will be on the more qualified and less divisive *democratic* candidates. Candidates who are not as rigid and can quickly adapt and react to new information. Candidates who have actually put thought into problem solving, and are prepared to answer complex question with details and not just superficial slogans. I could continue, but a lot of the other issues have been hashed and rehashed on this site for 2+ years.

[EffieBlack]

138. And it probably won't attract many black voters to him, either

African-American voters are too sophisticated to be taken in by a politician showing up at a town hall meeting.

[VOX]

143. Stretching for the African-American support he didnt get in 2016.

Everything he does is calculated for effect. He attaches himself to entities (Democratic Party, for example), and enjoys all rights and privileges. The act is wearing thin.

[sheshe2]

153. Boom!

This.

[GaryCnf]

162. Unless you're talking about the primaries

and I am sure you're not, only ONE national Democrat didn't get the support we needed from the black community. Moreover, that fact, more than Stein, more than Comey, more than Cambridge, more than Sanders, put Trump in the White House.

An earlier poster was correct when they stated that black voters were too sophisticated to be fooled by drive by "attention." They just forgot that this sophistication allows us to notice when Flint, blue on black genocide, criminal justice reform, and every other issue that might make white suburbanites feel a little uncomfortable drop from the scene the second the GE campaign begins.

[EffieBlack]

171. You left out massive voter suppression

We'll never know what the actual level of support from the black community was since countless black voters either were blocked from voting (harsh new voter ID laws, closed polling places, inadequate equipment, painfully long lines, curtailment of early voting, etc., etc., etc., or didn't get their votes counted.)

Please don't leave the impression that we "just didn't turn out" because we weren't enthusiastic about the nominee. If white voters faced the same - or even a fraction of the - obstacles that black voters faced in the last election, I suspect their numbers would have completely tanked far below those of black voters who consistently bust their butts to vote despite the obstacles thrown in their way.

[GaryCnf]

172. There is an inherently authoritarian

Bent to the idea that turn out is the obligation of the voter. It is the obligation of the candidate, the leader, to provide the voter with affirmative reasons to vote. We owe NOTHING to anyone who will not fight for us.

As for voter suppression, the real suppression, it was every bit as bad when Barack ran and we turned out for him.

The establishment has run away from us ever since the Willie Horton ad run against Dukakis. We had a candidate interrupt his campaign to fly home and personally oversee the torture and murder of an incompetent black man. By the time we got to 2016, we didn't even have the courage to embrace the message . . . and not just the constitutional rights . . . of the least radical black men in the country who took a knee against urban genocide.

60,000 MORE people in Wayne County were not stopped from voting in 2016 than in 2012.

[EffieBlack]

173. It is worse, much worse than when Obama ran - The 2013 Shelby decision saw to that.

You have no idea how many more people were prevented from voting in Wayne County or anywhere else than were able to vote in 2012. But we do know, for a fact, that more minority voters were subjected to voter suppression in 2016 than in 2012, thanks to the 2013 Shelby decision and that there was a significant dropoff in voter participation, especially among minorities, after the decision removed federal oversight from state voting procedures.

For example, according to a report by Priorities USA, which looked at the effects of minority voter suppression in Wisconsin, "While states with no change to voter identification laws witnessed an average increased turnout of +1.3% from 2012 to 2016, Wisconsin’s turnout (where voter ID laws changed to strict) dropped by -3.3%. If turnout had instead increased by the national- no-change average, we estimate that over 200,000 more voters would have voted in Wisconsin in 2016. For context, Clinton lost to Trump in Wisconsin by only 20,000 votes ... This analysis suggests that the 200,000 lost voters would have both been more racially diverse and have voted more Democratic." This 200,000 dropoff certainly can't all be attributed to apathy or disinterest among black voters. https://www.scribd.com/document/347821649/Priorities-USA-Voter-Suppression-Memo

I'm not sure how familiar you are with Shelby v. Holder, so forgive me if I'm telling you what you already know. But in Shelby, the U.S. Supreme Court stripped Section 5 - the pre-clearance provision - out of the Voting Rights Act. This provision required certain states and localities with a history of voter suppression to submit any changes to their voting procedures to DOJ and obtain advance approval before any such changes could go into effect. This requirement nipped in the bud numerous voter suppression attempts by states - and deterred bad actors from even attempting to try countless more.

It's not a coincidence that right after Shelby eliminated the pre-clearance requirements - sometimes within days - states ramped up their voter suppression efforts and passed a tsunami of laws clearly intended to tamp down the black vote, a sign that the states fully intended to suppress minority votes and were just waiting for the Court to release them from the Voting Rights Act requirements. This rash of voter suppression unleashed in 2013 had a huge impact in 2016, much more than we've seen since the passage of the Voting Rights Act and was exponentially worse than anything that occurred with President Obama's elections.

One egregious example occurred in Alabama where, not long after the state implemented a new, more restrictive voter ID requirement, the governor announced that, supposedly in order to save money, the state would close or substantially reduce the hours of more than 30 DMV offices across the state. And it just happened that all but a couple of those offices were in predominantly black counties carried by President Obama in 2012. Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Transportation used its authority under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to force the state to reopen the offices and increase the hours, but they weren't able to do it prior to the 2016 election so Alabama's black voters had to navigate around some pretty serious obstacles in order to vote that year - barriers that weren't in place in 2012. Doug Jones' victory would have been impossible if the federal government hadn't stepped in and prevented the state from making it harder for black voters to get ID.

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2015/10/what-effect-will-shuttering-alabama-dmv-offices-have-on-black-voters/408571/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alabama-drivers-licenses_us_586428bde4b0d9a59459ff7e

According to a Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights report on the potential impact the Shelby decision would have on the 2016 election:

• More than half of the states once covered by Section
5 will have new statewide voting restrictions in place
for the first time in a presidential election in 2016,
according to a collection of reports from the Brennan
Center for Justice

• Scores of historically discriminatory changes have been
attempted or implemented in formerly covered states.

•More than 850,000 Latino voters will be subject to
voter ID requirements in the 2016 election.

• One proposed discriminatory change in the method
of election in Fayette County, Georgia, threatened to
impact more than 100,000 people.

In Florida, pre-Shelby, five counties were required to go through a pre-clearance screening with the federal government before implementing any changes to their voting laws due to concerns of anti-Latino discrimination. In 1975, for example, voting ballots were only printed in English despite having a large number of Spanish-speaking constituents.

After the Shelby County v. Holder decision, Monroe County in Florida immediately reverted back to English-only ballots. Since 2013, two polling sites were closed or moved into a different location in predominantly black communities — adding more strife to the lack of polling sites and long lines in marginalized communities.

Virginia placed strict restrictions on community-driven voting initiatives after Shelby County v. Holder. These restrictions include prohibiting pre-populated registration forms, and the deadline for returning voter registration form to Florida Elections Commission was shortened. These restrictions predominantly discriminated against the Latino population that relies on community-based voter registration drives.

After implementing voter ID laws, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund found that approximately 197,000 registered Latino voters don't have the required identification necessary to vote at the polls. In fact, the defense fund believes about 45,000 registered Latino voters will have a harder time voting in the 2016 elections than they did in 2012 since they do not own required identification.

In Arizona, reducing the number of voting polls became a key method in voter suppression against minority communities. During the 2016 presidential primaries, Maricopa County decreased polling sites by 70% — only 60 polling sites were available in 2016 compared to more than 200 in 2012. The minimizing of polling sites in Maricopa, the largest county in Arizona, led to long lines stretching for several blocks with long wait times and discouraged many constituents from voting. According to the report, the polling sites that were shut down were mainly located in predominantly Latino and black communities.

Georgia, a state with a long history of racial discrimination in voter registration, had a significant number of attempts in voter suppression in the last three years since Shelby County v. Holder. In October, Hancock County's Board of Election — composed of mainly white members — purged 53 voters in Sparta, Georgia, from the voting registration list. Nearly all of the voters removed from the list are African-American. The NAACP filed a lawsuit against the county in the following month.

Morgan County closed more than one-third of their polling sites in 2013 and also opened two new polling locations at police stations. The Legal Defense Fund reported that one city council member in Morgan County suggested these shutdowns and alterations of polling sites will largely affect minority communities.

https://mic.com/articles/150092/how-did-the-shelby-county-v-holder-supreme-court-decision-change-voting-rights-laws#.T2jFoOBcq

Here's a link to the Leadership Conference's full report: http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/reports/2016-Voting-Rights-Report-FOR-WEB.pdf

I hope this is helpful.

[ucrdem]

175. Very helpful.

But will it help is the question? "Voters stayed home for Hillary but they wouldn't have for the most Popular Politician on the Planet" is a big part of the current Bernie narrative. I was astonished when CNN started in with the low-turnout meme the morning following the Nov 2016 election because it was so clearly untrue, but in short order the rest of the press corps came out with reports of historically low voter turnout. Later they quietly admitted that the historically high numbers of early, mail-in, provisional, and same-day registration ballots hadn't yet been counted -- which was obvious in the first place -- but the meme was out there and Bernie and others have kept it alive.

[GaryCnf]

177. EB's reply is indeed a great place to start

Let me correct yours, however. Overall turnout was indeed great in a non-Obama context. Offering that as "proof" that urban/black turnout was also great, however is misleading.

Wayne County, Michigan includes a huge percentage of the urban areas in Detroit. Detroit's black population is also representative of the black populations in terms of social concerns. The numbers in Wayne County don't lie . . . 60,000 less votes in 2012 than in 2016.

EB has posed some theories on why that might not be attributable to our 2016 campaign sweeping black issues under the rug. When I get time to discuss those, I will do my best.

As for your suggestion that it didn't really happen . . . facts are stubborn things.

[ucrdem]

179. In South Carolina she beat Sanders 3-1. In Michigan on the other hand,

where Sanders and Trump are both supposed to have beaten Clinton, they could not account for their vote totals when challenged by Jill Stein. So I think it's fair to call bs on the claim that Democrats lost because of any policy failure.

Feb. 28, 2016: "Black Voters Boost Hillary Clinton to South Carolina Primary Win"

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/live-south-carolina-democratic-primary-exit-poll-analysis/story?id=37241467

[Hassin Bin Sober]

155. Update: due to popular demand. Venue changed to larger venue

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2018/03/30/demand-forces-city-change-venue-bernie-sanders-mayor-lumumba-town-hall/474303002/

High demand to see U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders join Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba in Jackson next week has forced the city to find a more accommodating venue.

Sanders and the mayor will be commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr at an event titled "Examining Economic Justice 50 Years Later."

The Wednesday event will now be held at Thalia Mara Hall at 255 E. Pascagoula St. in downtown Jackson, instead of the Alamo Theater in the city's Farish Street District.

[applegrove]

156. He's kind of like Flat Stanley showing up at every notable event. He should be careful

that he doesn't saturate his image. That being said it is the most important event of the year. I hope Democrats are represented. I'm sure they will be.

[NurseJackie]

164. What an interesting analogy! I'd never heard of this character before. I see what you mean.

[applegrove]

176. Kids in Canadian schools all made cut out flat Stanley's and

Sent them to visit with family across the country to be photographed in different places and then sent home with the photo evidence. I put my nephew's flat stanley on the steps of the supreme court of Canada and took a photo. Got chased away by an RCMP. Took a photo of Stanley in front of parliament hill. Then the Notre Dame cathedral in Ottawa had a nativity scene. I almost took a photo of Stan with the equal sized virgin Mary but felt too guilty. Sent the photos and flat stanley back to my nephew. They all presented their Stanley travels in class I think.