I am not surprised that Cornel West is supporting Bernie Sanders

[Peacetrain]

They belong to the same party.. They are both Socialists... Only makes sense he would be supportive of Senator Sanders..

Personally I do not care for West because of his attacks on President Obama were of such a personal nature.. not so much political ..

But again not one wit surprised....

[Warren Stupidity]

1. This would have been a better essay if you had developed both the red baiting

aspect and elaborated on the "Cornel West" is a racist aspect. See the 1,000,000 or so other similar essays here.

[Peacetrain]

2. No essay needed.. statement of fact

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. I have no problem with this OP.

Cornel West is not the best outreach person for Sanders to use to AA. I actually cringed the first time I heard he had jumped onboard with the campaign, because I've been listening for years to AA people slam West for his criticisms of the President, both in his volume and tone. It's anyone's guess whether he will help attract more AA or turn them away from the Sanders campaign. I'm hoping they'll get past the fact that West is onboard and simply look at Sanders himself.

[Scootaloo]

4. I give it a 2 out of 10

As gish gallops go, this one could afford to be much more dense. And there's no excuse for the sparseness, it's not as if there's any onus against directly copy-pasting from the posts of other gallopers.

Peacetrain, you're never going to get to Vegas with a weak performance like this. maybe next year, sorry.

[HereSince1628]

5. As "we" need to be schooled, perhaps you could comment on the credibility of the Rev. Anthony Evans

"The National Black Church Initiative has a stern message for folks who have been critical of Tavis Smiley and Cornel West: Leave them alone.

“Take your hands off these brothers,” the NBCI says in a statement. “They Are Our Black Princes.”

The National Black Church Initiative, (NBCI) a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African American parishioners, says it is “standing strong with Smiley and Cornel West as they continue to educate us on how the Obama administration has consistently ignored and vilified the Black community.”

Rev. Anthony Evans, President of NBCI, says he’s concerned about Smiley’s safety since Smiley has received death threats from black people.

“I am ashamed of my people that they will go after one of ours – Tavis and Cornel – as they defend the dignity of black people,” Evans said in a statement. “When I heard that black people and some black women have threatened Tavis’ life I stopped being ashamed and was horrified of the way that we have begun to treat one another. The Black Church will have none of this in our community.”

[GitRDun]

7. I can help you with that.

Reverend Evans has a HUGE bone to pick with Obama as Obama supports gay marriage, so why not support Smiley and West, fellow Obama haters:

Evans believes the president is asking the church to ignore God’s commandments. He said that the president’s endorsement of same-sex marriage violates his Christianity, because as a Christian, he is supposed to obey the teachings of the church.

http://www.dcspotlight.com/features/living-the-life/the-black-church-how-same-sex-marriage-threatens-obamas-re-election/

There is a long running feud between Smiley, West and Obama that is a result of intellectual dishonesty and petty jealousy on West and Smiley's part. While I agree with the assertion that Reverend Andrews doesn’t like the President, it doesn’t mean his millions of parishioners agree with him, any more than Catholic women agree contraception is bad.

His "support" for "protecting" fellow Obama haters reads like grand standing to me.

I've read a lot on West in the last day or so trying to educate myself on why members of the AA forum think he's a bad ally for Sanders in an outreach program to the AA community. Some articles I found myself. Others were recommended. My conclusion is that we can take the AA forum members word for it, he'll likely hurt more than he helps. You are free to have your own opinion, however. That's part of the fun.

[HereSince1628]

8. Thanks

I'm just trying to catch-up

[LWolf]

6. There are some things worth thought here.

Your first line: someone else or a couple of someones, has/have mentioned that the black community overall is more conservative than Sanders. If you look past all the flame bait, this could be why they resonate more with HRC, and why, while Sanders has some black support, he hasn't (yet) gathered more. Your choice of terms is a case in point: "socialist." Not democratic socialist, not "left." You've chosen the term with more critical connotation, as someone more conservative might.

You are correct, though; it really isn't a surprise that a leftist would support the candidate furthest to the left, regardless of race. That's why I support Sanders.

Your second line illustrates what one DUer explained to me: that the black community is behind Obama, that they know his imperfections and support them anyway, and that criticisms of the first black president so important to them are offensive, regardless of merit.

I don't find West's criticisms racist; they are on point. They are more personal, one black man to another, when it comes to racial justice, because racial justice IS personal to both, and to the black community. And racial justice IS, of course, political.