African Americans Feeling the Bern Start Grassroots Effort in Brooklyn, NY for Bernie!

[sabrina 1]

Stan Williams ‏@stanlwilliams Aug 22

Here at @afropunk with @People4Bernie listening to stories on why #BernieSoPunk @BernieSanders #Feelthebern

Stan Williams ‏@stanlwilliams Aug 19

Me and @MouBerningluv @ a Bushwick for Bernie screen printing party! #FeelTheBern @BernieSanders

Stan Williams ‏@stanlwilliams Aug 24

1st African American for @BernieSanders meeting here in NYC. Details to come. #FeelTheBern @People4Bernie

Stan Williams is an activist, organizer, is part of OWS and is a symbol, imo, of how so many of the recent protest groups, Occupy, Black Lives Matter, eg, are joining forces to finally address the serious, the VERY serious issues this country is facing.

He was not overly impressed with Hillary's reaction to Black Lives Matter:

Stan Williams ‏@stanlwilliams Aug 18

So @HillaryClinton wants #BlackLivesMatter to come up with policy points so a polarized congress can shut down bills. I'll give suggestions.
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Stan Williams ‏@stanlwilliams Aug 18

What @HillaryClinton said to #BlackLivesMatter was akin to telling women 2 write policy to get equal pay as men and if they didn't, too bad.
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Stan Williams ‏@stanlwilliams Aug 18

Glad #BlackLivesMatter is confronting @BernieSanders. He's showing us he will make changes while @HillaryClinton tells us it's our problem.
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He supported the actions taken by BLM to get the attention of politicians. He was very impressed by Bernie's response who listened, didn't tell them to go work on some policies themselves, but drew up a plan, apparently it was in the works before the protests, and demonstrated his deep passion for issues that concern African Americans.

Stan Williams ‏@stanlwilliams Aug 9

I think @BernieSanders campaign slogan should be #WeDoThisTogether #FeelTheBern
80 retweets 149 favorites
Stan Williams retweeted
deray mckesson ‏@deray Aug 9

The "violence" framing in the initial draft of the Sanders Racial Justice platform is powerful. & I look forward to seeing him expand this.
1,255 retweets 2,178 favorites

The meeting did take place in NY. They made several strategy proposals to introduce Bernie to African Americans only one third of whom are familiar with him. You can see the minutes from that meeting here:

http://pastebin.com/m7QHtNN2

There are many other minority groups around the country joining the Bernie Movement also:

African-Americans For Bernie Sanders
August 22 at 7:03pm · Edited ·

Today we asked a couple of our young African-American millennials at Afropunk music festival why they love Bernie and here's what they had to say. Enjoy!

&feature=youtu.be

Remember that amazing kid? He is incredible. As he says here, 'Bernie's only problem is GETTING THE MESSAGE OUT THERE! Posted one of his early videos in this Group!

And what all this says is that smart people of all demographics know that the people must be united because when they are 'they cannot be defeated'.

We have allowed division to diminish the people's power.

Bernie is changing that!

You can follow Stan Williams on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/stanlwilliams

[Cheese Sandwich]

1. That's real cool man

[99th_Monkey]

2. HUGE K&R !! nt

[arcane1]

3. "He's showing us he will make changes while @HillaryClinton tells us it's our problem."

[Admiral Loinpresser]

4. KnR! n/t

[n8dogg83]

5. This is very encouraging......

as an AA, I know Bernie is the candidate for us. We have work to do to make sure the AA community at large knows this. That why I have been , and will continue to walk the predominately black neighborhoods in my city (in central IL) to get the word out about Bernie. Unfortunately, in my city, AA turnout at elections is abysmally low. We have work to do!!



#WeDoThisTogether

[sabrina 1]

6. Yes, voter turnout is low, I'm sure it's partly due to people having given up on the system as a

means of righting the many wrongs that have been done. While no one expects much of Republicans in that regard, many AAs are very disappointed in Dems and rightly so imo.

Also of course because of the many ways those in power make it hard for AAs to even register to vote.

If you read the link to the minutes of the meeting, I believe they identified what you just said as a problem to address.

Great that you are doing your part. I wonder if you can connect with some of the many activists now working in communities where voter turnout is low.

We can do this together, as Bernie says, and I'm thrilled to see someone like Stan Williams, who is also active in OWS who involved both in BLM AND Bernie's campaign, as a link to all these movements.

I don't want to get my hopes too high, but I can't help feeling excited about all this and very hopeful, whether I should or not!

[n8dogg83]

9. Sadly true. Here in IL we have had an unfair flat tax for decades that punishes the poor....

and working class the most. Couple that with the fact that, since the great recession of '08 our state has steadily been cutting funding for education, social services for the poor, elderly, disabled, and children. We currently have a right-wing teabagger governor who is hell bent on destroying public sector unions, which employ a large number of AA's (including myself). It's no wonder folks are totally turned off to politics! We have made some great progress in regards to voting rights here though. We recently signed into law an online voter registration and same day voter registration that will be a huge help at increasing voter turnout. As far as connecting with other groups, I have been in touch with the local Progressive Democrats of America chapter here and I look forward to doing voter outreach with them! I have never volunteered to help a political campaign before but I am excited to be a part of this one!!

[sabrina 1]

10. I'm really happy about online voter registration. That should help a lot. Bernie wants every citizen

to be automatically registered to vote as soon as they are born. I like that a lot.

Wrt to voter apathy, I hope that once people learn about Bernie they will regain some hope that they can help change the corrupt system. A lot of people have already.

But it's going to be difficult to reach everyone. However he has some pretty enthusiastic supporters who have done an amazing job of getting his name out to the general population who in Jan, didn't know who he was either. People like you eg.

Like you, I have never before been this excited about a campaign.

I really believe that Bernie is the real deal, genuine, caring and committed to equality for all his entire life.

[LiberalArkie]

12. The Black voter turnout being low is why Ferguson MO had white government.

That has to change, I just don't know how it can be done. I guess elections are just too dull.

[n8dogg83]

13. I agree with you re: Ferguson.....

I think one of the best things we can do to not only help galvanize black voter turnout, but to also combat racism in government and among our police force is to put our efforts into recruiting - up and down the ballot - AA's to run for office. The way I see it, the more AA's we have in government, the more we will feel that government is looking out for our interests. Also, I think it will be way more difficult to see unarmed blacks being killed by white police officers and poor black communities used as a revenue source for city governments when we start to see more black mayors, black police chiefs, black city council members, and black attorneys general in our states. It would be a long, hard road to get there, imo but worth the effort.

[sabrina 1]

14. Exactly, I think Ferguson was a wake-up call. It certainly wasn't the first time this kind of

terrible injustice had occurred, but it was as if a tipping point had been reached. I had followed a blog for years, eg, that tried to keep up with the police shootings of minorities, and could not understand frankly WHY it got virtually no coverage. There were several obviously murderous killings before Michael Brown. One that I recall that was heartbreaking was an elderly Veteran who tried to cancel a call he had made for help, telling the police he was okay and didn't need them. They barged into his home, shot him, using racial slurs, all of which was recorded on tape.

It got very little if any attention on the MSM, but Amy Goodman covered it, interviewing his family, who were stunned as could be expected. Nothing happened, to make a long story short. This was just ONE of so many cases.

Michael Brown's murder could have been just one more over the decades, but for whatever reason, that was the final straw it appears.

It takes time once the people begin to get organized, starting a Movement, as Ferguson has, takes a while and a lot of commitment.

But one issue that Ferguson brought to light was the low voter turnout and early on there were people at the protests trying to register people to vote.

How to motivate people who feel so hopeless is a good question. I think it has begun which is good, but you are correct, there needs to be a whole lot more AAs in government. As for the police, the whole system there needs to be reformed, with a focus on community policing where the police reflect the communities they are serving.

[LiberalArkie]

15. In Little Rock 3 of the 8 or 9 of the city directors are black, but I don't think they see

themselves as black any more.
I think you can take any one who is poor and put them in public office and it is not very long before they are establishment and loose sight of the small people. That has been our problem for so long. We can not find idealistic people, people that will hold on to principles once they get in local office. I wish there was a way, but I don't think there is a way of having good people stay in office when it costs them money to get there.

[sabrina 1]

16. Yes, that's a universal problem definitely. Power does corrupt, even the best intentioned can be

corrupted. Which is why Bernie Sanders is so right about the need for a massive Political Movement that doesn't go away once the elections are over.

Part of the reason why those AAs you mentioned became 'establishment' is because the system itself is so corrupt. It's almost impossible for anyone with strong, incorruptible principles to GET into power, or the stay in power if they do.

So it filters out the strongly committed. Which is why the entire system has to change.

If the standard to be part of it was to be a good People's Representative, with few perks, if any, other than the salary, it would attract a different caliber of people.

But the system is based on money and power. So to get inside means having a willingness to do certain things and to stay there means showing a willingness to continue to be 'cooperative' with the status quo.

The entire culture is corrupted.

The PEOPLE have to stay very involved in a very direct way, first by refusing to elect anyone who shows signs of being willing to sacrifice principes. Preferably someone whose life story whether in their profession and/or in elected office, demonstrates over a long period of time, a passion to do what is right.

WE have been willing to SETTLE, so why should THEY worry about what we might do if THEY settle?

[n8dogg83]

17. Both you and LiberalArkie make good points. I have felt for a long time now that the single biggest

obstacle to getting any major changes made to our government, criminal justice system, environment, wall street, etc. is to get money out of politics. I think that's why I support Bernie so much, because he has made it one of his biggest goals and he actually means it by walking the walk. Even well intentioned politicians too often become corrupted in our so called democracy. Enough money thrown your way can make even the most steadfast and principled person think twice.

[sabrina 1]

21. Yes, money in politics has become a #1 issue in this campaign, mainly thanks to Bernie. But he is

responding to the people on this also. According to polls, over 80% of the population views the money in politics to be a huge issue for them.

Without Bernie in the race who is not just talking about it, but is demonstrating that a candidate can run a good campaign without accepting what amount to bribes.

Biden recently stated also, that this must be a #1 issue in this election, because, he says, until that is fixed, nothing else can be accomplished.

He didn't mention Bernie, he did say he was not aiming his remarks at anyone in particular.

IF he does run, will he join Bernie in refusing Corporate funding? He has stated that Bernie is doing a 'heckuva job' just this week.

I am glad that finally the corrosive corrupting effects of money on our electoral system IS finally going to be a major issue in a major campaign.

[LiberalArkie]

18. We had it going in the 70's with good people and not so good people doing good things.

But once Ronnie brought in there 'Greed is Good' mantra, there was no reason to try to live up to doing good things for everyone. It became 'I Want Mine'. Even among a lot of good liberal office holders and even general liberal people. When I started on DU I took a lot of raising for a handle of LiberalArkie, 'Why would want to degrade yourself by calling yourself a liberal'. I think that is still the popular viewpoint with most here. Being a liberal is still thought as something worse that saying that you are a 'Progressive'.

[noiretextatique]

19. i am taking a contingent of black people to the sanders' rally in SF in Oct

and i am going to make sure we flag down some media types and get interviewed. people need to see us, especially considering all the ridiculousness about sanders' "not appealing" to black people. we still have an uphill battle, but that young man is right: we just have to get the word out.

[leftcoastmountains]

7. Thank you for this post!

[WillyT]

8. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[Betty Karlson]

11. This is all-round good news.

Constructive criticism and positive messaging leading to concrete policy goals!

[Enthusiast]

20. Kicked and recommended to the Max!