Black Lives Matter Activists Meet With Bernie Sanders To Make Sure He's On Board

[think]

Black Lives Matter Activists Meet With Bernie Sanders To Make Sure He's On Board

"I can say Bernie Sanders was very open to being pushed,” one of the attendees said.

By Dana Liebelson & Ryan J. Reilly - 09/16/2015 05:36 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders met with Black Lives Matter activists on Wednesday to discuss racial justice and policing reforms.

Attendees said the Vermont senator was candid during the meeting and "open to being pushed." But they also expressed concerns that his role as an elected official in an overwhelmingly white state may make him out of touch with the concerns of black voters.

The Black Lives Matter movement has taken on an influential role in the 2016 election. At campaign events, activists have pressured candidates to address racial inequality, including cutting a Sanders speech short in Seattle in August. Later that month, prominent members of Black Lives Matter released a comprehensive platform called Campaign Zero, which endorsed law enforcement reforms such as the use of body cameras and police demilitarization.

Sanders on Wednesday met with a number of prominent Black Lives Matter activists, including DeRay Mckesson, Johnetta Elzie, Samuel Sinyangwe and Brittany Packnett, all of whom are on the Campaign Zero planning team and are affiliated with the group We the Protesters. Many of the activists rose to prominence during the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, last August after a police officer shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown.

During the hourlong meeting, activists spoke with Sanders about issues on Campaign Zero's agenda, Packnett said, including "what kind of efforts he would be willing to pursue to bring an end to institutionalized, systemic racism."...

Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-black-lives-matter_55f9ca9ce4b00310edf57b02

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. There were some really good questions in Samuel Sinyangwe's twitter feed.

He'd asked people to submit questions for things to ask Bernie about. I think it would have taken more than an hour just to talk about the various suggestions he got.