If Sanders' attempt to win black voters is a redux of 2016, it won't be enough

[brooklynite]

The Guardian

Sanders’ trouble with black voters is well-chronicled. Hillary Clinton bested Sanders by wide margins, getting more than 70% of the black vote in the 2016 Democratic primaries. With black voters comprising 27% of the primary electorate, candidates will need to perform well with them if they have any hopes of becoming the nominee. The Sanders’ team came to this stark realization following 2016’s crushing loss in South Carolina, writing in a campaign memo: “The margin by which we lost the African American vote has got to be – at the very least – cut in half or there simply is no path to victory.”

Part of the critique against Sanders is that his class-based economic policies crowd the distinct experiences of black Americans out of his agenda. The universal programs he supports – $15 minimum wage, Medicare for All, tuition-free college – don’t address head-on the stubborn racial disparities that persist even among similarly situated black and white Americans. Certainly, racial and economic inequalities are entangled, but race remains the primary determinant of one’s socioeconomic status.

In Chicago, Sanders acknowledged this inconvenient truth. “Our campaign is about fundamentally ending the disparity of wealth and power in this country,” he told the audience of more than 12,000. “But as we do that, we must speak out against the disparity within the disparity.” He then listed a number of troublesome racial disparities concerning the wealth gap, infant and maternal mortality rates, health outcomes and the criminal justice system.

And then he moved on.

There was no mention of targeted programs to reduce those disparities – only a return to his standard stump speech on the dangers of rampant economic inequality. Just before wrapping up, he vowed to “address the racial disparities of wealth and income” and “root out institutional racism”. But his preferred means to accomplishing these ends still appear to center on colorblind policies.

[Garrett78]

1. "...or there simply is no path to victory."

The Sanders campaign recognized what so many refused to acknowledge after Super Tuesday in 2016.

Bernie Math won't save his campaign in 2020 either.

[forklift]

2. Sanders and his supporters

just want all the minorities to change their mindsets and embrace Sanders.

In politics, the candidate has to change his/her mindset and embrace voters.

Sanders' strategy with minorities is "Follow me and I'll show you I am right." That almost never works . (Except Cornell West, Nina Turner and Killer Mike perhaps)

It reminds me of Trump's strategy -- "Dear Black people, what have you got to lose?" translated to "you're fucked up anyway so just change to the unknown on faith"

[Eric J in MN]

4. What specifically could Bernie Sanders do which

..would make you say he was changing his mindset and embracing voters?

[forklift]

5. I am not going to give any candidate advise.

However,if I were in his situation, I'd say " I was wrong the last time and I didn't listen. I realize that social justice is as important as economic justice. These are the few plans I have to correct the social justice that you lack in your lives" and then lay out a plan that would address the problems of that important voting block in Democratic primaries.

I don't think "I am wrong" or "I was wrong" in his vocabulary. Nor is there any empathy. Say whatever you want about Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama but they all had that purest and easily sensed empathy. I just don't feel it in Sanders.

[NastyRiffraff]

6. Bingo

I have a visceral reaction to Bernie Sanders, an instinctive distrust that goes beyond annoyance at that scolding finger. You nailed the reason; his tone deafness and utter lack of empathy. He's so focused on his ideas that date back to the 60s unchanged that he literally can't see other points of view. And he certainly can't say "I was wrong" any more than Trump can.

[Gothmog]

3. Good article

[SidDithers]

7. But he chained himself to a black woman in 1963...

and had lunch with Killer Mike in 2016.

That's not enough?

Sid

[forklift]

10. Was the chaining mentioned in one of the essays

or was it in a stump speech tailored to SC?

[LexVegas]

8. Don't underestimate the Killer Mike effect. nt

[SidDithers]

11. Here's a blast from the past...

Atlanta’s Killer Mike Just Helped Bernie Sanders Win the White House in 2016



Sid

[peggysue2]

13. LOL!!

Well, that was certainly a fail! Killer Mike just couldn't kill it, I guess.

Ahhhh, the memories. Some sweet, some not so much.

[WeekiWater]

9. Most of Sanders policies are good and would benefit minorities.

Most of his policies are also void of any understanding of systemic oppression and why there is such a great need for targeted legislation, not just "lift all boats" legislation.

[crazytown]

12. Sanders just doesn't get it.

The opression of African Americans is America’s original sin. It is not a “disparity within a disparity” it is a demand for justice not accounting equality.