Sanders Deflects To 'People Of Color' When Pushed On Lack Of Black Support

[ehrnst]

“What is going wrong with your campaign when it comes to competing in the South and competing for Black voters?” Maddow asked Sanders.

“Well, let me just give you the other side of the story, is that in California, if my memory is correct, we received 39% of the votes of people of color, which were Latinos, Asian Americans and African Americans,” said Sanders, who’s projected to win the delegate-rich state. “If I’m not mistaken ― I haven’t studied these results ― we probably won the young people, young people African American vote, probably in all of those states.”

“But you in California are being well outpaced by Joe Biden among Black voters,” Maddow said, stressing the specific demographic she wanted to talk about.

Sanders replied once again with a deflection, saying that his campaign is “winning among people of color in a very significant degree” before Maddow cut him off to say she wanted to talk about Black voters.

“Let’s talk about Black voters, though, specifically because it has been a persistent problem, you know it was a problem in 2016, lackluster,” she said. “And it hasn’t gotten better.”
...............................................................................

While the term “people of color,” or POC, has recently grown in popularity to identify nonwhite people and the struggles they deal with, it can also often erase issues that Black people specifically or more directly deal with. Equating “POC” with “Black people” can be viewed as needing to group nonwhite people together on an issue that directly affects Black people so that others will have more empathy or take it more seriously.

When Maddow pressed him during their interview to specifically talk about Black voters, Sanders shifted his angle to the former vice president’s relationship with Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-deflects-people-color-black-support-maddow_n_5e6077f5c5b69d641c0a8d77

[jimfields33]

1. Cuz he's kicking ass with Hispanics!!!!!

Why can’t he brag about that while Biden During his South Carolina acceptance speeches thanked all the African Americans for their support! Can’t they both have a moment?

[ehrnst]

2. Because she asked Sanders, not Biden, specifically about Black voters. He evaded the question. Twice

That's what's being discussed. You can try to make Maddow the bad guy for asking him a question on a topic that isn't making him look good, but that's her job as a journalist - to ask questions, not flatter a politician.

POTUS will need to talk about things that aren't going his way.

A good one will, anyway.

[jimfields33]

3. Why antagonize the guy?

He doesn’t do well with the black population. He’s focusing on areas he’s better supported.

[ehrnst]

7. It's not the job of a journalist to flatter a politician, but to ask questions.

If direct, factual questions from a journalist are going to "antagonize" him, how well is he going to cope with being POTUS?

We've seen what a POTUS that gets "antagonized" by the press doing their job is like.

It's not the job of the press to be a stenographer or cheerleader for any politician.

Let's leave that silliness to Trump supporters.

[TwilightZone]

8. "He doesn't do well with the black population."

And continually insists otherwise. I think we see the problem.

[ehrnst]

36. He's never needed to do well with Black voters, or address their concerns his whole political career

so I really think he believes that they are not that urgent...

Letter from the Rutland Area NAACP on Sanders Institute Multi-cultural forum
Vermont is known as a progressive safe haven. However, some of our citizens struggle to connect personal experience to this sentiment. The purpose of publicizing these feelings is not to throw shade at the national progressive movement that Senator Bernie Sanders is trying to foster, but to point out that Vermonters in marginalized positions- be they poor, disabled, LGBTQ, people of color, indigenous, immigrant or non-mainstream in other facets of identity, help to create this state and make it what it is, yet still, we find ourselves excluded from the movement. This is an awkward juxtaposition. To call out when we have been excluded invariably elicits an accusation of sabotage, selfishness, or saltiness. To ignore it is to relegate ourselves to invisibility, thus fortifying the very systemic inequity the progressive movement works to deconstruct. It is with this in mind that I write the following:

At 9:15 PM on November 19th, Windham Area NAACP President Steffen Gillom sent me a text with a link to the VT Digger article announcing Senator Sanders’ 3-day progressive event in Burlington that was planned for this past week, it was followed by the question, “Did you know about this?” My first response was excitement. A progressive agenda that promised to raise an intersectional approach to ending injustice and oppression? In our backyard? As I read the roster and saw the names of my own idols like Cornel West, my initial response grew into hope. We would finally be heard and seen here in Vermont! But, as I neared the end of the star-laden roster, I began to wonder. How many leaders from Vermont were invited to speak? I reviewed the list again and saw only the name of Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman. Okay. One. Then I wondered how many justice leaders from Vermont had been invited. Racial? None. Economic? None. LGBTQ? None. Immigrant rights? None. I read the article several times. Maybe I missed something? I thought progressive politics was about lifting the voices of common people. For a group that prides itself on grassroots organization, it seemed that this progressive event had forgotten its roots; the people of Vermont.

My heart began to sink as my curiosity grew. In his remarks, Senator Sanders said that this event was “not just to talk about economic issues, we’re here this weekend to be talking about racial and social justice. We’re here to be talking about ending, in all of its many and varied forms, institutional racism.”

How could Senator Sanders host what is supposed to be an intersectional, progressive event without inviting the very people whom he serves? If this is really about economic justice, where are the poor folks? If it is really about racial justice, why are there no local racial justice leaders? Chief Don Stevens of the Abenaki? Disability rights? Where is Justicia Migrante/Migrant Justice? I don’t see them on the list.

I had a hard time believing that Senator Sanders would overlook the very people he serves as people who could speak to the issues. I also know that the Senator’s people had no problem finding me to talk about race in Vermont the day before he met with NAACP President Derrick Johnson last May. But really, there are plenty of other leaders who could speak. Surely someone in Vermont had to have been invited and they just weren’t included in the article because, really. Who here compares to Danny Glover? So I took to social media and posted the article, tagging various justice leaders that I knew. No one knew about it. I asked groups like Rights and Democracy, who posted an article to advertise the event, if they would be speaking. I heard nothing. Even Kiah Morris, who was Vermont’s lone black woman in the legislature—that is, until the racist threats and harassment became so intolerable and intimidating that she not only had to withdraw from an uncontested race, but she stepped down from office just three months ago—was not invited.

I write this not to complain about the fact that none of us were invited; I write this to point out the hypocrisy of the situation. How do you say that you are a person of the people, how can you be “awoken”, in the words of Victor Lee Lewis, when you come home to Vermont to talk about justice and institutional oppression and don’t invite the very people you represent? In speaking with other folks, I learned that I am not the only one who has noticed this omission. We hope that we are missing something, but if we are not, this is a either a major oversight or just one more example of how institutional oppression looks, even among those who are progressive.

Respectfully,

Tabitha Pohl-Moore
President, Rutland Area Branch of the NAACP

Steffen Gillom
President, Windham County Branch of the NAACP

Amanda Garces
Founder, Vermont Coalition for Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools

Curtiss Reed, Jr.
Executive Director, Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity

Kiah Morris
Former State Representative

Katrina Battle
POC Caucus Coordinator, Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington

Jabari Jones
Organizer, Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington

Wafic Faour
Vermonters for Justice in Palestine
Member, BLM of Greater Burlington

Marita Canedo
Justicia Migrante/Migrant Justice

Shela Linton
Co-Coordinator BIPOC Caucus, Root Social Justice Center

Sha’an Mouliert
Co-Coordinator, I am Vermont Too

Mark Hughes
Exectutive Director, Justice for All

Beverly Little Thunder
Activist, founder of Kunsi Keya Tamakoce, Peace and Justice Board Member

https://www.facebook.com/naacprutland/posts/2253290184906966

[TwilightZone]

41. True.

He pretty routinely dismisses the concerns of others by insisting that his policies will help everyone, the implication being that those concerns don't have any independent importance.

[jimfields33]

44. Biden has huge problem with Hispanics

He can’t win without them.

[TwilightZone]

45. He's up in Florida 60-12. Doesn't sound like a problem.

He has an 88% chance of winning a majority before the convention and a 94% chance of winning at least a plurality.

Doesn't sound like a problem.

He won Texas, which is more than 1/3 Latino.

Doesn't sound like a problem.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-primary-forecast/?ex_cid=rrpromo

[jimfields33]

46. He's not winning Hispanics.

He might win Cubans in Florida but not Hispanics in central Florida.

[TwilightZone]

48. lol

You know Cubans are Latinos, right?

60-12, with another 14% for Bloomberg, leaves no room for your assertions. They're simply false.

This just keeps getting funnier.

[Todd79]

50. How much support

How much support would Bernie have with the Latino community if they were aware that not only did he oppose the immigration reform bill of 2007, but supported a bill that allowed THE FUCKING MINUTEMEN to patrol the Mexican border in search of illegals?

In 2006, Sanders supported the Minutemen, a civilian militia that patrolled the southern border with the aim of preventing unauthorized immigrants from crossing, voting for an amendment to bar American officials from sharing information about the group’s activities with the Mexican government after Republicans took to the House floor claiming that the vigilantes were filling a “void which the government was unable to fill.”

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/25/21143931/bernie-sanders-immigration-record-explained

Biden isn’t an asshole who goes completely negative on someone else running for the same goal of defeating the dotard (at least yet), and Bernie does have some bright spots on his immigration resume, but he’s not to the left of Joe there, who voted for the 2007 bill and against armed white nationalists patrolling the border.

[HarlanPepper]

54. You should probably find some new straws to grasp

[HarlanPepper]

53. Also he won Texas and is favored in AZ and NM

[MrsCoffee]

14. Just leave Bernie alone!

I know, then the media is ignoring him.

Poor Bernie.

[Demsrule86]

34. MrsCoffee...as always you hit the nail on the head.

[MrsCoffee]

38. When the nail sticks out like a sore thumb, it's hard to miss.

[Demsrule86]

32. How can you be our nominee if you can't win over the most reliable and important part of our party?

[NurseJackie]

39. Why give him a pass? Doesn't he want to be the President of ALL AMERICANS?

Why antagonize the guy?

Why give him a pass? Doesn't he want to be the President of ALL AMERICANS?

If he can't be honest with someone like Rachel... if he can't handle some direct and pointed questions... then HOW THE HELL does anything think that he's got the mettle to be POTUS? A successful President can't go around dodging questions and hard issues all day long. A successful President can't ignore AA voters (needs, hopes, problems, issues, challenges, difficulties) simply because "he doesn't do well with the black population" to use your words.

In so many ways, Bernie is simply not qualified to lead our nation or to be the "Leader of the Free World".

[brush]

43. Because no Dem candidate can win our nomination without black support...

and without it, you can't get to the GE. It's that simple.

[Happy Hoosier]

52. Because we need high turnout from black voters to win!!

Bernie isn't producing the the hordes of new voters he always promises. that means we have to turn our traditional base in droves. He's got to talk about how he does that. We absolutely LOSE if we don't have strong turnout among black Americans!

[LongtimeAZDem]

4. When did "Biden brag about blacks"? Link please

[jimfields33]

5. Oh give me a break.

[ehrnst]

15. You think that Sanders should be exempt from being asked hard questions by the press?

Only pitched softballs and pre-approved questions that play to his strengths?

Doesn't that sound like a POTUS we're trying to get rid of?

[TwilightZone]

9. "brags about blacks"

You should really rethink this. It's not a good look.

[jimfields33]

12. Not exactly what I said but changed it anyway.

[TwilightZone]

13. It was a direct quote.

Hence, the quotation marks. It was exactly what you said, by definition.

[ehrnst]

18. Yes, it's what you said. Also, an acceptance speech is not an interview with a journalist.

So there's that.

[jimfields33]

20. I said he said it during the South Carolina acceptance speech. Understand?????

[ehrnst]

37. And how is that comparable to being an evasion of a direct question from a journalist?

I don't understand. Please explain.

And I'm still waiting for those links where any Democrats have said that Biden would be a "third term for Obama." I provided you with links where he himself says that is not the case...

[Happy Hoosier]

11. He can brag about it.

But when he uses that brag as a deflection, that's a problem.

If black voters don't turn out in big numbers, we are in trouble, and Sanders needs to address that.

[jimfields33]

17. I just dont know what you want him to say.

“I have 16 percent African American support. My policies would help the African American population so hopefully more will vote for me?” I guess that’d work maybe.

[ehrnst]

23. How does that answer the question Maddow asked:

“What is going wrong with your campaign when it comes to competing in the South and competing for Black voters?”

And honest assessment, or even a "I don't know, but we're looking into that," would have done the job.

However, that would have required that he admit that there could possibly be any mistakes or shortcomings on the part of his campaign, and that's why he got testy.

You know that's happening when he says "Look..." or "Now look..." to start off his answer.

[Happy Hoosier]

29. I want him to admit he's fucked up when it comes to connecting with black voters.

Maybe even have the humility to assess his approach to racial politics. Ya know, maybe respect black leaders, show up to important events, etc. An apology for blowing off the Selma commemoration might be a start.

Black voters don't want to be patronized by an old white dude telling them they don't know what's best for them. Again, it just highlights his complete lack of humility and unwillingness to form the coalitions he needs to.

[Demsrule86]

30. It would have been honest at least...his words will be interpreted as the Black vote isn't

that important, and I can win without it. Combine this with the low information voter meme from some in his campaign...and you have a recipe for disaster. Already I see some saying Sanders is looking for the 'white working man to save his candidacy' on twitter and other social media sites I am not a Sanders supporter and with his lack of AA support don't think he should be our nominee...but I would vote for a yellow dog...hell I would vote for my cat that pee's on dirty clothes (damn cat is a Siamese) before voting for Trump. Sanders whatever his faults is a bazillion times better than Trump.

[LisaM]

6. One thing that jumped out to me here

is that Sanders is implying Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton are only popular with Black voters because of a coattail effect. That's insulting to both the candidates and the voters.

[jimfields33]

10. It's well known that joe will be Obama's third term.

You’ve heard that too more then once.

[LisaM]

24. No, I haven't.

But you are proving my point.

[democrattotheend]

49. Biden certainly seems to want people to think that

His approach is very different from Gore, who went out of his way to distance himself from Clinton. I'm not criticizing Biden's approach at all - I was and will always be a huge Obama supporter. But it's not unreasonable for Bernie to point out that Biden is getting such huge margins from the black community in part because of his connection and loyalty to Obama.

[HarlanPepper]

55. He did that for a couple of reasons

One, the media was deep into a Clinton fatigue meme. Two, the Lewinsky scandal. The distancing wasn’t done for shits and giggles, it had a purpose. We can argue whether that was all a big mistake by Gore, but those are the reasons. I lived it.

[democrattotheend]

60. I lived it too

I wasn't quite old enough to vote yet but I remember the 2000 election pretty well. IMO, it's great that we have a former president who is so popular that everyone's running ads with footage of him praising them.

[ehrnst]

26. So why is Sanders now embracing Obama in a way he never has, to the point of a misleading

ad that makes it appear that Obama was promoting Sanders in 2016... can you provide a link to where Biden or any other Democrat said Biden would be "Obama's third term?"

Obama did say, "That's right. Feel the Bern!" at the 2016 convention. But he said it while trying to get Sanders supporters to vote for Clinton, not while offering an endorsement of Sanders.

Obama was trying to unite the party behind Clinton after her contentious primary with Sanders. During Obama's lengthy testimonial to Clinton, he complimented Sanders supporters -- and promptly encouraged everybody to vote for Democrats.

"So if you agree that there's too much inequality in our economy and too much money in our politics, we all need to be as vocal and as organized and as persistent as Bernie Sanders supporters have been during this election," Obama said. There were cheers. Obama continued: "We all need to get out and vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, and then hold them accountable until they get the job done."

The crowd cheered again, and there was a chant of "Ber-nie!" Obama then said, "That's right -- feel the Bern!"

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/04/politics/fact-check-sanders-ad-obama/index.html

[William769]

27. Biden says his presidency would not be 'a third term of Obama'

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that his White House bid would not be “a third term of Obama.”

"I want to earn this on my own. This is not a third term of Obama,” he told MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski during an interview on “Morning Joe.”

"A lot of people want to know about your relationship with President Obama. Are you in contact?" Brzezinski asked. "You worked with him for eight years. You're buds. Why no endorsement?"

Biden again said he never asked Obama to endorse his run for the White House, something he made clear when he entered the presidential race. In the MSNBC interview, he said that he didn't "want to put him in that spot."

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/453237-biden-says-his-presidency-is-not-a-third-term-of-obama

Your memes just don't work. you get busted every time.

[ehrnst]

28. Lol. 'Biden says his presidency would not be 'a third term of Obama'

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that his White House bid would not be “a third term of Obama.”

"I want to earn this on my own. This is not a third term of Obama,” he told MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski during an interview on “Morning Joe.”
.............................................
Biden again said he never asked Obama to endorse his run for the White House, something he made clear when he entered the presidential race. In the MSNBC interview, he said that he didn't "want to put him in that spot."

“The world has changed. It's different. We have the same value set, he and I. And, you know, I don't think we gave him enough credit. He's a guy that our kids could look up to and they did look up to.”

He added: ”But it's a different world. The same things don't apply. But I do keep in contact with him. I see him. Our daughters — my granddaughter and his daughters are best friends."

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/453237-biden-says-his-presidency-is-not-a-third-term-of-obama

https://grabien.com/story.php?id=271411

GUTHRIE: “Is that how you see it, the third term for Barack Obama?"
BIDEN: “No, my point is, I see it as moving on from what we started.”

Where are your links?

[William769]

31. GMTA!

[ehrnst]

33. Yep! Here's another...

https://grabien.com/story.php?id=271411

GUTHRIE: “Is that how you see it, the third term for Barack Obama?"
BIDEN: “No, my point is, I see it as moving on from what we started.”

[Just_Vote_Dem]

51. Mostly from Republicans n/t

[TwilightZone]

16. He seems not to understand that they've been a significant part of the base for decades.

He's been in government for a big chunk of that time. He really should have figured this out by now.

[sweetloukillbot]

35. To be fair, he's been in government representing the whitest state in the nation...

[ehrnst]

40. Vermont's Black Leaders: We Were 'Invisible' to Bernie Sanders

Back in 2006, the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, a Brattleboro-area civil rights organization, hosted a Candidate Night. The race for the open U.S. Senate seat between Bernie Sanders and Richard Tarrant, a Republican and one of the wealthiest people in the state, had grown increasingly acrimonious.

The audience of African-American activists and other Vermonters of color should have been a friendly one for the socialist congressman.

Instead, remembers Curtiss Reed Jr., the executive director of the group, it became something of a showdown. Sanders “was just really dismissive of anything that had to do with race and racism, saying that they didn’t have anything to do with the issues of income inequality,” Reed told The Daily Beast.

“He just always kept coming back to income inequality as a response, as if talking about income inequality would somehow make issues of racism go away.”

And since winning that race, Sanders’s approach toward Reed and his organization has been one of “benign neglect,” the activist added. “We are a major statewide organization. It would stand to reason that you would check in with your major constituents, but voters of color are simply not on his radar.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vermonts-black-leaders-we-were-invisible-to-bernie-sanders

[honest.abe]

19. Sanders will never ever be able to connect with black voters in any substantial way.

He had this problem in 2016 and is having the same exact problem now. If he cant get black voters, he cant be the Dem nominee.

By canceling his rally in Mississippi, he is basically giving up on black voters. Fatal mistake again, much like not going to Selma.

Sanders might as well hang it up and go back to Vermont where he is more comfortable.

[Demsrule86]

22. Black voters are huge in Michigan...so I think he hurt himself.

[honest.abe]

25. Missouri too.

Tuesday is shaping up to be another big day for Joe!

[Demsrule86]

21. I use the term people of color when talking about something that affects everyone...but it shouldn't

be used to hide the lack of AA support in terms of Sen.Sanders. AA voters are very important in our party and no one should be our nominee without their support. This is a means of erasing them...and Sanders should stop doing this. Joe Scaborough said he thought Biden would win because he had the AA vote.' If you want to the Democratic nominee,you have to carry this vote'...he said he had doubts after New Hampshire because he though some AA voters, being very practical would throw their support behind Bloomberg and the polls which turned out to fake showing Biden's support in the single digits among AA voters...it didn't happen

Jim Clyburn's endorsement saved Vice President Biden's campaign because it showed he had confidence in this man. However, you could really have predicted that once you got to diverse states...all the candidates who didn't have AA voter would go nowhere. As a pundit pointed out Clinton lost both Iowa and and New Hampshire and went on to be our nominee and win the presidency. But no one has ever won without South Carolina. Now history is not destiny necessarily...but it sure was this year.

[ehrnst]

42. Vermont's Black Leaders: We Were 'Invisible' to Bernie Sanders

Back in 2006, the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, a Brattleboro-area civil rights organization, hosted a Candidate Night. The race for the open U.S. Senate seat between Bernie Sanders and Richard Tarrant, a Republican and one of the wealthiest people in the state, had grown increasingly acrimonious.

The audience of African-American activists and other Vermonters of color should have been a friendly one for the socialist congressman.

Instead, remembers Curtiss Reed Jr., the executive director of the group, it became something of a showdown. Sanders “was just really dismissive of anything that had to do with race and racism, saying that they didn’t have anything to do with the issues of income inequality,” Reed told The Daily Beast.

“He just always kept coming back to income inequality as a response, as if talking about income inequality would somehow make issues of racism go away.”

And since winning that race, Sanders’s approach toward Reed and his organization has been one of “benign neglect,” the activist added. “We are a major statewide organization. It would stand to reason that you would check in with your major constituents, but voters of color are simply not on his radar.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vermonts-black-leaders-we-were-invisible-to-bernie-sanders

[NCProgressive]

47. I am surprised he doesn't include sicilians and Southern Greeks as POC

They are slightly darker you know?

[TwilightZone]

56. ...

I can't decide if I should feel bad for laughing at this or not.

Nah.

[msongs]

57. Bernie - go to Mississippi bad, go on FOX TV network good. got the priorities for all to see nt

[NCProgressive]

58. ++++++

[Gothmog]

59. Sanders appears to be giving up on African American voters

Link to tweet