From Reddit: "Why isn't Bernie Sanders doing well with black voters?"

[UrbScotty]

Many reasons off the top of my head. Take it as you will:

1. Because we already know what it's like to have someone promise us the moon and leave us out to dry. Believe it or not, we actually have a great deal of experience with far left politicians and figureheads. MLK, it's argued, was a socialist. The Black Panthers were socialists. We've had these ideas and promises run up and down our communities from East to West coast, North to South.... It never pans out. We've seen assassinations, fraud, all sorts of dirty tricks... Oftentimes though, it's as simple as politicians flat out lying to us. Bernie Sanders isn't new. So all these promises sound great and all, but they all sound like pipe dreams.

2. Who is he? No, not saying "black people haven't heard of Bernie Sanders", I mean, who is Bernie Sanders? He's this guy from Vermont apparently that claims he was very active in the Civil Rights movement but has been auspiciously absent from just about every black struggle since then. Suddenly he's on the national stage and all these people are saying, "well, he was there with you in the 60's so you should be with him now". Uh huh, and where has he been since? I honestly can't believe people would actually try and say what Sanders and his supporters say to black people with a straight face. Like we owe him something. Here's the truth, a LOT of people were involved in the CRM. Many went on to lead illustrious careers in politics and government. Some became real usurpers and phonies, others never stopped working for the community. Others simply moved on. The ones that the black community supports the most are people who went on to politics and government and never stopped working for the Black community. They represent us to this day. They give back to our communities. They speak out for us etc etc.... Suddenly Sanders wants to come around after 50 so years and cash in on some credit he has from the 60's and his supporters are demanding support as if he's been a champion of our community all this time? Nah son. Doesn't work that way.

...

5. We LOVE the Clinton's. Again. We LOVE the Clinton's. Bill is the nigga and Hillary is a G haha but seriously, they're basically heroes for us and honorary black people to many black people. And it's rightfully earned. People always point to the crime laws as how we should be against them, but there ignorant of the fact that WE SUPPORTED THOSE CRIME LAWS. Man, the 90's were CRAZY. People were getting smoked for wearing Starter jackets and getting jacked for shoes. You couldn't go into certain neighborhoods or parts of the city if you didn't know someone who would vouch for you. And if you had on the wrong color, it was wraps. People were getting killed left and right. Innocent people too. Sitting in their living rooms watching tv and little kids were catching stray bullets through the eyes. The 80's and 90's were HELL. We were pissed off that the government wasn't helping us. Of course we wanted these gangsters and thugs locked up... WTF? Are we HAPPY that the laws unintended consequences ended up locking more of us up disproportionately? No. But no one can say with a straight face that, when those laws were written, Bill Clinton's goal was to lock up all black people. And Hillary's super predator comments? Bruh, that shit was real! It's surreal to watch urban white yuppies tell us what we should be outraged about. You never lived in our hoods. There sure as shit were young ass kids in middle school and high school that were out bangin and they were stone cold killers. Let me repeat that one more time: there absolutely were people on the streets, young ass kids too, that would have no qualms with jacking a couple, shooting an old lady through the lung and watching her bleed out. I'm talking about stoniest of the cold killers. Baby killers. Infant killers. Some of these thugs had no soul bruh, the brutality is something I've noticed a lot of white Americans are just completely ignorant or unaware of. That shit was absolutely accurate! And every time I hear shit like this from Bernie supporters my only reaction is, "damn... You really don't know". Dude, the 80's and 90's were HORRIBLE for black people and the ONLY people in government that seemed to care were the Clinton's. They fought HARD and passed the gun laws. They passed the crime bills that cleaned up our streets (albeit with terrible unintended consequences). They tried their best and they fought hard for us when no one else really did. Everybody was still wet off Reagan and was trying to be the next Ron. I know this is neutral politics and I'm trying to be on my best behavior, but F--- Ronald Reagan tho. Seriously. The reason me saying that matters is because, to a lot to black people, the Clinton's were the ones who had our backs after that guy ripped our communities to shreds and ruined us. Back to the point, we see the mud Bernie supporters are trying to sling on Hillary (and Bill to some extent), and it's just more of the same shit we saw in the early 90's. But Clinton had our backs in the 90's and we had his at the voting booth. And we got her back too now. She's not the same lady she was back then. She's older, obviously. But is ANYONE the same person they were 25 years ago? I'd hope not.

https://np.reddit.com/r/NeutralPolitics/comments/472fj6/why_isnt_bernie_sanders_doing_well_with_black/d09sdaw

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. Bookmarking until I get home. n/t

[charlyvi]

2. Because he condescendingly tells them what is in their best interest,

as if they didn't know better than he. Because his supporters tell them that the 55% who live down South cast votes that don't matter. Because his outreach efforts are insulting. Because he insults the very first black President that they love. Because PoC are the base of the Democratic party and he assumed that a purported "revolution" that is overwhelmingly white is something they should inherently trust.......for their own good! Because, because, because.

[Treant]

4. No, don't hold back,

it's unhealthy. Tell us how you really feel.



But yeah. In my experience, when working with a community or individual whose concerns you don't know intimately, there are a few basic guides. Ask, don't tell. Listen, don't speak. Think, don't pontificate. Consider, don't assume.

I found the point particularly interesting about showing up after doing something fifty years ago and expecting it to trump decades of work with the community. That simply won't happen.

[charlyvi]

7. Nope

Black people have seen and heard it all before. They are not gullible at all; you have to work for their vote, show up in their communities. You can't just parachute in and expect them to trust you over a woman they have known and worked with for years.

[timlot]

3. Very accurate read...

Sums up my sentiments. Where has Bernie been on the national stage the last 20 years? He should have ran for president in 2004. My school age years happen in 90s and yes that crime bill was needed. Sorry some folks got swept up in, but you shouldn't have been doing crimes. 3 strikes you out dummy.

[charlyvi]

5. When the crime bill is brought up against Hillary

it seems strange to me. First, she wasn't president; second, it was a VERY different time and much changes is 25 years; third, she kicked off her campaign by calling for criminal justice reform!; fourth, Bernie voted for the 1994 crime bill! So he's condemning Hillary for the bill, when she never cast a vote, but he did! Crazy.

[fun n serious]

6. Yes. I was in my early 20's in the 90's

3 strikes you're out was 3 class A felonies. Class B, C didn't count in that law. That matters a lot. Class A is not a bag of pot for example.

[Historic NY]

10. I worked the street in the 80's & 90's it wasn't pleasant...

the OP was right people were getting killed with no rhyme or reason. It still goes on in some places with little or no impunity.

[jmowreader]

8. There's one thing he missed, and it's critical

6. That $15 per hour shit? That is going to DECIMATE Black America. Especially the black business community. What Bernie in his ivory tower, and his supporters on the floor below, fail to realize is a lot of small businesses are operating on such thin margins the owner isn't drawing a paycheck from his own business. Read that again. There are people in this country who want so badly to make a difference they're willing to open a business that can only survive if the owner works for free. And a hell of a lot of those companies are owned by African-Americans. If Bernie Sanders walks into a business like this and tells the owner he has to double what he pays his staff, pay three times what he is now in taxes and pony up for expensive single-payer insurance for his staff, the poor bastard Bernie just talked to is going to walk straight out the front door, go to the nearest Ace Hardware, and buy a "going out of business sale" sign.

[fun n serious]

11. We just did it here in Portland Oregon

Seattle did it a year ago and they're not having problems. Hillary wants to do it too but start at 12.00. That's not my issue with Bernie..

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/03/its_official_kate_brown_signs.html

[jmowreader]

13. Oregon's new law is pretty slick

There are a couple things you're missing, though:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/oregon-governor-poised-to-sign-landmark-minimum-wage-bill-into-law-1456933247

* it phases in over six years - Bernie only gives them four to catch up, and that's probably not enough.
and
* it has three steps: big cities, small cities and rural areas. Surprise, surprise: it's more expensive to live in Multnomah County than Deschutes County, and it's even cheaper to live in Harney County. The wage needs to be different in Portland or Corvallis than it does in Burns or Ontario, and this law allows for that.

So really, this is a great law. I like it a lot.

Now let's talk Seattle.

http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/seattle/2016/01/01/seattle-minimum-wage-takes-one-step-closer-15-hour/78181572/

Once again, their $15 law is phased in over a lot longer time frame than Bernie wants - 2021 for people working at small business. This gives them more time to prepare. Plus, there's so much money floating around Seattle between the tourists and the tech workers, companies will be able to deal with $15 simply by raising prices and not be hurt. The place where it's already $15 (actually higher now, because it's indexed to inflation) is SeaTac, where the airport is. Their law applies to three groups of people: transportation workers at the airport, hotel workers at properties with more than 100 rooms AND more than 30 nonsupervisory employees, and restaurant workers at properties with more than 10 nonsupervisory employees. The affected properties are tacking on "living wage surcharges" - yes, they are being assholes about it - to cover their expenses.

I could whip off the names of a LOT of small towns in Idaho and Washington whose business community would disappear if they had to pay Seattle wages.

Minimum wage should be a living wage. Absolutely. It doesn't have to be a luxury wage, and $15 per hour in a lot of the country is exactly that.

[fun n serious]

14. You make very good points.

I live in Multnomah County. It's expensive to live here and hard to do at even $15.00 and hour but smaller towns in Southern Oregon it would be a decent wage. I do see your point of small businesses hurt in small towns.

[jmowreader]

15. Thanks for agreeing

Many people have tunnel vision - "this is how it needs to be where I live, this is how it should be everywhere." Except that it can't be that way everywhere. We make tradeoffs to live where we want; I know if I want to live in a town with 2000 people in it I'm not going to be making a ton of money. Conversely, if I want to make $20 per hour as a printer I'm going to spend a grand a month in rent and fight traffic all the way to work.

How do we come up with an America that works for everyone? This early in the morning I don't have the answer, but I get the impression it isn't to make sure everyone in Kansas makes enough money to live in The Bronx.

[stonecutter357]

9. K&R!

[betsuni]

12. K&R