Let's End This 'Together,' Sanders Tells Black Youth in South Carolina

[RiverLover]

Published on
Sunday, September 13, 2015
by
Common Dreams
Let's End This 'Together,' Sanders Tells Black Youth in South Carolina

The presidential hopeful was joined by Dr. Cornel West, who introduced the Vermont Senator as 'a brother of integrity and honesty and decency.'
by
Lauren McCauley, staff writer


Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders addresses young voters at the historically black Benedict College in Columbia, S.C. (Photo: Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders this weekend brought his populist message to South Carolina where, addressing crowds of black and white voters, he spoke forcefully about criminal justice reform, police brutality, and systemic inequity.

And along for the ride on his four-day Southern sweep was Sanders' friend and champion, black academic Dr. Cornel West, who introduced the Vermont Senator as "a brother of integrity and honesty and decency."

"Dear brother Bernie Sanders, he is not just on the move, he is going to win," West told the crowd of 1,000 Saturday morning at Benedict College, a historically black college located in Columbia. Last month, the Princeton University professor emeritus officially endorsed Sanders for president.

In addition to discussing his populist touchstones—income inequality, breaking up the banks, campaign finance reform, healthcare for all—Sanders also lingered on issues of racism and racial inequality.

The Hill reports:

"When I talk about racism … I am talking about Sandra Bland," Sanders said, referencing the Chicago woman who was found hanged in a Texas police cell after being arrested for a minor traffic violation.

Sanders ticked off several other names — Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, “and too many others who died at the hands of police officers, or in police custody,” he said as the audience rose to its feet.

“If anybody thinks that this phenomenon … is something new, you are very, very mistaken,” Sanders continued, wiping his brow. “It has gone on for a very, very long time.”

“Like any other public official, if a police officer breaks the law, that police officer must be held accountable,” he added, to another standing ovation.

At one point, Sanders' warned the young crowd, "I’m going to bore you with facts; I’m not great at jokes. Alright? So let’s get some truth out there."

He went on to cite a statistic that in 2009, 69 percent of black male high school dropouts ended up in jail, which he said is up from 15 percent in 1979. "Now it seems to me, given that reality, that tragic reality, it makes a lot more sense for us just to invest in jobs and education rather than jails and incarceration," he said.

The presidential hopeful also touted a sweeping criminal justice reform bill which he is expected to introduce to Congress next week. The legislation would increase oversight for privately-run prisons and end contracts for for-profit prisons within two years, reinstate the federal parole system, and end the mandatory quota of immigrants detained.

"Racism remains alive today, and our goal together must be to end all forms of institutional racism and make major reforms in our criminal justice system," he concluded.

As for West, aides for the candidate believe he will provide a helpful bridge between Sanders' economic message and the racial justice movement, which has focused on police and systemic brutality against people of color.

"He’s a forceful voice for understanding the intersection of racial justice and economic justice. He understands very well Bernie’s message. He provides validation to many people that the agenda Bernie is putting forward is an agenda that would benefit people in the African American community and beyond," said Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver.

The college visit came ahead of two other South Carolina stops in Florence and Rock Hill later Saturday. The four-day Southern swing also included a low-dollar fundraiser Friday night in Atlanta, as well as a rally in Greensboro, N.C. Sunday evening, and multiple stops Monday in Virginia, including a convocation speech to students at Liberty University, the conservative Christian school founded by evangelist Jerry Falwell, the Washington Post reports.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/09/13/lets-end-together-sanders-tells-black-youth-south-carolina

*emphasis mine

GO Bernie!!!!

[uponit7771]

1. But associate yourself with a person that calls another human overtly racist tripe because they

... feel slighted in West!?


Really!!!?

Most people defending West have NO IDEA how small the mans character is and why the animus grew between him and Obama.... had NOTHING to do with policy... it started with inauguration tickets!!!!!!

. He doesn’t have time, even two seconds, to say thank you or I’m glad you’re pulling for me and praying for me, but he’s calling these other people. I said, this is very interesting. And then as it turns out with the inauguration I couldn’t get a ticket with my mother and my brother. I said this is very strange. We drive into the hotel and the guy who picks up my bags from the hotel has a ticket to the inauguration. My mom says, ‘That’s something that this dear brother can get a ticket and you can’t get one, honey, all the work you did for him from Iowa.’ Beginning in Iowa to Ohio. We had to watch the thing in the hotel.

There's a ton of tone deafness sitting on that stage right there, it's easy to say lets fight racism...

Whats he supposed to say. " lets have more racism and more segregation and more black folk killed by the cops!?"

I'm glad Sanders has "evolved" on his message of economic equality vs directly addressing racism but the disconnect by associating with West is loud and clear...

There are blacks out there who haven't decided to call other people racist labeling that Sanders could choose to be connected to

[LWolf]

2. I disagree.

[uponit7771]

3. You think there are NO black people Sanders can associate with that isn't calling Obama racist ass'd

... names when he gets a chance!?

Really?

Lets not argue for the sake of arguing

[LWolf]

6. I certainly did not say nor suggest

that there are NO black people Sanders can associate with other than West. West is ONE black person, and Sanders has associated with, and continues to associate with, many others.

I don't think that West's words about Obama are racist, as I have pointed out elsewhere:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=588446

I understand that some people put supporting the first black president regardless of what he does or doesn't do as a higher priority than I do. I understand the emotional investment on the part of many. I understand that those people will find offense where I don't think offense was intended.

I disagree, but I understand.

I also understand that those who are frustrated by Sander's surge, by the support he's gaining, will spin anything and everything in their efforts to slow him down. That's politics.

[uponit7771]

10. My main point was Sanders COULD associate with someone who doesn't toss racist tripe around

... like West has done and you posted you disagree.

Do you agree that Sanders could associate with someone who doesn't proffer racist name calling towards Obama as West has done!?

tia

[LWolf]

11. I disagree that

West tosses "racist tripe" around, and I pointed out that Sanders DOES, indeed, associate with other African Americans.

Which part of that are you having trouble getting?

[uponit7771]

12. Claiming Obama "ni66erized" the presidency is not racist tripe? Intimating Obama isnt really a black

... man is ok?!

Thx in advance

[LWolf]

14. Context.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=588446

[uponit7771]

15. What West said about Obama was not only a bald faced lie contextually, Obama had spoken out...

... against white supremacy and racism many times ...

But really its ok to call Obaam "niggerized" in any context?!

I'm asking a just question for a true answer

regards

[LWolf]

16. I think I explained

my thoughts about that in the link.

[uponit7771]

17. It sounds like you're saying via the link you think its ok to call Obama "ni66erized" due to context

... I'm I right about that?!

tia

[roguevalley]

24. there were plenty of preachers for Obama too and in the

End he tossed wright and went with the bigot. Nice

[uponit7771]

25. So does this mean you think its ok to call Obama ni66erized too?! thx in advance

[noiretextatique]

44. please give it a rest: not all black people love or support obama

some do so in terms that may offend some people. that alone is not an indictment of Sanders, or West, for that matter, as much as Clinton supporters would like it to be. so this guilt by association resurrection of the "sanders is racist" meme is complete bullshit. so is guilt by association. and what continues to be offensive to me, as a black person, is the suggestion that Sanders should align himself with more acceptable black people, as defined by whom? Clinton supporters? like it or not, as i told someone else, "the black community" does not have the same disdain for West as black and white Clinton supporters do.

[Ed Suspicious]

21. What the serious fuck is "ni66erized?" You do realize that when you quote a person you really need

to use his words.

[uponit7771]

26. the 6's are gs, and that is West word that he used... not mine

[RiverLover]

4. Why was Cornel welcome at this historically black college if he is so universally hated

by blacks?

You have to admit, he's getting more attention now too.

Part of his problem is that he hasn’t been able to properly promote his message of helping minorities. I asked him if he believes that the coverage he has gotten has been fair and equitable. Rather than complaining about the quantity of coverage, he complained about the quality, what he called “the soap opera aspect of politics.”

He explained: “So if I go up on a stage and I slip on a banana peel, do you think that will make the front page of the paper? Will it be on CNN? Probably will. Meanwhile, I have talked in 20 different speeches that 51 percent of young African-American kids are unemployed and underemployed. Do you know how much coverage that’s gotten? How much?” He answered his own question: “Every single speech that I give I talk about that. I don’t know that it’s made the newspapers yet.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/14/opinion/charles-m-blow-bernie-sanders-and-the-black-vote.html?_r=0

[uponit7771]

5. Who cares if he's hated or not?! Why associate yourself with someone who calls other humans racist..

...tripe as Cornell West has done.

Him being hated or loved is irrelevant, West has little character... he's Jeb Bush without the money or name recognition... a person of low character.

Again, this animus between he and Obama and the racist name calling started with INAUGORATION TICKETS!!!

[RiverLover]

8. I'd rather just be grateful Bernie is friends with this amazing man, West.

Transcript of Cornel West’s January 17, 2013 statements regarding the use of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Bible during the inauguration of Barack Obama:


Now, when I got the news that my dear brother Barack Obama, President Obama, was going to put his precious hand on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Bible, I got upset. And I got upset because you don’t play with Martin Luther King, Jr. and you don’t play with his people. And by his people, what I mean is people of good conscience, fundamentally committed to peace, and truth and justice. And especially the black tradition that produced it.

All the blood, sweat and tears that went into producing a Martin Luther King, Jr. generated a brother of such high decency and dignity that you don’t use his prophetic fire as just a moment in a presidential pageantry, without understanding the challenge that he presents to all of those in power no matter what color they are. No matter what color they are!

So, the righteous indignation of a Martin Luther King, Jr. becomes a moment in political calculation and that makes my blood boil. Why? Because Martin Luther King, Jr., he died knowing the three crimes against humanity he was wrestling with. Jim Crow – traumatizing, terrorizing, stigmatizing black people, lynching, insultful – not just segregation the way the press wants to talk about.

Second, carpet bombing in Vietnam, killing innocent people especially innocent children. Those are war crimes Martin Luther King, Jr. was willing to die for. And thirdly, was poverty of all colors. He said it’s a crime against humanity for the richest nation in the history of the world to have so many of its precious children of all colors living in poverty, and especially on the chocolate side of the nation, in Indian reservations, in brown barrios, in yellow slices, and black ghettos, then. We call them hoods now, but ghettos then.

So I said to myself, “ok nothing wrong with putting your hand on the Bible.” Even though the bible talks about justice and Jesus is talking bout “the least of these.” But when you put in Martin’s bible? I said, “this is personal for me. This is the tradition I came out of. This is the tradition that is connected to my grandmothers prayers, and my grandfathers sermons, and my mothers tears, and my fathers smile, and it’s over against all of those in power who refuse to follow decent policies.”

So I say to myself, “Brother Martin Luther King, Jr., what would you say about the new Jim Crow? What would you say about the prison industrial complex? What would you say about the invisibility of so many of our prisoners? So many of our incarcerated, especially when 62% of them are there for soft drugs, but not one executive of a Wall Street bank gone to jail? Not one!” Martin doesn’t like that. Not one wiretapper. Not one torturer under the Bush administration, at all.

Then, what you say about the drones bring dropped on our precious brothers and sisters in Pakistan and Somalia and Yemen? Those are war crimes, just like war crimes in Vietnam. Martin Luther King, Jr., what would you say? “My voice hollers out,” and don’t tame it with your hand on his bible. Allow his prophetic voice to be heard. Martin, what would you say about the poverty in America now, beginning with the children, then the elderly, then our working folk, and all colors not just here, around the world. Don’t hide and conceal his challenge. Don’t tame his prophetic fire.

So, that as much as I’m glad that Barack Obama won – I think that brother Mitt Romney would have been a catastrophe, and I understand my brother Newt told the truth about fat vampire capitalism but that’s true for the system as a whole not just Mitt Romney in that regard – but when Barack Obama attempts to use that rich tradition of Frederick Douglas and Ida B. Wells-Barnett? Use the tradition of A. Phillip Randolph? Use the tradition of Rabbi Joshua Heschel? Use the tradition of Tom Hayden and so many others struggling to produce that voice that pushed Martin in the direction that it did? I get upset.

People say, “Oh brother West, there’s Smiley and West, hating Obama.” No, no. We just loving the tradition that produced Martin Luther King, Jr. and were not going to allow it to be in any way sanitized, deodorized and sterilized, we want the subversive power to be heard. That’s what made me think, when you said he was gonna put in his hand on that bible. And I’m praying or him. I’m praying for him. As is Newt – both of us Christians, you Catholic, I’m Holy Ghost funkygut gutbucket Baptist – but we’re praying for him. Putting pressure on.

[uponit7771]

13. Why not rather proffer someone who doesn't have a vendeta against Obama because of

... inaugoration ticket placement!?

[questionseverything]

48. so sad...you read that eloquent speech and thats what you got?

here is my favorite part....

So I say to myself, “Brother Martin Luther King, Jr., what would you say about the new Jim Crow? What would you say about the prison industrial complex? What would you say about the invisibility of so many of our prisoners? So many of our incarcerated, especially when 62% of them are there for soft drugs, but not one executive of a Wall Street bank gone to jail? Not one!” Martin doesn’t like that. Not one wiretapper. Not one torturer under the Bush administration, at all.

[mountain grammy]

19. Thank you!

I am also grateful for Cornell West and that he's supporting Bernie.

[in_cog_ni_to]

18. Ummm...certain people on DU have spent months calling Bernie supporters racists.

Not just racists, but White Supremacist Liberals.
So, I think you're being a tad hypocritical on this issue.

If I were Cornel, I'd be pissed off too after working my ass off for Obama and then being snubbed by him. What a nasty, rude thing to do to him! Obama used him and then discarded him when he no longer needed him.

[uponit7771]

20. Link and quote me agreeing with anyone calling someone underserving a white supremacist?!!?

... you're overt deflection is noted.

This isn't about me, you have no proof of me agreeing with anything in regards to what you posted or even knowing about it.

This is thin at best...

I'll ask you the same question I've asked others...

Do you believe Obama has "ni66erized" the presidency ?!

tia

[in_cog_ni_to]

23. Where did I say YOU said it? I didn't.

And I don't go on link hunts when you can just as easily do it yourself.

<"Do you believe Obama has "ni66erized" the presidency">

Since I don't even know what that means and never use that kind of language nor do I know anyone who uses that language, I'd have to say no. I like Obama. I don't like some of the things he has done since being in office, but as an Illinois resident, I have voted for him many times. I also campaigned for him.

That being said, Cornel is a citizen of this country, he voted for Obama and he has the RIGHT to say anything he wants about Obama....short of making death threats against a President.

[uponit7771]

27. You posted I was being hypocritical on this issue as if I knew what you were talking about or

... as if I cosigned any of the white supremacist rhetoric.

You can't go on a link hunt when you make shit up about people... there's no why I can be hypocrtical about something I know nothing about in regards to the white supremacist statements

More deflection, Cornell has freedom of speech but Sanders SHOULD have enough sense not to associate with such an asshole.

If West was a republican everyone would be up in arms

[DisgustipatedinCA]

45. I recommend that you don't vote for Sanders, since you have an irrational and uncontrollable hatred

for him.

But when it comes time for the general election, you're going to need to stand aside and be out of the way. It's going to be dead-serious, and those who cannot assist will at least be compelled to get out of the way.

[aikoaiko]

7. Bernie actually hasn't evolved that much on this issue.

He's been fairly outspoken even before being criticized by #BLM

For example, here he is the night before the first #BLM disruption at NN2015.

[uponit7771]

9. That's not what I hear and see, he's specifically talking towards racial issues and not couching...

... them in economic ones as he has mentioned doing in the past.

I'm not talking about just his prez campaign, I'm talking about from 5 years back on to now

[jeff47]

28. Who are we going to believe? You, or our lying eyes? (nt)

[uponit7771]

32. How about Bernies own words? tia

[jeff47]

33. You mean the ones you just dismissed?

How 'bout you start with not blindly dismissing them. Or is the meme just too awesome to not feed?

[beam me up scottie]

42. +1

Post evidence that Bernie speaks up for AA people = lalalalala I can't hear you!

[haikugal]

22. I'm getting tired of being denigrated because I find value in Dr West.

I am not 'tone deaf', I have a fully functioning brain and I'm capable of using it, thank you very much!

Talk about carrying a burden...get off me!

[uponit7771]

30. I get tired of being denigrated by people who accept racist tripe like West spews, but of course

... I have to put up with the effects of West talk not just crap people say on a forum

Also, no one said you think the ugly race based attacks West has spewed is ok...

so how in the hell is it a burden you?!

[haikugal]

34. The effects?

Seriously? No one is trying to silence you, you're trying to silence people you disagree with. You aren't the moral equivalent of an enforcer. We still have a democracy and it requires everyone to have a voice, even when no one is listening. I've heard nothing but the same brow beating over Dr West for months. If you want to disagree stop calling people names and engage in discussion.

It's a burden because people shout about 'racist West' ad nauseam and it feels like brow beating. Talk about the issues...yes I know, you don't like what he said, you think he's petty...we've all heard it for months. We disagree. That doesn't make me racist or tone deaf. Period.

[uponit7771]

43. Yes, the effects... I'm black.. West stupid ass'd "ni66gerized" etc are not of no effect they only..

... set to strengthen ignorant ass's notions of blacks.

Please link and quote me forcing anyone to be silent, your first paragraph seems like hyperbole at best and makes no sense...

I'm expressing the fact that Sanders is not only tone deaf in associating himself with an asshole like West but Wests ugly race based words are wrong but the feed back I'm getting here is it's ok to say what West said about Obama cause in context West was correct that Obama has spoken out against white supremacy which is fuckin stupid on its face.

Or... enough people dodging the question whether they think its ok...

Raced based attacks on anyone are NOT ok

What's "brow beating" is peoople thinking West words towards Obama are ok ...

That's shocking on a progressive board... I've bookmarked enough

[haikugal]

46. Your expressing your opinions not facts....

[Bluenorthwest]

29. So contextualize for me Obama's 08 associations with 'ex gay' hate preachers and Rick Warren, mere

hate preacher. One of Obama's surrogates is infamous for calling gay people vampires and child killers. Yeah. Got anything to compare to that? He attacks the entire minority group, not some politician. Rick Warren called us all pedophiles and Obama went to his Church then invited him to be honored at the inauguration.
Your contention was that Obama did not know that these infamously anti gay bigots were bigots so it was incumbent upon everyone to give him the benefit of the doubt. McClurkin called for war on gays on the 700 Club, Warren called us pedophiles a few weeks before the inauguration. Everyone including Obama knew, but you just brushed all of that vicious shit off as 'poor vetting'.

Very generous when the attack is on LGBT, that's fine. But you need to apply that same spirit when you feel your own ox is gored. I strongly criticized Obama for doing that. I also voted for him. My criticisms of Obama were of specific actions on his part and policies he advanced 'no marriage for gays', policies that were in agreement with his nasty preacher surrogates.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8026215

You claim no one knew that these TV famous, best selling authors and mega selling recording artists for what they were. Very famous and wealthy ministers. No one knew.

[uponit7771]

31. What "association"!!?!? Obama asked the guy to say a prayer not be part of his movement...

... more deflection... this time with false equivalency

[Bluenorthwest]

35. McClurkin was an Obama surrogate and the only speaker at his events. Attacked LGBT at one event.

Double standards. You are a hypocrite. That 'it's just one little prayer' excuse is what the anti gay excuse division said at that time. That's the point.
Speakers at campaign events do not compare to speakers at campaign events? Why is that? Contextualize and explain that. You have been asked to do so once.

Double standards are used by hypocrites to defend their own bigotry.

[uponit7771]

37. Another false equivalncy, McClurkin was one damn singer at some events and not part of Obama's

... campaign or movement.

On the other hand Obama was OPENLY ... OPENLY out of touch, tone deaf and damn wrong about gay rights issues when he became president and would've been hard pressed getting gay people to vote for him seeing he seemed to give lip service to their issues.


Can you say the same for Bernie and blacks!?

Now who's the hypocrite?!

McClurkin was never part of Obama's campaign or movement, he was a singer... either way Obama changed his stance

Picking someone who hates Obama to the level of West does speaks way more volumes of how out of touch Sanders is with the black community...

I don't think black people would appreaciate the assocition with someone who spews as much raced based ugliness as West

[mhatrw]

36. Sanders is not calculated. West is an organic ally of Sanders, not an AA showpiece.

[uponit7771]

38. That's not a good thing either, West hates Obama and is a petulant asshole. West strife with Obama..

...escalated over were he sat during an inaugaortion event.

To say he's organically attracted to Sanders only establishes that a good portion of the fustratrion Sanders expreses is from the West like petulance

[mhatrw]

47. This isn't TMZ.

It's time to stop treating politics like it were personality driven celebrity gossip. It's high time to focus on the great issues that face our nation rather than some supposed "insider" narrative of why Chandler hates Joey. The country is too far gone to make our judgments based on personality issues.

I don't give a damn why West doesn't like Obama personally. On the all the issues that West and Obama differ on, I happen to agree with West. How about you?

Are we going to be political adults who focus on issues or children on the playground who hold grudges and point fingers? "He said mean things! Just because he's jealous! He's a big meanypants! How can you like him after he said those mean things!"

Do you know how infantile that sounds? When you are President, criticism from all sides comes with the territory. Obama himself would admit that he is a centrist who has largely disappointed all progressives, including AA progressives. Why should Cornel West censor the truth as he sees it?

[Armstead]

39. Do you, like, wake up dreaming about West?

[uponit7771]

40. Not as much as DU Sanders supporters have been dreaming about how "ok" it is for Sanders to stand

... with a guy who spews racist tripe like West

[Armstead]

41. Frankly I donlt give twio seconds thought to West otehr than...

when he's used as yet another bright shiny object to make Sanders seem like something he isn't