Bernie Sanders Rally By Queensbridge Houses Blindsides Residents

[George II]

Residents of the country's largest public housing complex say they weren't told about the Bernie Sanders rally in their own backyard.

By Maya Kaufman, Patch Staff Oct 21, 2019 2:38 pm ET | Updated Oct 21, 2019 11:15 pm ET

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — As Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and his supporters flocked to Queensbridge Park for a campaign rally Saturday, residents who live across the street in Queensbridge Houses — the nation's largest public housing project — were in their monthly tenant association meeting.

No one had told them about the Sanders rally, they said.

April Simpson, president of the Queensbridge Tenants Association, said she got a call from the Sanders campaign only the day before to inform her about the rally and ask if she was attending. She told the campaign staffer about the scheduling conflict.

"These people were coming from near, far — but they weren't from Queensbridge," Simpson told Patch in an interview. "That rally wasn't for us."

https://patch.com/new-york/astoria-long-island-city/queensbridge-residents-say-they-didnt-know-sanders-rally

[Docreed2003]

1. To repeat what I said in another thread, this really pisses me off

Using a community as a backdrop without actually engaging with the members of that very community is a slap in the face to those individuals and makes any claims you might make during that rally ring hollow.


Would it really have been too much work to actually reach out to the community well in advance and engage with them? Or was it more important to have a "bounce back rally" for Sanders?

I don't think the Sanders camp has learned anything from 2016. This type of action mirrors what happened on the ground in South Carolina in '16 when seasoned SC politicians and civil rights activists reached out to the Sanders campaign to offer help and they were told, essentially, "Nah, we're good..."

[George II]

3. Sadly they advertised the rally as taking place across from the largest public housing development..

...in North America, yet they totally ignored the people there. They were only an advertising gimmick and a backdrop.

There are close to 7,000 people in that development - about 4,200 African Americans and 6,700 non-whites. Why not invite them to the rally for which you're "using" them as a promotional prop?

[NurseJackie]

5. Nobody's falling for it.

They were only an advertising gimmick and a backdrop.

Nobody's falling for it.

Well, his hard-core supporters may... or maybe it doesn't matter to them at all. But insincere gimmicks like this will not impress the voters that he struggles the most with.

Honestly, that suits me fine. It just goes to prove what I've believed to be true all along.

Our party's nominee will be someone who can perform well in the South. That won't be BS.

[Hortensis]

6. They actually advertised that? Whoa. I wasn't paying attention

and only smiled at their holding this rally in already over-rallied, high-density NYC to maximize crowd size. Not exactly Queen City, Oklahoma.

[NurseJackie]

4. Yep... it was a backdrop... stage-props.

It's very insulting.

It's obvious that the BS campaign is fully aware that they have a problem with AA and POC voters. So why is it that the campaign is only engaged in superficial things like backdrops and set-dressing?

It really says a lot about a campaign that can't (or doesn't want to) make more of an effort.

Sad.

[betsuni]

2. K&R

[mcar]

7. Team Sanders should have been in close contact with those residents

They were, after all, using their homes as backdrop.

[StarfishSaver]

10. If they were smart, his advance team would have virtually parked themselves in the project

gotten the residents to help with the event, had Bernie visit and meet with residents before the rally, and put residents in a VIP section (right in the camera shot, of course) at the event.

Instead, they got great pictures of thousands of white people and lots of bad post-event publicity that feeds into a narrative they don't need.

[mcar]

12. PR 101

[TreasonousBastard]

16. That be assuming they actually wanted all those non-white faces in the crowd...

It also means coordinating with any other locally planned events, of which we know at least one big one.

But, some people just don't work well with others.

[TidalWave46]

8. 2.3% of Queensbridge is white.

"These people were coming from near, far — but they weren't from Queensbridge," Simpson

Wonder what makes her think that?

[EffieBlack]

9. I thought it strange there were so few people of color in the crowd

[Cha]

11. What were they thinking!?!

"These people were coming from near, far — but they weren't from Queensbridge," Simpson told Patch in an interview. "That rally wasn't for us."

Thank you for this, George

[oasis]

13. Stop with the whining. AOC was the star of the show, so all good. Right?

[lapucelle]

14. Is that the housing project that would have benefitted from the Amazon deal? N/T

[George II]

15. That's the general neighborhood where the Amazon campus would have been built, yes....

And it's not in the 14th District.

I'm sure Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney was thrilled with the campaign against that development by her colleague.

[Cha]

17. Kicking This!

[Cha]

18. Kicking this!