Today’s diary is about two new powerful voices supporting Senator Bernie Sanders and why they say they support him/will vote for him. (OK, after the diary was published others pointed out that TNC does not want to offically endorse but he has committed to voting for Sanders). But first, a word of explanation about the title and the series. It is mostly based on the fact that Bernie is gaining the support of prominent African American leaders. This is done by focussing on actual opinion leaders who are supporting Bernie Sanders. It is not based on polling much at this point (though there was some discussion of trend lines in part 2), which would be difficult since there haven’t been recent useful polls done in places like SC. You can see that here.
The title is not intended to say that Hillary’s support has evaporated completely (she has her own list of prominent supporters) but rather to merely say that her support definitely seems to be shrinking. Some might think that the title is thus inconsistent with the diary. To that, I can only say that not all fires burn quickly, so I am pretty sure the metaphor is within the bounds of reasonableness. YMMV.
Now on to what I want to talk about today. Yesterday there were two very prominent African American opinion leaders supporting Bernie that I want to focus on. There were plenty of others out there, but I want to focus on these two. Former NAACP President Ben Jealous had already endorsed Bernie. But yesterday was the first time I had seen him out campaigning. In the morning he went with Bernie to a breakfast with Al Sharpton. Later in the day he appeared on MSNBC shows. I was only vaguely familiar with him before yesterday, so I was eager to hear what he said to say.
Jealous made a strong appeal to those who remember MLK Jr by mentioning the three aspects of evil often spoken of by Dr. King: Racism, militarism and greed. He pointed out that Bernie has been consistently good against all three, while Hillary’s record has not been so consistent. He explained the psychological theory behind the word “super-predator” and showed how inconsistent her use of the word was with her work with Children’s Defense Fund. When it was pointed out that Bernie voted for the Crime Bill, he pointed out that a lot of Congressional Black Caucus members also voted for it because there was a real crime problem at the time. He pointed out that the problem is far more than a vote on the bill.
He also talked about Hillary refusing to change sentencing retroactively for crack cocaine in 2008 (the only Democratic candidate who refused to do so) and her support for the death penalty. He observed that her opinions always seem to follow whatever the Republicans are doing. Full video below:
Here is one instance of Hillary using the word “super-predator,” as referred to by Jealous.
The first diary in the series was based on a piece by Shaun King, who questioned why it should automatically be assumed that African Americans would vote for Secretary Clinton. He mentioned that Black Lives Matter activists and others in the AA community had been discussing Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow, a book which was not favorable to the Clintons. He also mentioned Ta-Nehisi Coates, who had not yet endorsed Senator Sanders. Yesterday Coates said on Democracy Now that he will vote for Senator Sanders. His answers seemed to refer to data from Alexander’s book, among other observations about Secretary Clinton’s activities. Here are some snippets from the interview:
TA-NEHISI COATES: ….You know, like a lot of people, I’m very, very concerned about Senator Clinton’s record. I’m very, very concerned about where her positions were in the 1990s, when we had some of the most disgusting legislation in terms of our criminal justice, really, in this country’s history. I get really, really concerned when I see somebody taking $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs, will not release what they’re actually saying. That’s concerning.
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...One can say Senator Sanders should have more explicit anti-racist policy within his racial justice platform, not just more general stuff, and still cast a vote for Senator Sanders and still feel that Senator Sanders is the best option that we have in the race. But just because that’s who you’re going to vote for doesn’t mean you then have to agree with everything they say.
AMY GOODMAN: Will you be voting for Senator Sanders?
TA-NEHISI COATES: I will be voting for Senator Sanders. I have tried to avoid this question, but, yes, I will be voting for Senator Sanders. I try to avoid that, because I want to write as a journalist—do you know what I mean?—and separate that from my role as, I don’t know, a private citizen. But I don’t think much is accomplished by ducking the question. Yes, I will vote for Senator Sanders. My son influenced me.