so I will just rec your post, MADem.

It's like a candidate pointing out his constituency is rural gun-owners, not "urban" problems others may have.

At least, not until you 'join' a particular party for the benefits of a national campaign, and suddenly you need those "urban" voters.

So in discrete numbers they don't incarcerate as many black people as other states with a bigger African American population. It does seem like Vermont cops are quite racist, though. That Bernie Sanders hasn't tried to do something about it (if he even bothered to find out about it) speak volumes, though. He was part of the white flight from a much more diverse state, so perhaps it's not something he's interested in fighting against?

I don't know how much of a break the 5K Mexicans working (many covertly) in the dairy industry get up that way, either.

“Racial profiling is a fact of life here. Vermont incarcerates black people at the fourth-highest rate in the U.S., but no one talks about that. I have been beating on that drum for a while now, and I hoped that Bernie would up that mantle, but he has not. He is like a lot of Vermonters who like to congratulate themselves on how progressive they are but sweep these issues under the rug.”

I'm sure they are reaching out to their affiliated groups in other states. I would hope so.