On NRN - This is what MLK had to say about similar schisms between Democrats during the late 1960s
Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered one of his most important speeches, "A Time to Break Silence," at Riverside Church, New York City, on April 4, 1967. It was a statement against war in principle, that followed Dr. King's "Letter from Birmingham City Jail," published four years earlier, his statement against social injustice in principle.
Dr. King explained why he was joining with the most progressive wing of the Democratic Party against Johnson's War in Vietnam, and why he was abandoning the Civil Rights-only focus that had up until then been the strategy of most mainstream AA leaders:
I hope you can see what is happening today in the context of the often bitter political struggles of half a century ago, and the similar questions of tactics and principles. I remember these issues and the divisive smears that were used against the anti-war movement back then. One was the oft-repeated slam that the anti-war movement was a "white" movement. This was directed at AAs - a warning not to alienate the "Cold War liberals" in the Johnson Administration who some AA leaders still saw as their natural allies. I think there are many parallels with the dilemma that some AAs feel today about whether to align with the progressives, the Sanders campaign in particular, or whether to continue to side with the more established centrist, pro-war HRC wing. As Dr. King decided, anti-war and progressive economics are Civil Rights issues.
Do not mistake my criticism of the "Bernie doesn't care about minorities meme" for any dismissal of AA concerns. Just the opposite is true. I take a longer view, and stand with Dr. King, who took a stand with progressives against the RW wing of the Democratic party over issues of war and economic injustice. I am a progressive, as is Sen. Sanders.
= new reply since forum marked as read
of the individuals involved in this incident. Bernie Sanders did not cause this injustice. He's part of the solution. Go after the real source of the problem - those who perpetuate war and economic injustice, which are Civil Rights issues.
Black Lives Matter.
changing demographics. We are getting browner. And it is clear that Milton Friedman politics no longer work for 99% of us. We have also seen groups like Occupy and BLM break out of the process and established their own power. The millennial age voters have also begun to establish themselves. We are not afraid to look at new different kinds of leaders.
Most of us are disillusioned with politics as usual and we are moving away from the ideas of the last 30+ years brought to us by the GOP and right leaning Democrats. And for many of us there is a new enemy in town Multi-national corporations and their bought and paid for politicians.
We also have new problems like climate change, outsourcing, wealth inequality, etc. But at the same time we still have some of the old problems such as poverty, racism which includes police violence and mass incarceration and lack upward mobility. Capitalism is even being called into question. So there is a firm basis for either a new party or a new kind of Democratic party. I would hope that we just transform this party into our new party. If the tea party can do it we can do it. But nothing will happen without unity.
But I guess that issue will wait. First we have to elect a Democratic Senate, a new president and fill the SCOTUS with good people.
