That is the irritating part of it for many of us.

Winning the hearts and minds of voters requires more than just a list of 'accomplishments' in the past. It requires that you're listening to them now, and addressing their current concerns, in a way that actually speaks to them.

Tell yourself that he's a great guy all you want, but unless he learns from this stumble, and starts talking to AA voters in words that show them that he is listening to them NOW, and has ideas about how to address their needs now, he's going to take a hit he can't afford.

Frankly, Bernie is my guy, so I hope he does learn, and I hope the other candidates don't take that lesson to heart. But he won't learn it if everyone around him is just defending him, and NOT telling him how he is coming across to AA.

Look at every thing from yesterday in Phoenix. Not just the MSM gotcha sound bytes taken out of context, and definitely not the concerned Clinton supporters who are now saying that BlackLivesMatter will sit out the election if they are not taken seriously.

It is a game that has been played for a long time in American politics. Don't fall for the 'swift boating'.

Sanders strength is that he is an advocated and has been for 45 years for both social AND economic justice.

Saying otherwise is a lie.

I am bi-racial and there are plenty of other Hispanics and AA's here that disagree with the Clinton camp's assessment.

#BernieSoBlack is now trending on twitter, mocking him for talking AT protesters, rather than listening to them, then talking WITH them.

I'm sure Hillary followers are happy to latch on for now, but I'm also sure BLM will be taking her on as well.

They're speaking up about what they need from a President, and he needs to be able to reach as many as possible. I'm glad he still has a base among PoC, but I want him to be able to be the President they all need as much as the one the rest of us need. The murder and brutalization and mass incarceration of PoC hurts us all, leads us all further down that path that leads to RW authoritarianism and fascism. The police need to truly be there to 'Protect and Serve' the people, not to keep them 'in their place'.

Kim Kardashian clothes.

Some of the protesters have wood to burn as a teacher once taught me about social psychology.

Fine, let it burn.

Those pushing it here are almost exclusively Clinton supporters.

I will take seriously BLM when it does take on more than just two progressive candidates at a single Town Hall.

I agree with you on the police matter. Hell, I have been stopped by cops for being too dark skinned and walking with a pretty white girl in my college years in Ohio.

What galls me is seeing a real progressive candidate who can and would bring about economic and social justice is being mocked and attacked.

If we minorities dismiss him and follow Clinton, we have no one but ourselves to blame as this shit continues under more and more harsh economic ruin and corporatist control.

Because they took on a townhall?? Nothing about the hundreds of marches, arrests, protests they've been engaged in?

Heckling someone who agrees with them, then shouting him down when he tries to answer their question, not so much.

I said I don't take them seriously with this particular NN protest if it was simply a one-off.

I support BLM. I want them to move from the marches and arrests just at police violence sites to political venues.

BUT, I want them to protest ALL Dem and Republican candidates. I want them to protest at both conventions.

Got it now?

It was not an attack. It was a demand that the racism faced NY their community be addressed.

We've had two Black United States Attorney Generals (Top Cops) who don't get protested against.

They have direct authority *TODAY* to investigate and hold police accountable. But the FBI and Justice only investigate when the police abuse and murder rises to social media awareness level.

Protesting Presidential candidates who won't take office until 2017 doesn't force any policy change from the existing Obama administration.

Yes, Blame Sen Sanders & Gov O'Malley!! Who Were The Last Democratic Presidents That Created The Situation?!?!? Oh That Is Right, President Bill Clinton With His 3 Strikes Your Out Bill & President Barack Obama Who Has Been Running Away From This Since His Presidency!!!

Every president, governor, senator, congressman, and every citizen is complicit. It is not about the past. It is about today and the future.

That's sad.

And people are dying in the streets, and being discriminated against. It is what candidates do from now on that means something, and nothing will get done if they just sit and listen.

That doesn't bother you at all?

And have been for decades before cellphones allowed everyone to see w h at is being done.

It bothers me that white privaledge marks everything I do, even if I don't want.

We live in a racist system and that needs to be fixed first.

So why go after the one whose decades of vote support your cause?

Does he have to say certain words exactly to be acceptable in spite of his years.

So what was done before isn't worth dick.

It is what is done from now on.

And no one will do anything unless there is struggle.

If no one had fought for civil rights before where do you think this country would be right now. If things are getting worse and not better it has nothing to do with the fact that people fought for civil rights in the past. You are not the first person who has said this so I guess this is the new talking point.

So why is this the new talking point, that a candidate's stellar record on an issue no longer matters? Seems like the OP could be exactly right. Attacking a strength.

No one is suggesting that nothing needs to be done from now on. A decades long record of fighting for equal rights for everyone shows that it is sure to continue as it did throughout that time. So why attack Sanders about it not happening now, why not attack our current president or our current and recent AG?

despite having a very low rate of blacks in the overall population.

As a Congressman from Vermont for the last 25 years, has Sanders ever addressed this current subject before the last few months he's been running for President?

All the years on DU I've read about Sanders, I've only noticed him speaking up about economic issues and some foreign policy.

According to the data gathered by the most recent U.S. Census in 2010, and presented at this website: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/rates.html, your statement is shamelessly untrue.

Bottom line: Vermont's proportional incarceration rate of blacks (2,214 per 100,000) is below the U.S. average of 2,306 per 100,000. So try to follow the numbers, which I have painstakingly presented below - and you will learn that Vermont is in the lower 50 % which is antithetical/different/not at all the same as "having one of the highest proportional rates" to quote you.

Since 2006, when the Bureau of Justice Statistics on state level race/ incarceration were no longer gathered, this 2010 Census data is the ONLY possible source of data on proportional incarceration by race. The World According to Kitty's Wishful Thinking is not a valid source.

This is a HUGE issue and it is beyond outrageous that you would play political games with it by making up such a destructive claim.

Even though black people make up less than 2% of the Vermont population, people of color make up over 10% of Vermont’s prison population. Eileen Blackwood the Burlington City Attorney added that the Vermont incarceration rate of African Americans is proportionally the 3rd highest in the country.

http://www.pjcvt.org/what-we-do/anti-racism-in-vermont/how-liberal-is-vermont/


……………………………………………
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/02/23/john-legend-is-right-prisons-are-disproportionately-black-the-worst-states-are-some-of-the-whitest/


https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=1484

FL and several other states are in the 15% to 20% bracket. MS up to 40%.

I don't see where VT that high?

that would be the Y axis, and Vermont does appear to be higher than most states. I will say that sometimes having such a small population of a minority leads to some statistical anomalies.

Talking points especially the Rovian kind, are easy to spot. They persist no matter how wrong they are, because the purveyors of bought and paid for talking points are not interested in the facts.

The opposition KNOWS how strong Bernie's record on Civil Rights is and how it is going to help him with minorities once the learn who he is. So it is essential, they believe, that they create a wrong impression BEFORE people get to know him.

It's so obvious I wonder if they think we are all stupid or something.

it. We are not stupid. The Left has seen all this before. It is isn't working when the only people 'falling for it' are those who want to keep the status quo the way it is. Not a single mind has been changed by any of this.

By the way, I looked up Bernie's bio and was encouraged to see he has been a mayor, and so has executive experience. The fact he served multiple terms is encouraging, as well as some of the things he did for the town when in that office. Also thanks for your post in reply to my question to giftedgirl about what specific steps she wanted him to take.

Also, I read that post by the guy who had just gotten home from Bernie's rally in Phoenix, AZ. The photos were quite encouraging as it was a quite diverse crowd. In fact, the guy said that some of the young activists from Net Root also, this time to listen and cheer.

I'd just hate to see the old divide and conquer strategy work, and I do think some of these people are trolls, no matter how many posts they have.

Tweet of the day, in my book.

as a compliment?

That's how memes work.

to Youtube,

to Facebook.


to Instagram et cetera et cetara

I thought it was hella funny. I still have the tab open.

This viral world may be new to a large portion here..

BGD ?@BlackGirlDanger 19m19 minutes ago

Attention people who don't understand jokes: if you see a tweet with HT #BernieSoBlack don't take it seriously. This has been a PSA.

started by right wing trolls.This is the guy who started the tag: https://twitter.com/rodimusprime,she knows he's not a right wing troll,she's just making it clear that it's a joke.

The trolls have stopped now.

Sorry, didn't mean to confuse things.

Stephen Miller ?@redsteeze 10m10 minutes ago

#BernieSoBlack that Hillary Clinton is taking his vote for granted.

black anger at being taken for granted seriously,including Hillary Clinton.

BLM aims to change that.

First one through the door may well be the nominee.

Both Sanders and O'Malley have added social justice to their standard campaign speech.

These posts prove to me that most Progressives are completely clueless when it comes to the #blacklivesmatter movement.

Really?

Sen. Sanders was living the #blacklivesmatter movement long before most of the NRN protesters were born. And he has never stopped protesting racial and social injustice throughout his uniquely distinguished political career.

This excerpt from his speech in Iowa the night before the disrespectful NRN outbursts shows just how misguided they were:
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your cry for help is meant for the people who can reach you. Your hope, your prayers and screams are directed at the one who swims out to reach you.

It seems most natural that BLM reaches out to O"Malley and Sanders as BLM is probably not going to get within a hundred yards Hillary or any of the republicans.

To interpret the netroots protest as a negative endorsement of Sanders and O'Malley is to forget why a child calls for its' mother.

thanks

You also don't drive away the only people bringing you a life preserver.

further as I took life-saver training as a lad.

Drowning people are panicking and flailing. If you as a rescuer are not careful, they will pull you under with them.

Out of the three, Sanders and O'Malley are in the water trying to help. So did BLM try to take them under as well? That's a reasonable question especially if it stops here and they don't push other candidates, Democratic or otherwise.

it's possible that now they're trying to deflect the racism issue onto somebody else before it hits them and does some damage to her campaign.

It is not enough to say I recognize the problem or unfortunately to say this is what I have done in the past. The problem is still here.

People want a plan. Give them one.

What if Sanders said that as president he would task the FBI with investigating claims of police brutality and upon investigation recommend anything from firing to prosecution to voter reorganization of the local PD.

Make it clear to local police departments that police brutality will be treated as a denial of civil rights, a federal offense, and will be prosecuted vigorously.

If my kids were black there is no way would I suffer this terror in silence. Neither would any of you.

Nothing is stopping her from having DOJ and the FBI investigating police brutality and law enforcement policies nationwide, instead of piecemeal responses to events that keep occurring.

Why wait on a Presidential candidate who won't take office until 2017 to affect change? Start now. Then hold successors accountable for keeping watchful vigilance.

but this is the Bernie Sanders campaign. I suspect that BLM is expecting Berni to be the next president of the United States and that intuition tells them that if anyone is going to push social and economic justice down the road, It is Berni.

and the best any candidate can offer are words and promises for the future...while cops continue to intimidate, incarcerate, and even worse at will, unchecked.

Cleland is a decorated Vietnam War veteran who lost both legs and an arm in a grenade blast.

Chambliss questioned his patriotism and accused him of colluding with Al Qaeda, and ended up winning.

And I didn't think it was all that big a deal yesterday.

But it spawned #BerniesoBlack and though there are going to be a lot of people turned off by the white progressives jumping on it, trying to defend Bernie, instead of seeing it for the humor it was, still there will be a lot of people introduced to him and his history.

Once this dies down, it will come to pass that even more people know more about Bernie than before.

And that is nothing but net!

I liked Bernie quotes when he talked economics. I have now learned so much more about how he has been fighting on so many different fronts.

My esteem is even higher for him.

I can't wait to see how many line up to be treated like that next year.

I was one of their biggest fans for years, but it's changed. The top diarists at DKos don't even go anymore that I can see.

The truth is not hard to find.

i was hoping that sleeping on it would help but i'm still sad about this today. i guess you could say it was a rude awakening for me.

i like giving people the benefit of the doubt and not making assumptions, so before yesterday i was happy in my naive ignorance that our democratic candidates would automatically be at the very least knowledgeable of and have at least perfunctory support for #blacklivesmatter and the issue of racist law enforcement.

knowing hillary's cadre of image and messaging gurus, i would have expected her to be at an advantage here and be the most knowledgeable and the most vocal. i'm no fan of hillary's so i don't follow her to know whether or not she had publicly addressed the issue, but i had assumed (my bad!) she did. then i read here about her "all lives matter" gaffe.

i follow sanders and o'malley, but i don't have the time to keep tabs on every little detail. and again, it seemed natural to me that our bona fide progressive candidates would at least have knowledge of and be able to respond adequately to this issue. so what the fuck was that yesterday? it was very disappointing.

having said that, i'm not all thrilled with that bit of #blacklivesmatter political theater either. will sanders and o'malley ever sound anything like authentic and truthful on this matter now? i highly doubt it. i shocked myself this morning listening to sanders' dallas speech when i felt unmoved and just "blah" at his initial response to this issue. the opportunity to speak to the issue authentically is gone, their responses coerced. we'll never know now if their campaigns would have progressed to include this issue unprompted and without coercion.

and so i'm sad.