Bernie speaking today on institutionalized racism, Black Lives Matter, and criminal justice reform
Here's Bernie speaking today on anti-black racism, law enforcement reform, and criminal justice reform. He explicitly expresses his views about structural racism, and acknowledges the harsh reality that economic reforms will not end all of the institutional factors perpetuating racism. Here, he highlights the destructive nature of mass incarceration, jailing people for non-violent crimes (such as drug use), addressing mandatory minimums, police militarization, and aggressive policing against people of color in which they are harassed or shot. He explicitly and bluntly states that he doubts that if a middle-class white women were pulled over for a minor traffic violation, she would be treated the same way as Sandra Bland.
I hope that this will dispel the unfounded critiques of Bernie Sanders that he is tone-deaf or has a blind-spot on race, and that he merely views racism as a symptom of broader economic inequality. He's not a class-reductionist. His progressivism is absolutely intersectional. He fully acknowledges that systemic, institutionalized racism is a huge problem in its own right, but further argues that racial justice must be melded with economic justice to truly uplift marginalized communities of color. Both are extremely important and relevant, and we can't have one without the other.
This should reveal to anyone who thinks Bernie's not listening that he is. And for those with any glimmer of a doubt they need to research his record. He may come from a largely white state, but his heart is with workers of every race and gender. He's been consistent in his views on Civil Rights for over 50 years.
= new reply since forum marked as read
By that I mean that it is local officials who hire the police, the prosecutor is elected locally and so are many of the other officials that can do something about this. Juries are selected from registered voters. I don't think the federal government can do much about that because it is the Constitution that determines the separation of powers - federal, state and local. T
he feds should undo much of what they have done to make this worse - harsh sentencing laws, drug war, militarization, end quota practicies.
The only way that I can see to change that is voting. Register black voters and GOTV. The federal government can do something about the issue of voter suppression. And they should.
What we need is a good list of what needs to be done and which branch of government should be doing it. Then we can plan how to implement the list.
Off to the farm - hopefully I don't kill any of the animals.
