This is How Bernie Sanders Wins the Black Vote...Or At Least 50% of the Black Vote

[DemocraticSocialist8]

For young Black voters, especially young Black activist types (such as myself)...there is no bigger issue than the issue of police brutality and the drug war. Ferguson, Baltimore and Trayvon Martin have become rallying cries for a new generation of Black millennials who have come of age during the Obama years. Given the fact that Hillary Clinton has a stranglehold on the Black vote by default, Bernie has to speak to Black millennials and Black adults under the age of 35 with young families in a way that Hillary Clinton isn't going to. He has to back Hillary into a corner by being more progressive on the issues listed above than she is.

1. Bernie Sanders should call for an end to the DRUG WAR. Point, blank and period. Abolish the drug war outright.

2. Bernie Sanders should be vocal in support for the DECRIMINALIZATION or LEGALIZATION of marijuana.

3. Bernie Sanders doesn't have to rail against cops because that could lose him support from some Whites as well and he doesn't want to lose White votes in an effort to court the Black vote. However he CAN openly endorse things like civil review boards with subpoena power and openly talk about how police training needs to dramatically improve.

4. Something that has gone under the radar is how HBCU's are closing and shutting down all over the country and these colleges/universities are the source of the vast majority of Black people who end up getting college degrees. He can openly support some sort of fund or initiative to make sure these schools don't close down and even encourage the building of more colleges and universities in communities of color.

5. Bernie Sanders could publicly endorse a fund or initiative to financially-support the growth of Black-owned businesses and LLC's. We know he doesn't endorse reparations, but he could still endorse agendas that if put into affect would dramatically help communities of color.

If Bernie Sanders does these FIVE THINGS...he will see a dramatic improvement in the Black support he'll get. Trust me. I hope someone from the Sanders campaign reads this...

[DemocraticSocialist8]

4. Nothing you Posted Says Sanders Claims These Issues Aren't Important

[HooptieWagon]

2. He's already done so.

Go to berniesanders.com and look up his platform on racial justice.

[Live and Learn]

6. +10,000 nt

[The Roux Comes First]

3. Very Good Points

Please help with my ignorance. What are HBCU's?

The police issue is very challenging. The powers that be are very entrenched and this career that attracts more than it's share of authoritarian types needing to lord it over others, quite often with ethnic/racial animus and commonly without any actual justification, is a major sickness upon our country.

Thanks for this post!

[DemocraticSocialist8]

5. HBCU's = Historically Black Colleges and Universities

[Live and Learn]

7. You are pretty late to the party. He has already done 4 of the 5.

Why don't you write him and make your suggestion regarding HBCU's? The nice thing about Bernie is that he actually reads and considers what people suggest.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

8. Where Can I Write him?

[Live and Learn]

9. Here:

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/contact/comment

[ecstatic]

14. There's a reason why he's not saying those things.

Don't waste your time.

[kath]

15. Could you please explain what that reason is?

[ecstatic]

16. He's been clear over the past 50 years: any topic other than billionaires,

Oligarchs, and Wall Street is a distraction.

[kath]

17. You CLEARLY have not been paying attention.

Just spouting tired old memes.
Sheesh.

[notadmblnd]

10. Post this on his facebook page.

[HooptieWagon]

11. Good idea!

[DemocraticSocialist8]

12. facebook has changed a lot...it used to be clear where you could make posts.

[loyalsister]

13. He is all in on the divest - invest reparations model

Seeing him talking directly to people who live it is really inspiring.

[Peace Patriot]

18. All excellent ideas! And Bernie Sanders is that rare politician...

...one who LISTENS to people, and also MEANS WHAT HE SAYS when he commits to something.

It's hard to express how much I agree with you on ending the failed, corrupt, murderous "war on drugs!" There has not been a more wicked, destructive, horrible, dehumanizing policy, in this country, since slavery itself. It is far, far worse than Prohibition. And its impact on the poor, the black and the brown has been catastrophic. END IT NOW! WE MUST, WE MUST, WE MUST!!!

[Betty Karlson]

19. Excellent points. Sanders is already proposing some of these, or something close to them, but

it wouldn't hurt him to be a bit more explicit in his support. All of what you say is connected to income disparity, economic volatility, and the roles those two play in institutional racism. It would work its way right into his life-long commitment to economic justice and racial justice (well: any kind of justice really - he's been for gay rights for 40 years +).

For what it is worth, you have my wholesale support.