dagblog - Comments for "Bernie Sanders, Cornel West, and Martin Luther King Jr."

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY),

rmrd0000 — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 16:49:57 +0000

In reply to Bernie Sanders, Cornel West, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the chairman of the CBC PAC, told the HuffPost that they endorsed Hillary over Bernie because they felt that Sanders felt that addressing income inequality alone would solve the ills in the black community. The PAC members felt that Sanders put racism on the back burner.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gregory-meeks-bernie-sanders_us_56c3...

The sense that racism was a back burner issue for Sanders is repeated from interviews of African-American activists in Vermont according to an article in the Daily Beast.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/17/vermont-s-black-leaders...

Race remains a key concern for black voters. Blacks see racism in the GOP's attempt to block Obama appointing a Supreme Court Justice to replace Scalia

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/us/politics/blacks-see-bias-in-delay-o...

Sanders failure to capture a majority of the black vote appears tied to the perception that he has not seen race as a factor until he needed black votes.

Yes. Or, to put it another

Doctor Cleveland — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 21:45:09 +0000

In reply to Disputes among activists are

Yes. Or, to put it another way, West has no program and no plan.

Washington and DuBois were advocating separate strategies which were not entirely compatible with each other. King and Malcom the same. But they led, and in many cases personally built, organizations to carry those strategies out. West has never done anything like that. There's no way forward, or if it is it's enormously pie in the sky.

Disputes among activists are

rmrd0000 — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 16:56:02 +0000

In reply to I have to admit I tuned out

Disputes among activists are nothing new

Washington vs DuBois, King vs.Malcolm, Sharpton vs. Black Lives Matter. Disagreement is expected. The main difference is that The major players had organizations behind them to lend support.

Washington Tuskeegee Institute

DuBois NAACP

King SCLC

Malcolm X Former Nation of Islam members

Sharpton National action Network

BLM Black Lives Matter

Then there is West who has his ego.

I have to admit I tuned out

Doctor Cleveland — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 16:05:00 +0000

In reply to It's hurt me to see how

I have to admit I tuned out Cornel West, especially on the topic of Obama, a long time ago.

Ta-Nehisi Coates [UPDATE: WRONG! It was Melissa Harris-Perry. I'm an idiot.] had a great piece in The Root many years ago, maybe the first thing of his I'd ever read, called "Who Died and Made Tavis King?" about how some mid-level African-American leaders couldn't get on board with Obama because he overturned their sense of succession and hierarchy among black leadership. I still view Cornel West's complaints partly through that lens.

[Link here: http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2008/02/who_died_and_made_tavis...

Cornel West is a hot mess.

rmrd0000 — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 14:33:47 +0000

In reply to It's hurt me to see how

Cornel West is a hot mess. Hopefully people are making their analysis of Sanders individually. The fact that Ta-Nehisi Coates is voting for (not endorsing) Sanders may get people to take a more serious look at Sanders. I doubt that people will vote for Sanders because Coates is voting for Sanders.Hopefully people with a negative view of Cornel West will not vote against Sanders because Cornel West is acting as a surrogate.

Your point was that the

rmrd0000 — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 14:22:53 +0000

In reply to One person's unicorn is

Your point was that the revolution that Sanders wants requires persistent pressure by the public. I'm skeptical that will happen on a massive scale, even if Sanders is elected.

Regarding mistakes made by a campaign, I agree that Sanders has made a mistake by focusing on issues of race rather than just income inequality late in the game. The meme that is heard by many African-American voters is that Sanders has very limited ties to activists in the black community. Even black activists in Sanders' home state of Vermont found him dismissive when addressing issues of race.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/17/vermont-s-black-leaders...

The comments from many of those interviewed for the Daily Beast article coincide with the impression many I the black community have about Bernie Sanders. The Sanders campaign may be able to correct their mistakes.

One person's unicorn is

A Guy Called LULU — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 13:25:00 +0000

In reply to I want a unicorn for

One person's unicorn is another person's One eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater.

I don't see any relationship between my comment, which was on point to yours, and your response but that's ok, avoiding acknowledging mistakes is what a political campaign is all about.

Leaving aside the debate

moat — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 13:21:33 +0000

In reply to I'm sure some gun control

Leaving aside the debate about the findings of the study (rmrd responds to the issue on LisB's post) it should be noted that the document is not a critique of gun control but a call for much more extensive national regulation:

Our findings do not imply that screening FFL (or primary-market) gun sales is of no consequence for gun crime. Even before the Brady Act went into effect, federal law required FFLs to record the identity of each handgun buyer. Since this paperwork provides law enforcement with the means of tracing guns used in crimes back to the original purchaser, screening may have deterred most convicted felons from shopping for guns in the primary market in treatment states even before background checks and waiting periods were mandated by the Brady Act.

More importantly, the effects of primary-market gun regulations may depend on the extent to which the secondary market in guns is regulated. Secondary-market sales account for about 40% of the approximately 10 million gun transfers in the United States each year2,4 and are the source for the large majority of guns obtained by juveniles and criminals.2,35- 37 The secondary market in guns, which is currently almost completely unregulated, is thus an enormous loophole that limits the effectiveness of primary-market regulations.38

It's hurt me to see how

Danny Cardwell — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 04:48:49 +0000

In reply to Bernie Sanders, Cornel West, and Martin Luther King Jr.

It's hurt me to see how negative Cornel West has been over the last 6 years. I agree with you; there are people who feel like they alone decide how progress is to be made. This is a messy situation for progressives.

Thx

rmrd0000 — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 00:12:52 +0000

In reply to Outstanding post and

Thx