Unfortunately, many white Bernie Sanders supporters are not understanding the basic realm of possibility under which Bernie can win the Democratic nomination, with success in South Carolina integral to him actually winning the whole shebang.
I wrote a diary ("Black Folks No on Bernie? Really) a month or so go ago because I was outraged (and continue to be outraged) at the suggestion that Hillary was a better candidate for Black folks. But now is the time to turn inwards to pro-Bernie white Kossacks and encourage a change in direction.
Let's be clear: there is no use whatsoever in defending Bernie Sanders' blind spot on race. He has one. It needs to be corrected. He's taking steps to do so, but we need to keep the pressure up. But not just because he's a potential Democratic nominee, but because he's our candidate and we want him to win.
The only way that Bernie will win the nomination, IMHO, is if he wins the grand slam of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. Hillary has too much money and will be able to vastly outspend Bernie when it hits the bigger states. Given the massive cash disadvantage (heightened massively by SuperPACs) I'm doubtful that Bernie would be able to recover if he doesn't have clear, unbridled momentum after Nevada.
I'm not too worried about Iowa, New Hampshire, or Nevada-- the polling is heading in the right direction in Iowa and New Hampshire, and in Nevada Bernie will likely get the endorsement of UNITE HERE, whose Local 226 is probably the best organized local union in the country and could win Nevada for Bernie on its own.
But I am very worried about South Carolina, because it is true that Hillary has a big lead with Black voters right now. And that won't change unless Bernie really, completely, gets it on BLM. That includes saying that an apology was unwarranted. It also includes not saying that he was "surprised" by the criticism from BLM, as he did in the New York Times Magazine interview. It means continuing to hire more top-level Black staff, and, in particular, Bernie personally meeting and calling leading Black activists.
It also includes pressuring Bernie commit to picking a Black running mate (Barbara Lee, obviously).
Bernie does not have a track record on being 100% there on racial justice issues--that , despite what NAACP voting records indicate. (With a key example here being that he has never spoken out against Vermont's No. 1 in the nation racial sentencing disparity.)
The only way, then, that we're going to be able to get Bernie to where he needs to be is to keep up the pressure.
So white pro-Bernie Kossacks--instead of defending Bernie on race, how about you hold him accountable? Because that's the only way he's going to win.
(PS-- white pro-Bernie people also need to call out other white Bernie supporters when they're being mad racist. That's not Black/POC folks' job.)