Bernie Sanders plans to introduce himself and his platform to more African-American voters.
Bernie Sanders was widely criticized for his reaction to the
Black Lives Matter protest at the Netroots Nation convention, which many viewed as a botched opportunity for the Sanders campaign to listen and address concerns from protesters. Since then, Bernie Sanders seems to have gotten the message, doing substantially more outreach to African American voters and
rolling out a comprehensive racial and social justice plan. In September, he met with
prominent racial justice and Black Lives Matters activists and now he tell
Ebony Magazine he's stepping up his outreach:
EBONY.COM: How do you plan to appeal to the Black voter when you’re a Senator from a state that’s mostly White?
SEN. SANDERS: Yes, it’s true, I am from a state that is overwhelmingly White. I am also aware that I am running against somebody whose husband is very popular in the African American community. But, we plan to take our message to the community and so you will see me getting out soon around the country speaking in Black communities, telling people about my life history and my message like the fact that I have one of the strongest civil rights voting records in the Congress. I believe once we explain, it will all make sense.
Emphasis added. No word on where or how many events the Sanders campaign will do, but this is a significant step forward in outreach. Furthermore, the meetings with Black Lives Matters activists seem to be having a big effect on his developing racial justice policies:
EBONY.COM: You’ve recently met with several leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement. How did that meeting go?
SEN. SANDERS: We met on several occasions and those meetings have all been very productive. Many White people are not sensitive to the kind of abuse that African Americans, especially younger African Americans, receive at the hands of police officers and police departments. I think for most Whites their experience with the police has been good or neutral because they don’t interact with the police as much as those in the Black community. That was made very clear to me and so I have found those meetings to be very useful. It speaks again for the need for criminal justice reform in a very significant way.
In the same interview, Bernie mentions Sandra Bland and expressed doubt she would've been treated the same way were she a middle-aged white woman. Even though he (and many of his supporters) initially stumbled in his reaction to protesters, there can be no doubt the protests have had a
very real, positive impact on the racial justice movement. And Bernie sounds like he's just getting started.
Read the full text of his interview at Ebony.com.