One of the main questions confronting Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign is how it can appeal to minorities. Sen. Sanders has been criticized - wrongly in my opinion - for not addressing the concerns of African Americans and other minority groups in his campaign. In spite of a well-documented record of concern for civil rights issues, these claims have persistently dogged Senator Sanders's campaign.
Senator Sanders's record does not support these accusations. As he recounted in a recent interview with The Nation magazine, his involvement in politics started in part with the civil rights movement:
I was very active in the Congress of Racial Equality at the University of Chicago. I got arrested in trying to desegregate Chicago's school system. I was very active in demanding that the University of Chicago not run segregated housing, which it was doing at the time. We were active in working with our brothers and sisters in SNCC...at that point helping them with some very modest financial help.
These claims represent an overly narrow view of African-American interests. In fact, the economic reforms proposed by Bernie Sanders promise great benefits to black workers, particularly raising the minimum wage. Furthermore, he has raised issues that receive far too little attention from the media and mainstream politicians.
My Gut Reaction: If raising the income of African Americans by billions of dollars is helping the black community, I don't know what is.
First of all, claims that Senator Sanders is inattentive to minority issues such as police brutality are false. Sanders discussed his views on police violence in the same Nation interview:
Clearly, police brutality and what goes on in African-American communities and other communities is a huge issue...The question is: How do you have police departments in this country that are part of their communities, not oppressors in their communities? How do you have police officers who, when they commit acts of crime, are held accountable and are indicted? How do you have police officers receiving the proper training that they need? How do we demilitarize our police departments? All of these are important issues. The good news is that, as a country, we are paying far more attention to this issue than we previously did. If anyone thinks that the kind of police brutality that we're seeing now is something new, they are sorely mistaken...There has to be, I think, a significant change in police culture in terms of [the use of force]. That is a major issue that has to be dealt with.
Senator Sanders then cuts to the heart of the matter by connecting the social issue with the underlying economic issues:
The other thing, to be frank, that does trouble me is that there is so little discussion about African-American youth unemployment. How do you discuss Ferguson and not know that, in that particular community, unemployment is off the charts? How do you discuss Baltimore and not know that, in that particular community, unemployment is off the charts? African-American youth unemployment in this country is 50 percent, and one out of three African-American males born today stands the possibility of ending up in jail if present trends continue. This is a disaster. So, of course, we've got to talk about police brutality; of course, we've got to talk about reforming our criminal justice system; of course, we've got to make sure that we are educating our kids and giving them job training and not sending them to jail. But I get a little distressed that people are not talking about what I consider to be a huge problem: How do you not talk about African-American youth unemployment at 50 percent?
Senator Sanders's plan to raise the minimum wage to fifteen dollars also offers hope to the black community. As the website Black Enterprise
noted, even the more limited minimum wage increase proposed by President Obama would raise African-American income by $5.2 billion dollars. How much more with Senator Sanders's proposals bring to black Americans?
With all this in mind, can anyone honestly doubt that Bernie Sanders represents the best option for black voters.