I will confess, first of all, that I did not see last night’s Black Community Forum in Minnesota in its’ entirety and I fast forwarded through some of Bernie’s (relatively short) stomp speech prior to the question time. This diary is in no way a definitive account of the event but simply some initial reactions to some of the questions asked, Bernie’s answers, and just my own general feel of the thing. Some of these notes are in comments that posted earlier this evening.
First...”the reparations” question is clearly the soundbite of the event and while I did not like Bernie’s answer to the question, I do think that the context of the question was missed in some of the initial reports.
The “reparations” question was asked in a portion of the video was actually an extension of a previous question on environmental racism (around the 3 hour 10 minute mark); a question that Sanders totally dodged answering, instead, pivoting to his trip to Baltimore, payday loan places, and food deserts (food deserts were part of the environmental racism question, to be fair).
The young woman who asked the “reparations question” also noted that her child has asthma and that may be due, in part to the fact that they live near an awful trash incinerator in the Minneapolis area.
Looking at that in context, she may (or may not) have been asking the question as it specifically related to matters of environmental racism. I think that in that context, Sanders could have answered that question. Should the families of Flint, Michigan get some sort of reparations for the lead in the drinking water? How about these families with ill-health as a result of living near that trash incinerator in Minnesota?
Sanders looked as if he freaked out a little bit at the word “reparations” specifically and generally on the entire subject of environmental racism...he never answered the question at all and pivoted to a not so-incorrect answer about other ethnic and even white impoverished communities. Not only did the answer sound dreadful; he could have addressed the water poisoning in Flint in a way far more powerful than simply asking Rick Snyder to resign.
Second, a woman at the 3 hour mark asks Sanders about incarceration and recidivism. He gives a good answer that we should be paying for education at all levels to prevent incarceration and recidivism and that would include even people that are incarcerated; he also states and that job skills learned in prison should be transferable to civilian life.
Good answer, but I do have a question here:
One of the more controversial aspects of that 1994 Crime Bill that he voted for (for the good parts of the bill only, of course) was a provision that stopped those that are incarcerated from receiving Pell Grants. I am copying this from Wikipedia:
One of the more controversial provisions of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act overturned a section of the Higher Education Act of 1965 permitting prison inmates to receive a Pell Grant for postsecondary education while incarcerated. The amendment is as follows:
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(a) IN GENERAL- Section 401(b)(8) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a(b)(8)) is amended to read as follows:
(8) No basic grant shall be awarded under this subpart to any individual who is incarcerated in any Federal or State penal institution.'.[4]
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Because of this, the VCCLEA effectively eliminated the ability of lower income prison inmates to receive college educations during their term of imprisonment, thus ensuring the education level of most inmates remains unimproved over the period of their incarceration.[5]
There is growing advocacy for reinstating Pell Grant funding for all prisoners who would qualify, despite their incarceration status. Perhaps the most prominent statement has come from Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards along with several other members of the House of Representatives who introduced the Restoring Education and Learning Act (REAL Act) in the spring of 2015. At the executive level, the Obama Administration is backing a program under development at the Department of Education that would allow for a limited lifting of the ban for some prisoners called the Second Chance Pell Pilot. [6]
Yes, Donna Edwards is the sponsor of HR2521. No bill has been introduced in the Senate at this time that I can see. So is this legislation that Senator Sanders supports? Is he willing to introduce this bill in the Senate? Is this legislation that he would push as President? This same question could be asked of Secretary Clinton as well, as I note that nothing like this is among any of her criminal justice proposals on her website.
Overall, the atmosphere of the Q&A was not as testy as some initial reports noted. I got a sense that people at the event liked Senator Sanders and that sanders was well received.
You could also tell that Sanders really isn’t used to being asked questions like these. Sometimes he stumbled. Other times, I was surprised by Sanders’ ability to think on his feet. I found myself wishing that Sanders had done a few more Q&A’s like this.
Overall grade: B-/C+