Black members of the DSA want Bernie endorsement withheld

[Talking Tom]

Due to issues that include his stance on reparations:

“Should the organization move forward with an endorsement of the Sanders campaign, despite his failure to adopt specific policy stances to address matters of persisting racial injustice and despite his unwillingness to champion reparations to specifically address the experience of the descendants of African slaves, it will risk alienating not just members of color within the organization, but people of color in the communities in which the DSA works,” the letter reads.

“We ask that the DSA withholds endorsement of the Bernie Sanders campaign for the presidency until Sanders finally acknowledges the validity of black demands for reparations in America.”

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/21/18276037/bernie-sanders-dsa-endorsement-reparations

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. Sectarianism among the sectarians.

Deliver us.

[NurseJackie]

2. Just can't catch a break!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. LOL

[betsuni]

4. When asked about reparations on "The View":

Sanders: "What do you mean by reparations?"
Hostin: "Reparations for slave descendants."
S: "But what does that mean?"
H: "Money."
S: "Well, I think that right now our job is to address the crises facing the American people within our communities, and I think there are better ways to do that than just write out a check."

[Cha]

6. Yeah, yeah, BS.. you know

how important "money" is.

Mahalo, betsuni

[ZeroSomeBrains]

5. As a member of DSA I would say Senator Sanders should change his stance on reparations

I read through the concerns from my fellow DSA members and Senator Sanders should listen to their criticisms. I would think if a Universal Minimum Income was created by a cap and trade carbon tax with monthly dividends being given or something like Alaska's permanent fund that you give to all Americans would be a great idea. Then you could give descendants of slaves and Native Americans a bump in their UBI of say 10% with a sliding scale based on other factors Congress finds pressing.

I completely agree that we need to help out those who have been held back by red-lining, by racist cops throwing them in jail, jim crow or slavery. They have had to deal with discrepancies of generations of wealth from the day they were born. I hope that reparations or some way to help improve the structural inequalities within an already unequal country are given a platform for debate in the months ahead.

[WeekiWater]

13. Great post and I appreciate the insight.

I like your thoughts on how it can be done while still holding to Sanders core statements.

[ZeroSomeBrains]

24. Reparations are an important issue

Although it is unlikely given the approval ratings for it as well as the current climate I still think it is an issue to give importance to so that it gets to be part of the platform and maybe one day enacted. I will always support a helping hand to those who have been held back by our society.

[Gothmog]

7. Thank you for posting this

[Autumn]

8. See you later Tom.

PPR

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=351770

[George II]

23. Why did you say that?

[Cha]

9. "We ask that the DSA withholds endorsement of the Bernie Sanders campaign for the presidency until..

Sanders finally acknowledges the validity of black demands for reparations in America.”

[Autumn]

14. Democratic Socialists of America endorsed Sanders on Thursday, despite

pushback from some members over his comments on reparations.

The Democratic Socialists of America have endorsed Bernie Sanders’s campaign for president, despite some consternation within the organization regarding his comments on reparations.

The DSA announced its Sanders endorsement on Thursday evening after a meeting of its national political committee. The decision was widely anticipated, but there was a wrinkle: the group’s AfroSocialist and Socialists of Color Caucus, a section within the organization focused on race and people of color, had asked the 16-member committee to withhold its endorsement of Sanders over his stance on reparations. The independent Vermont senator has declined to back reparations for the descendants of slaves in the United States, arguing that broader anti-poverty programs will help address inequality and that it’s not clear what the term means.

DSA’s members had previously voted 76 percent to 24 percent to endorse Sanders in a poll conducted by the organization’s leadership earlier this month.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/21/18276037/bernie-sanders-dsa-endorsement-reparations

Bernie agrees with Obama on reparations and is smart to do so. IMO Any nominee who supports reparations in the form of a cash payment will lose in the general election .

[George II]

21. They wound up less than enthusiastically endorsing Sanders last week. Despite all the press....

....they're getting DSA membership is less than 50,000 nationwide.

It should also be noted that the DSA is opposed to the current form of the State of Israel.

In my opinion any candidate who is endorsed by a Party who is opposed to the State of Israel should refuse that endorsement.

[Gothmog]

10. From my twitter feed

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Cha]

15. lol@Corporate centrist neoliberal woman, gets it dc

[George II]

22. Yeahbut.

[LuvNewcastle]

11. A nominee who supports reparations in the form of cash payment

will lose in the general election. It's doubtful that Sanders would win anyway, but supporting cash reparations would be signing his own death warrant.

[Buzz Lightyear]

12. True. But here's the dilemma

Said candidate would probably have problems winning the South during the primary.

[LuvNewcastle]

17. They might, but I'm not sure.

There are a lot of black conservatives. I’m not sure how they feel about reparations. Some people think that black people are a monolithic group because they overwhelmingly vote Democratic, but many of them are evangelicals, and some just don’t care for liberals. I’d like to see some polling on how many black people actually support reparations. It’s probably a majority but I don’t know if it’s an overwhelming majorly.

Our nominee is going to have to thread the needle carefully when deciding how to respond to issues like reparations. What might win one group will kill him/ her with another. Democrats have to always walk that tightrope and it makes winning the general that much harder.

[Tarheel_Dem]

19. Can you quantify "a lot of black conservatives"? Any numbers to back that up? nt

[LuvNewcastle]

20. I'm just going by the people I know, and I live in Mississippi so

I know quite a few black people. I've never taken a formal poll or anything. I'm not saying that many are Republicans; I'm saying they're conservative. There might be enough to elect a more right-leaning candidate in the primaries. Southerners in general are more conservative, both black and white.

[Blue_true]

25. I live in Florida.

A black conservative is as easy to find as a dodo bird.

[Buzz Lightyear]

27. Most African Americans support reparations

And nobody told you that black people are "monolithical". The fact that the percentage of African Americans is not 100% on any issue is not some kind of controversy.

[LuvNewcastle]

28. I said that most probably do support them.

Didn’t say it was a controversy...

[aikoaiko]

16. Seems like a fair criticism, but the endorsement stands. Kudos to Bernie

I am reminded of Ta Nehisi Coates stand on reparations and his criticism of Bernie, but he chose Bernie in 2016.

No finer endorsement needed in my opinion.

[Buzz Lightyear]

26. Costes didn't prevent an awful performance by Bernie among African Americans

We'll see what happens in 2020.

[LongtimeAZDem]

18. "What ever happened to the Popular Front?"

"He's over there."

"SPLITTER!"