Black Lives Matter. Yes. Really. Black Lives Matter. The numbers. The facts.

Many African Americans, and Hispanics in San Diego, are afraid every time they see police officers. This is not exaggeration. When children go to school parents fear they will not come home. When young men, of a certain age, go get a burrito to the corner store in their Sunday best, they are stopped and profiled, at times cuffed. Those are some of the stories we have heard in the streets.

. . . .

An African American man expects to go to jail not college. It is a rite of passage. It usually is for mistakes that while men make and never see a police officer, let alone a judge.

These are the statistics according to the NAACP:

Incarceration Trends in America

From 1980 to 2008, the number of people incarcerated in America quadrupled-from roughly 500,000 to 2.3 million people
Today, the US is 5% of the World population and has 25% of world prisoners.
Combining the number of people in prison and jail with those under parole or probation supervision, 1 in ever y 31 adults, or 3.2 percent of the population is under some form of correctional control

Racial Disparities in Incarceration

African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population
African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites
Together, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population
According to Unlocking America, if African American and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates of whites, today’s prison and jail populations would decline by approximately 50%
One in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001. If current trends continue, one in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime
1 in 100 African American women are in prison
Nationwide, African-Americans represent 26% of juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained, 46% of the youth who are judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted t

More, much more and well worth reading and bookmarking.

Netroots Nation 2015, Sanders and O’Malley: 911 What is your Emergency?

http://reportingsandiego.com/2015/07/21/netroots-nation-2015-sanders-and-omalley-911-what-is-your-emergency/

It's the job of the canddidates to run positive campaigns, to talk about their

ideals and ideas and what they will do or try to do if elected.

It is the job of the rest of us to observe the candidates, to compare what they say and who they are and decide who to vote for.

We can't pick which candidate to vote for without comparing the candidates. I feel rather sorry for the Hillary supporters. She does not fare well in the comparisons. It is easy to find problems with Hillary's candidacy, not so easy with Bernie's. Most Democrats agree with Bernie. Hillary presents some good proposals. But Hillary's campaign is dull. I for one have to conclude that that is because she is tired of it all down deep. Bernie on the other hand is truly excited by the challenge of working with Americans to solve the problems of our country. He proves that in every speech. It's that sincere enthusiasm that is carrying his momentum forward.

So the candidates are supposed to focus on the issues. We voters have to make the choice, and we can't make that unless we compare the candidates.

I have yet to hear from any Hillary supporter a convincing reason to support her rather than Bernie.