2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: POC aren't buying the "Bernie's been fighting for you all his life so you should vote for him" claim [View all]EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)speeches, which is a normal part of a Senator's job.
Fighting means going out of his way, doing something hard that involves political risk, extraordinary effort or political courage. It means doing something more than what is in line with what his liberal constituency wants him to do.
Fighting means doing something for black people where black people were the primary and targeted beneficiaries, not just one of many groups that benefitted. Fighting means doing something for people of color that he would not have done anyway.
Fighting means creating legislation targeted specifically for POC (not something that benefits lots of people, including POC and that he would have done whether POC existed or not) and then working like hell to get it passed and not just letting it die in committee after it was introduced.
Fighting means standing up and blocking a unanimous consent vote when asked by civil rights activists (something I personally know he failed to do so often that people stopped asking him because it was a waste of time).
Fighting for black people means going above and beyond to protect, defend and uplift, not just voting, giving speeches and saying the right thing when asked.