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HerbChestnut

(3,649 posts)
Wed Nov 11, 2015, 05:26 PM Nov 2015

Bernie Sanders Plan to Address Racial Justice

https://berniesanders.com/issues/


We must pursue policies that transform this country into a nation that affirms the value of its people of color. That starts with addressing the four central types of violence waged against black and brown Americans: physical, political, legal and economic.

Physical Violence
Perpetrated by the State

Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Rekia Boyd, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Samuel DuBose. We know their names. Each of them died unarmed at the hands of police officers or in police custody. The chants are growing louder. People are angry and they have a right to be angry. We should not fool ourselves into thinking that this violence only affects those whose names have appeared on TV or in the newspaper. African Americans are twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police.
Perpetrated by Extremists

We are far from eradicating racism in this country. In June, nine of our fellow Americans were murdered while praying in a historic church because of the color of their skin. This violence fills us with outrage, disgust, and a deep, deep sadness. Today in America, if you are black, you can be killed for getting a pack of Skittles during a basketball game. These hateful acts of violence amount to acts of terror. They are perpetrated by extremists who want to intimidate and terrorize black and brown people in this country.
Addressing Physical Violence

It is an outrage that in these early years of the 21st century we are seeing intolerable acts of violence being perpetuated by police, and racist terrorism by white supremacists.

A growing number of communities do not trust the police and law enforcement officers have become disconnected from the communities they are sworn to protect. Violence and brutality of any kind, particularly at the hands of the police sworn to protect and serve our communities, is unacceptable and must not be tolerated. We need a societal transformation to make it clear that black lives matter, and racism cannot be accepted in a civilized country.

1. We must demilitarize our police forces so they don’t look and act like invading armies.

2. We must invest in community policing. Only when we get officers into the communities, working within neighborhoods before trouble arises, do we develop the relationships necessary to make our communities safer together. Among other things, that means increasing civilian oversight of police departments.

3. We need police forces that reflect the diversity of our communities.

4. At the federal level we need to establish a new model police training program that reorients the way we do law enforcement in this country. With input from a broad segment of the community including activists and leaders from organizations like Black Lives Matter we will reinvent how we police America.

5. We need to federally fund and require body cameras for law enforcement officers to make it easier to hold them accountable.

6. Our Justice Department must aggressively investigate and prosecute police officers who break the law and hold them accountable for their actions.

7. We need to require police departments and states to provide public reports on all police shootings and deaths that take place while in police custody.

8. We need new rules on the allowable use of force. Police officers need to be trained to de-escalate confrontations and to humanely interact with people who have mental illnesses.

9. States and localities that make progress in this area should get more federal justice grant money. Those that do not should get their funding slashed.

10. We need to make sure the federal resources are there to crack down on the illegal activities of hate groups.

Political Violence
Disenfranchisement

In the shameful days of open segregation, “literacy” laws were used to suppress minority voting. Today, through other laws and actions — such as requiring voters to show photo ID, discriminatory drawing of Congressional districts, not allowing early registration or voting, and purging voter rolls — states are taking steps which have a similar effect.

The patterns are unmistakable. An MIT paper found that African Americans waited twice as long to vote as whites. Wait times of as long as six or seven hours have been reported in some minority precincts, especially in “swing” states like Ohio and Florida. Thirteen percent of African-American men have lost the right to vote due to felony convictions.

This should offend the conscience of every American.

The fight for minority voting rights is a fight for justice. It is inseparable from the struggle for democracy itself.

We must work vigilantly to ensure that every American, regardless of skin color or national origin, is able to vote freely and easily.

Addressing Political Violence

1. We need to re-enfranchise the more than two million African Americans who have had their right to vote taken away by a felony conviction.

2. Congress must restore the Voting Rights Act’s “pre-clearance” provision, which extended protections to minority voters in states where they were clearly needed.

3. We must expand the Act’s scope so that every American, regardless of skin color or national origin, is able to vote freely.

4. We need to make Election Day a federal holiday to increase voters’ ability to participate.

5. We must make early voting an option for voters who work or study and need the flexibility to vote on evenings or weekends.

6. We must make no-fault absentee ballots an option for all Americans.

7. Every American over 18 must be registered to vote automatically, so that students and working people can make their voices heard at the ballot box.

8. We must put an end to discriminatory laws and the purging of minority-community names from voting rolls.

9. We need to make sure that there are sufficient polling places and poll workers to prevent long lines from forming at the polls anywhere.

Legal Violence

Millions of lives have been destroyed because people are in jail for nonviolent crimes. For decades, we have been engaged in a failed “War on Drugs” with racially-biased mandatory minimums that punish people of color unfairly.

It is an obscenity that we stigmatize so many young Americans with a criminal record for smoking marijuana, but not one major Wall Street executive has been prosecuted for causing the near collapse of our entire economy. This must change.

If current trends continue, one in four black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during their lifetime. Blacks are imprisoned at six times the rate of whites and a report by the Department of Justice found that blacks were three times more likely to be searched during a traffic stop, compared to white motorists. African-Americans are twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police. This is an unspeakable tragedy.

It is morally repugnant and a national tragedy that we have privatized prisons all over America. In my view, corporations should not be allowed to make a profit by building more jails and keeping more Americans behind bars. We have got to end the private-for-profit prison racket in America. I intend to introduce legislation that will end the private prison industry.

The measure of success for law enforcement should not be how many people get locked up. We need to invest in drug courts as well as medical and mental health interventions for people with substance abuse problems, so that people struggling with addiction do not end up in prison, they end up in treatment.

For people who have committed crimes that have landed them in jail, there needs to be a path back from prison. The federal system of parole needs to be reinstated. We need real education and real skills training for the incarcerated.

We must end the over incarceration of nonviolent young Americans who do not pose a serious threat to our society. It is an international embarrassment that we have more people locked up in jail than any other country on earth – more than even the Communist totalitarian state of China. That has got to end.

We must address the lingering unjust stereotypes that lead to the labeling of black youths as “thugs.” We know the truth that, like every community in this country, the vast majority of people of color are trying to work hard, play by the rules and raise their children. It’s time to stop demonizing minority communities.

In many cities all over our country, the incentives for policing are upside down. Departments are bringing in substantial sums of revenue by seizing the personal property of people who are suspected of criminal involvement. So-called civil asset forfeiture laws allow police to take property from people even before they are charged with a crime, much less convicted of one. Even worse, the system works in a way that make it nearly impossible for an innocent person to get her property back. We must end programs that not only permit, but actually reward officials for seizing assets without a criminal conviction or other lawful mandate. Departments and officers should not profit off of such seizures.

We must reform our criminal justice system to ensure fairness and justice for people of color.

Addressing Legal Violence

1. We need to ban prisons for profit, which result in an over-incentive to arrest, jail and detain, in order to keep prison beds full.

2. We need to turn back from the failed “War on Drugs” and eliminate mandatory minimums which result in sentencing disparities between black and white people.

3. We need to invest in drug courts and medical and mental health interventions for people with substance abuse problems, so that they do not end up in prison, they end up in treatment.

4. We need to boost investments for programs that help people who have gone to jail rebuild their lives with education and job training.

5. We must abolish civil asset forfeiture programs which allow police departments to seize property from people who have not been convicted of a crime and profit off of such seizures.

Economic Violence

Weeks before his death, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to a union group in New York about what he called “the other America.”

“One America is flowing with the milk of prosperity and the honey of equality,” King said. “That America is the habitat of millions of people who have food and material necessities for their bodies, culture and education for their minds, freedom and human dignity for their spirits. .?.?. But as we assemble here tonight, I’m sure that each of us is painfully aware of the fact that there is another America, and that other America has a daily ugliness about it that transforms the buoyancy of hope into the fatigue of despair.”

The problem was structural, King said: “This country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor.”

Eight days later, speaking in Memphis, King continued the theme. “Do you know that most of the poor people in our country are working every day?” he asked striking sanitation workers. “And they are making wages so low that they cannot begin to function in the mainstream of the economic life of our nation. These are facts which must be seen, and it is criminal to have people working on a full-time basis and a full-time job getting part-time income.”

King explained the shift in his focus: “Now our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality. For we know that it isn’t enough to integrate lunch counters. What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn’t earn enough money to buy a hamburger and a cup of coffee?”

But what King saw in 1968 — and what we all should recognize today — is that it is necessary to try to address the rampant economic inequality while also taking on the issue of societal racism. We must simultaneously address the structural and institutional racism which exists in this country, while at the same time we vigorously attack the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality which is making the very rich much richer while everyone else – especially those in our minority communities – are becoming poorer.

In addition to the physical violence faced by too many in our country we need look at the lives of black children and address a few other difficult facts. Black children, who make up just 18 percent of preschoolers, account for 48 percent of all out-of-school suspensions before kindergarten. We are failing our black children before kindergarten. Black students were expelled at three times the rate of white students. Black girls were suspended at higher rates than all other girls and most boys. According to the Department of Education, African American students are more likely to suffer harsh punishments – suspensions and arrests – at school.

We need to take a hard look at our education system. Black students attend schools with higher concentrations of first-year teachers, compared with white students. Black students were more than three times as likely to attend schools where fewer than 60 percent of teachers meet all state certification and licensure requirements.

Communities of color also face the violence of economic deprivation. Let’s be frank: neighborhoods like those in west Baltimore, where Freddie Gray resided, suffer the most. However, the problem of economic immobility isn’t just a problem for young men like Freddie Gray. It has become a problem for millions of Americans who, despite hard-work and the will to get ahead, can spend their entire lives struggling to survive on the economic treadmill.

We live at a time when most Americans don’t have $10,000 in savings, and millions of working adults have no idea how they will ever retire in dignity. God forbid, they are confronted with an unforeseen car accident, a medical emergency, or the loss of a job. It would literally send their lives into an economic tailspin. And the problems are even more serious when we consider race.

Let us not forget: It was the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street that nearly drove the economy off of the cliff seven years ago. While millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes, life savings, and ability to send their kids to college, African Americans who were steered into expensive subprime mortgages were the hardest hit.

Most black and Latino households have less than $350 in savings. The black unemployment rate has remained roughly twice as high as the white rate over the last 40 years, regardless of education. Real African American youth unemployment is over 50 percent. This is unacceptable. The American people in general want change – they want a better deal. A fairer deal. A new deal. They want an America with laws and policies that truly reward hard work with economic mobility. They want an America that affords all of its citizens with the economic security to take risks and the opportunity to realize their full potential.
Addressing Economic Violence

1. We need to give our children, regardless of their race or their income, a fair shot at attending college. That’s why all public universities should be made tuition free.

2. We must invest $5.5 billion in a federally-funded youth employment program to employ young people of color who face disproportionately high unemployment rates.

3. Knowing that black women earn 64 cents on the dollar compared to white men, we must pass federal legislation to establish pay equity for women.

4. We must prevent employers from discriminating against applicants based on criminal history.

5. We need to ensure access to quality affordable childcare for working families.

27 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Bernie Sanders Plan to Address Racial Justice (Original Post) HerbChestnut Nov 2015 OP
That is a long list of policies. Betty Karlson Nov 2015 #1
Pretty awesome isn't it? HerbChestnut Nov 2015 #2
I hope he'll have the chance to make it reality. Betty Karlson Nov 2015 #4
Not Good Enough! Armstead Nov 2015 #3
Really, really not good enough. nc4bo Nov 2015 #10
Thanks for all of these platform planks Fairgo Nov 2015 #5
That must have taken quite some time to format that endless OP. Buzz Clik Nov 2015 #6
Lots of "we need", "we must", "we have to"....but virtually no SOLUTIONS! HOW does he plan.... George II Nov 2015 #7
Didn't read it did you. HerbChestnut Nov 2015 #8
Sure did. Still no "how" addressed in most of the items. George II Nov 2015 #15
Okay HerbChestnut Nov 2015 #16
What I'm looking for is how he intends to get these accomplished. Just the first three points: George II Nov 2015 #17
How does Hillary compare, George? beam me up scottie Nov 2015 #18
Rereading this chart, it's quite useful. lovemydog Nov 2015 #24
They did a good job putting all of that together. beam me up scottie Nov 2015 #25
Just so you know... HerbChestnut Nov 2015 #22
Thanks for that. Your response is a hell of a lot more reasonable and mature than just trying Number23 Nov 2015 #23
I'd trust Sanders over Clinton bvf Nov 2015 #21
this is impressively comprehensive tishaLA Nov 2015 #9
K & R!!! Thespian2 Nov 2015 #11
Current bills he's sponsored or co-sponsored related to Criminal Justice... pinstikfartherin Nov 2015 #12
Thank you! beam me up scottie Nov 2015 #19
only to add Trayvon Martin tho I realize his death wasn't at the hand of police ALBliberal Nov 2015 #13
"We must end programs that not only permit, but actually reward officials Joe Chi Minh Nov 2015 #14
K & R! beam me up scottie Nov 2015 #20
K&R! nt riderinthestorm Nov 2015 #26
K and effing R Scuba Nov 2015 #27
 

Betty Karlson

(7,231 posts)
4. I hope he'll have the chance to make it reality.
Wed Nov 11, 2015, 05:55 PM
Nov 2015

There is so much misery in this world because of prejudice. In the end, the only way to help ourselves is to be there for each other.

Sanders would be a worthy successor of Obama when it comes to reaching out to PoC.

nc4bo

(17,651 posts)
10. Really, really not good enough.
Wed Nov 11, 2015, 07:04 PM
Nov 2015

In fact, it's a humongous fail

Sanders biggest hurdle will be taking this message to the people who need to hear it. Like the people shown in Iowa's Otherside (America with Jorge Ramos). It's very, very revealing perspective from "the other's" point of view. Rinse and repeat throughout this country.

Fast forward to about the 40:00 mark)



Fairgo

(1,571 posts)
5. Thanks for all of these platform planks
Wed Nov 11, 2015, 06:34 PM
Nov 2015

A veritable ship of state, rather than the flotsam of the 3rd way

George II

(67,782 posts)
7. Lots of "we need", "we must", "we have to"....but virtually no SOLUTIONS! HOW does he plan....
Wed Nov 11, 2015, 06:52 PM
Nov 2015

....to address what "we need", "we must", and "we have to"?

That's not a plan, its just a laundry list of things he thinks are wrong.

George II

(67,782 posts)
17. What I'm looking for is how he intends to get these accomplished. Just the first three points:
Wed Nov 11, 2015, 08:47 PM
Nov 2015

1. We must demilitarize our police forces so they don’t look and act like invading armies.

What is his proposal for accomplishing this? Does the Federal government have authority to take way police departments' equipment? The Obama Administration has already announced that surplus military equipment will no longer be sent to police departments.

2. We must invest in community policing. Only when we get officers into the communities, working within neighborhoods before trouble arises, do we develop the relationships necessary to make our communities safer together. Among other things, that means increasing civilian oversight of police departments.

How? Enact federal laws to require these steps, or incentives to police departments that do what he's suggesting? How will Federal assistance (training, etc.) be funded.

3. We need police forces that reflect the diversity of our communities.

How will he accomplish this? Quotas?

I'll stop there - I think I've demonstrated how his "Plan" is only a series of bullet points with virtually no substance or "plan" on how they will be implemented.

lovemydog

(11,833 posts)
24. Rereading this chart, it's quite useful.
Thu Nov 12, 2015, 05:35 AM
Nov 2015

It allows the reader to see all the proposals of Campaign Zero.

It lets readers decide which candidate they feel is making the strongest proposals and which might be most likely to get them passed.

These proposals can also be used at municipal and state levels. Let's also pressure candidates for mayor, city council, state attorney general, governor, police chief etc.

Thanks for sharing it here.

beam me up scottie

(57,349 posts)
25. They did a good job putting all of that together.
Thu Nov 12, 2015, 05:58 AM
Nov 2015

I was waiting for them to update their chart and they finally did this month.

You can see how the Republican candidates fare if you go to their website but as you can imagine they fall more than a little short. Afaik none of them have even addressed these issues.

http://www.joincampaignzero.org/#vision

 

HerbChestnut

(3,649 posts)
22. Just so you know...
Wed Nov 11, 2015, 09:02 PM
Nov 2015

Hillary's website has the same type of vague-ish language. I think it's fair what you're asking for, but you're not going to get that type of information during a campaign.

Number23

(24,544 posts)
23. Thanks for that. Your response is a hell of a lot more reasonable and mature than just trying
Thu Nov 12, 2015, 03:02 AM
Nov 2015

to pivot the conversation to "what's Hillary doing" as if that addresses the questions that George raised.

 

bvf

(6,604 posts)
21. I'd trust Sanders over Clinton
Wed Nov 11, 2015, 08:58 PM
Nov 2015

when it came to choosing a cabinet.

Any ideas where each would draw from?

tishaLA

(14,176 posts)
9. this is impressively comprehensive
Wed Nov 11, 2015, 06:55 PM
Nov 2015

I have other things to say, but I don't want this thread to take a bad turn.

ALBliberal

(2,303 posts)
13. only to add Trayvon Martin tho I realize his death wasn't at the hand of police
Wed Nov 11, 2015, 07:58 PM
Nov 2015

I feel his death brought on an awakening of the senseless violence against young black males and AAs in general. Sorry if already addressed upthread.

Joe Chi Minh

(15,229 posts)
14. "We must end programs that not only permit, but actually reward officials
Wed Nov 11, 2015, 08:28 PM
Nov 2015

for seizing assets without a criminal conviction or other lawful mandate. Departments and officers should not profit off of such seizures.

We must reform our criminal justice system to ensure fairness and justice for people of color."

I think it's simpler than a matter of justice, Bernie : People of colour (and possibly white folk, too) need to be protected from armed robbers. That's the bottom line, isn't it? It's quite clear. They are not highway patrolmen; they are plain highwaymen. The official occupation of the highwaymen is not relevant. All that's missing is they probably don't bark out : "Stand and deliver !" And of course in the case of these privateers (pirates now), such robbery is a surreal outrage which would have disgraced the Ton Ton Macoute in Haiti, under Papa Doc. Any rock-bottom third world country.

I'm not slagging off Haiti and such countries, who have been ruthlessly tyrannized by the US and imperialists of all stripes. Apparently the Chinese have, at least, been building infrastructure, such as roads and hospitals, in African countries.

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