Robert Reich on the Netroots Nation event

[JDPriestly]

85. You may be surprised, but I agree with virtually all you say.

What shall we do about it? Just telling white people to be tolerant and to care is not going to solve the problem.

What are your specific proposals?

What policies do you want, say, a Bernie Sanders who supported Black rights and then even Jesse Jackson as the candidate for president in 1988, to do to respond to the terrible attacks on Black people now.

As for your economic analysis about how the entire middle class in America is being brought down just as Black people were treated for centuries, I agree.

And I must say the same thing has happened in the professions. We got NAFTA, and factories were closed. Working class people lost their jobs and dropped out of the middle class. Detroit has been decimated. They have moved on to teachers. Charter schools are a means to destroy teacher training, teachers' professional status and unions. Next they will work on doctors. Sure. They study for many, many years and have to pass tests that insure that they are very, very intelligent and hard-working, but hey, we can't afford to pay their salaries. Never mind that they graduate with a ton of debt (unless their families were rich) and delay their earning years for a long time, let's pitch them out of the middle class too.

And so it is going. And of course this is a very difficult time for everyone in the middle class and people of color, Black people but also especially Hispanics are the first scapegoats for the anger the historical facts engender.

So this is the time for whites and Blacks to work together to right the economic structure of our country. Blacks do have other problems that are not specifically economic. A really deep study of the reasons for the higher arrest and conviction rates among Blacks is needed.

And we need complete reform of our criminal justice system. Personally, I think Bernie, a former mayor is best qualified to do that reform. O'Malley also has some good ideas about it. Hillary has been a pick 'em up and jail 'em person in the past. Maybe she will evolve on that issue now that it is a popular idea.

But Bernie Sanders has always favored justice for Black people. I think that Black advocates need to present him with proposals for what they want done and organize to make sure he does it. I think he is a person who can be worked with. That is one of the reasons I support him.

I must say I worked for quite a number of years for a homeless project that primarily served black homeless men, and have also visited juvenile detention centers fairly frequently. That is my personal experience with your concerns.

I will say that we need programs that reintegrate people especially black men into mainstream society when they leave prison. Our halfway houses and programs are not doing the job. And we need to foster more community service organizations and private as well as government money focused on those issues. That is what comes to my mind first.