the majority would handily support Bernie.
Yes, he fought for civil rights. But his fight for economic equality or fairness for minorities and those with low income or in poverty has been sincere and relentless his whole adult life.
Someone recently criticized Sanders for talking so much about criminal justice with respect to blacks. So I won't dwell on that here.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/183572/race-divides-views-race-relations-top-problem.aspx
The top problems that blacks saw facing the country in the latest quarter were race relations (13%) and unemployment (13%)
Other issues that are more glaring for blacks than for whites are crime and violence as well as poverty, homelessness and hunger. The latter may reflect that blacks have lower average incomes than whites and are more likely to be living in poverty. This is also consistent with a Gallup and Healthways finding that blacks are twice as likely as whites to report having struggled to afford food at least once in the previous 12 months.
Poverty in the US
Blacks 27%
Hispanic/Latino 25%
Other 15%
Whites 10%
Mean Household Income by Ethnicity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States
Asian alone $90,752
White alone $79,340
Hispanic or Latino $54,644
Black $49,629
Who is getting the short end of the deal in the above charts?
A key to Sanders single payer is that it cover the 10% of Americans who do not have healthcare insurance. It is an economic benefit to those in poverty or with low income.
A key to Sanders free tuition for college is to give those students in poverty or with low family income hope that if they get through high school, they'll have a much better shot at a college education.
A key to Sanders $15/hr minimum wage is to reach out to those who cannot make ends meet because they're not being paid a living wage.
Sanders has complained that 51% of blacks who have graduated from high school do not have a job. He has talked about stimulating jobs by rebuilding infrastructure and efforts to develop clean energy. His plan to improve income inequality will also stimulate the economy and deliver more jobs because many more Americans will have more disposable income.
The race that benefits from Sanders policies most are blacks because they're the most in poverty and have the lowest average income. Latinos are next.
The next thing that needs some discussion is beyond that, for example, when jobs come available, how do we reach these unemployed black high school graduates and get them employed? Maybe some outreach to let them know there is help. Maybe training programs are needed to help finish the job of making them more employable. Maybe some career counseling, resume preparation or helping them sell themselves to the job market. I don't know as I'm not an expert in that area. Something like that to close the deal and help salvage the lives of those in need now - to meet the problem head on is needed.
Not only would Bernie be approachable on that, I think he'd do it.
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