Three serious questions for my fellow Bernie supporters

[sabrina 1]

36. First, the 'Bernie has a problem with minorities' meme was a talking point being pushed

hoping that before minorities got to know him, he would be smeared enough they wouldn't WANT to know. That hasn't worked, mostly because it wasn't true. His only problem with minorities was NAME RECOGNITION. As it was initially with everyone.

Here are the FACTS about that part of your question.

If you remember, last Jan Bernie's name recognition, with EVERYONE, was practically zero.

So the first hurdle he had to overcome was to make his name FAMILIAR to as many people as possible.

Among AAs eg, his name recognition was approx the same as it was with everyone else.

The polls reflected this, he was at around 3% in Jan of this year.

So his campaign apparently decided they needed to focus on critical states to get his name known there first.

I believe their strategy was based on the theory that 'success breathes success'. If he could prove he could win either or both of those states, he would be taken very seriously, get more media coverage as a result and it would begin to snowball as his newfound supporters volunteered to tell others and so on.

So they focused on NH and Iowa, and while they were doing that, they were masterfully using Social Media to familiarize more people with Bernie and his message.

This strategy has been an amazing success, as everyone knows by now.

Next, Bernie has a lot of influential friends in minority communities.

AND he has now attracted the attention of former Hillary supporters, see rapper Lil B eg, who has over a million followers on Twitter alone.

Lil B has told his followers about Bernie's Civil Rights history and has stated this as a main reason why he switched from Hillary to Bernie. Several other AA rappers and musicians have also come out to endorse Bernie. THIS is very helpful in getting Bernie's message into minority communities.

He also has many friends in the AA community who are part of the Civil Rights movement, ongoing as everyone knows. He has met with, eg, Jesse Jackson, been on his radio show recently as a Special Guest, reaching more people.

There are other strategies the campaign and even more important, the hundreds of thousands of volunteers, who are working night and day in every state, that are being used to get him that all important Name Recognition.

And it's working. Just this week, a prominent AA pastor 'switched from Hillary to Bernie' citing similar reasons as Lil B, Killer Mike et al, his Civil Rights history, his voting record etc that as soon as they learned about, they were sold.

But you have a point. Bernie's main hurdle from the start was introducing himself to tens of millions of people none of whom had ever heard of him before.

And from what I've read, half the country still doesn't know who he is.

So to answer your question 'what can be done', that is up to us, his supporters.

Eg, if you are in an area where there are minority communities, talk to them, hold meetups, put posters around, hand out bumper, organize groups to make fliers etc.

This IS happening now in many places, just saw a post here from another DUer who is busy in Dayton, Ohio spreading the word about Bernie to that part of the community that has more or less stopped voting.

Volunteers taking action is what got Bernie THIS FAR.

Those efforts ARE increasing as more people get to know him.

Will there be enough time to get his name out there to EVERYONE who is likely to, or COULD be persuaded to vote?

That is the main problem.

Hillary has had decades to get her name out there. Bernie has months.

So, rather than wonder what to do. I am contacting everyone I know, minorities, non-minorities, telling them about Bernie and the response has been fantastic so far.

Action is what is needed.

The problem is mostly NAME RECOGNITION so that is what we have to address.

Thanks for raising the questions, and for giving me a chance to list some of the solutions people are already working hard on and could use as much help as possible.