I want Bernie Sanders to talk about race

[BrotherIvan]

35. You are rocking it, but now I'm gonna bore you back

I totally agree, I want to see more and I hope Rev Al will have him on his show too to talk about these issues.

I have been trying to talk to some posters about the fact that access to quality education + higher education is so important to people of color and poor communities. I taught in a high school for last chance students in what we all affectionately termed "the ghetto." This was a city that in the 90s had the highest murder rate in the country and a population of about 250,000. I had bullet holes in the windows of my classroom. I had bangers and kids fresh out of juvie. I had students with kids, some with more than one. I had students that lived in a one bedroom apartment with over ten people, lots of that situation. (And my students were hanging with Snoop at the Starbucks which was hilarious) There were Latinos, African Americans, whites, Vietnamese, Korean, and Filipino all in one school.

My students didn't have a lot of options. Most of them were not going to college. They were either going to be working some minimum wage job or two or three for the rest of their lives if they went the straight route. The only recruiters who came to my school were the military and the cops. They know to feed on poor kids. Three students who had the grades to go to college but not the money, signed up for the military because they thought that was their only option. One we were able to talk out of it. That's when I realized that we do have a program for tax subsidized education and jobs, but the black and brown kids have to put their lives on the line to get it.

And my life, growing up just the next town over, was so different. I never questioned that I would go to college, that that was my path. I didn't have to worry about blocks being taken over by drug dealers and drive bys. And it was because my parents were educated where not a single student in my class had a parent that got more than a high school diploma and a majority of the parents never even went to high school. Parents' educational level is the strongest indicator for a child. These students didn't have any damn bootstraps.

So I want that for them. I want them to be able to have the choice if they want to make a better life and get a job that they can provide for themselves and their families. Not two or three jobs, one well-paying job. I want them not to have to choose between taking the baby to the doctor and paying rent. I don't want them to be so illiterate and ignorant that employers and cops take every advantage of them, which they do. That's part of social justice to me.

How about generational poverty? Isn't that just keeping people in the worst possible place? This graph should alarm just about anyone who cares about the black community. But sadly, not on DU as I have shared it a few time. The median household worth for black families is $11,000 ???? And we're not supposed to talk about economics???



On the drug war, Sanders is for decriminalization and medical marijuana. I looked up his current position and found this from his recent reddit AMA

[–]
In 2014 you expressed that the decriminalisation of recreational marijuana use is “not a major issue”, but also added that you would “look into it”.
The freedom to alter ones own state of consciousness, whilst doing no harm to others, is something that many people deem to be a basic human right. The prison-industrial complex, and pharmaceutical monopolies that have been erected around prohibition of consciousness altering, pain relieving, but otherwise benign drugs seems to be the epitome of what you stand against.
I’d imagine that you have refrained from speaking on this issue for fear of it being used as ammunition by your "opponents”, but could you update us on your position regarding the war on drugs?
Thanks!

[–]bernie-sanders[S]
Let me just say this -- the state of Vermont voted to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana and I support that. I have supported the use of medical marijuana. And when I was mayor of Burlington, in a city with a large population, I can tell you very few people were arrested for smoking marijuana. Our police had more important things to do.
Colorado has led the effort toward legalizing marijuana and I'm going to watch very closely to see the pluses and minuses of what they have done. I will have more to say about this issue within the coming months.

So not decisive but there is movement there.

On Welfare Reform, he voted against it in 1996 and from what I can find has voted very consistently to increase all assistance programs at every level. I can't find a good link that is exhaustive but I will keep looking.

On parents of children with a disability, it seems like he leads the charge any time Republicans want to get near it. There are lots of links through the years, this is the latest. So when he is talking about Social Security, he is also talking about disability benefits.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/disability-benefit-cuts-loom

All of your questions are excellent and made me research it for myself. I don't want to make any assumptions about what someone supports. I could have been pretty confident and answered most of your questions with, "Socialism bro" But I don't think that is enough. These are serious and important issues so it's what we need to be discussing. That's how we learn. That's how I do anyway.