What is that being fair to?
Legitimate black political activists with meaningful credentials and concerns have been ignored by Sanders during his entire time as a political representative from Vermont. His colleague Senator Leahy has worked with this group specifically. So maybe we should stop patting Sanders on the back for civil rights activism in the 60's and ask why once he had real political power he no longer had time for minorities.
I have never before read an article critical of the way Sanders addressed (or didn't, in this case) minorities within his own state so this article is somewhat surprising.
Black Vermonters make up just 1.2 percent of the state’s general population, but
10.7 percent of its incarcerated population.
“Vermont incarcerates people at the fourth highest rate in the U.S., but no one talks about that. I have been beating on that drum for a while now, and I hoped that Bernie would up that mantle, but he has not. He is like a lot of Vermonters who like to congratulate themselves on how progressive they are but sweep these issues under the rug.”
More than likely, these people were put behind bars for drug dealing. There is little crime in Vermont but there is a huge drug abuse issue. As with the rest of New England, heroin (and other opiates, like fentanyl) are becoming more and more of a problem every year. Under Bernie Sanders, Vermont decriminalized marijuana. People no longer go to jail for marijuana, they pay a fine. Sanders would like to end the war on drugs. I think that by doing that, we could stop the constant flow of brown and black people into the prison system.
Sha’an Mouliert, an activist who founded the African-American Alliance of the Northeast Kingdom, recalled once approaching Sanders for his support on a federal bill sponsored by Michigan Rep. John Conyers. Mouliert says Sanders outright dismissed the notion of reparations on the spot.
I don't know of any politician who would be pro-reparations. Very few people are.
“He just always kept coming back to income inequality as a response, as if talking about income inequality would somehow make issues of racism go away.”
While I don't believe that income equality will make racism go away, wouldn't income inequality help all people,
especially minorities?
It's an article that brings up some questions, yes. I can understand with the frustration of black people/activists in Vermont, but Vermont has very, very few black people there. Really. That shouldn't make them invisible, I do agree with that, but Vermont is already a small state, making the amount of black voters very small. He does need to work on his outreach to the african american community.
I do know that Chittendon county (the county Burlington is in) has taken in a large amount (relative to the size of the county) of refugees as asylum seekers, so good for them.
I think that his policies benefit minorities, but he needs to specifically address minorities.