San Francisco Bay Area meetup report (some important info)
Last edited Mon Jul 13, 2015, 01:30 PM - Edit history (1)
I couldn't report on this until today because I had five hides.
I'll start off with this. There is a movement to encourage Bernie to broaden his message beyond economic justice Part of this movement is a petition which states:
Link to the petition
https://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/ask-bernie-sanders-make-racial-justice-part-of-your-presidential-platform
**Petition text has been updated to acknowledge Bernie's movement on this issue, and to clarify the call-to-action.**
Ask Bernie Sanders: Put Racial Justice on the Agenda
We, your supporters, have answered your call for a grassroots revolution, and now we ask you to answer our call.
In recent weeks, we’ve heard you speak truthfully to issues that disproportionately affect people of color, like immigrant rights, police brutality, and mass incarceration. Your history as an activist and your voting record for civil rights not only confirm you as the strongest Presidential candidate on social justice, but inspire us as we ally with progressive organizers.
We encourage you to go further. Economic injustice and racial injustice are inextricable in America. Race has been used by the elite as a wedge to pit the laboring class against itself since the 17th century. Racism is not only institutionalized in American economics and governance, but has metastasized into our social structures, our culture, and our very hearts and minds. Creating jobs alone will not alleviate its scourge. The massacre at Emanuel A.M.E. Church demonstrates the potency of present-day racism and the immediacy of our need to correct it, as a country.
We are not asking you to solve racism, an insurmountable task for one man alone. Rather, we ask you to empower us to build the grassroots movement that you have called for, and to become the rallying point behind which we can all gather. Across America, the people have demonstrated that we’re ready to take action on these issues.
We ask you to:
1. Open a dialogue with and listen to young activists of color about how your Presidency can support their communities.
2. Emphasize the ties between economic and racial injustice in your campaign.
3. Campaign on these issues proactively, forcefully, and immediately.
A people’s movement must be relevant for all people. We urge you to act quickly so that we may move forward together.
Signed,
Your supporters
Why is this important?
Senator Bernie Sanders’ message of restoring economic equality and justice is resonating with America. His platform, which covers issues from equal pay for women to climate change to reversing the Citizens United decision, is a rallying cry for the millions of disenfranchised in the 99%.
Yet economic inequality is not a comprehensive umbrella issue. As recent events have made clear, millions of Americans suffer from racialized violence, displacement, and resource deprivation. Much of this abuse has been codified into American institutions, like banking, education, the legal system, and even the political process.
We are asking Bernie Sanders, as his supporters, to directly address racial and ethnic inequality in his platform. We know that he has a stellar track record on these issues, but by folding them into economic issues, they are diminished. We are not asking him to speak for people of color, but rather to open a dialogue with them about how he can serve their communities best.
Senator Sanders has asked us to build a grassroots revolution in support of his campaign, so we ask him to give these issues that affect our family, friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens the weight and the prominence in his campaign that they deserve.
= new reply since forum marked as read
