Catherina
Catherina's JournalRhonda Rawlings Interviews Senator Bernie Sanders, SC
Rhonda Rawlings Interviews Senator Bernie Sanders
Hey Bernie Sanders!
"Hey Bernie Sanders" ~ by Brian Estes
Published on Jul 24, 2015
I've never written a song for a political candidate. I don't generally trust politicians or find them particularly inspiring. Bernie's got me fired up though. It's refreshing to see somebody who not only disagrees with Citizens United, but also refuses to run a campaign with super PAC money. Listen to what Bernie Sanders is saying. Look what he's done in his political career. Figure out whether you agree with him or not and why. Vote your conscience, not what you think is "safe." This song is the common property of anyone who wishes to sing it, share it, whatever. lyrics and chords below:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Bernie Sanders ~ by Brian Estes 2015
--------------------------------------------------------------------
C F C
Hey, Bernie Sanders, I wrote you a song C F G
‘Cause I heard your voice ringing above all the wrong
C F C
I seen your hands waving around in the air
C G C
I seen your eyes burnin’ when they don’t play fair
------------------------------------------------------------------
No smiles and hairstyles and soundbites from you
You say what you mean and that’s what you do
You speak for the workin’ class woman and man
You sometimes get angry ‘cause you give a damn
------------------------------------------------------------------ F C
Hey Bernie, Hey Bernie, let’s take it all back G
We raised fifteen million with no super PAC C F C
And that oughta show them what the people can do G
Hey, Bernie Sanders I’m votin’ for you
----------------------------------------------------------------
You speak the words that we need to hear
While others grow rumors like tumors of fear
And when the mud-slingers mount vicious attacks
You stand by your record and stick to the facts
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Bernie, Hey Bernie, they’re runnin’ scared
They say you’re too old and you’ve got messy hair
They call you a socialist and you say it’s true
And that’s when they know they got nothin’ on you
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
You stood for gay marriage before it was cool
You stand with the students payin’ too much for school
You stand with the middle class falling behind
While the top one percent is robbing us blind
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Bernie, Hey Bernie, let’s take it all back
We raised fifteen million with no super PAC
And that oughta show them what the people can do
Hey, Bernie Sanders I’m votin’ for you
--------------------------------------------------------------
And some folks might say, “Why bother to fight it?
The whole game is rigged by Citizens United”
But united we stand or divided we fall
And I’d rather have false hope than no hope at all
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Bernie, Hey Bernie, they say it’s a dream
The people can’t win against the corporate machine
But ninety-nine percent is a heck of a lot
And I say we give it whatever we got
--------------------------------------------------------
Seems all politicians know just what to say
And when to shut up so the donors will pay
Sell favors to the slavers who butter their bread
That’s why I’m voting for Bernie instead
-------------------------------------------------------
Hey Bernie, Hey Bernie, let’s take it all back
We raised fifteen million with no super PAC
And that oughta show them what the people can do
Hey, Bernie Sanders I’m votin’ for you
Hey Bernie Sanders!
"Hey Bernie Sanders" ~ by Brian Estes
Published on Jul 24, 2015
I've never written a song for a political candidate. I don't generally trust politicians or find them particularly inspiring. Bernie's got me fired up though. It's refreshing to see somebody who not only disagrees with Citizens United, but also refuses to run a campaign with super PAC money. Listen to what Bernie Sanders is saying. Look what he's done in his political career. Figure out whether you agree with him or not and why. Vote your conscience, not what you think is "safe." This song is the common property of anyone who wishes to sing it, share it, whatever. lyrics and chords below:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Bernie Sanders ~ by Brian Estes 2015
--------------------------------------------------------------------
C F C
Hey, Bernie Sanders, I wrote you a song C F G
‘Cause I heard your voice ringing above all the wrong
C F C
I seen your hands waving around in the air
C G C
I seen your eyes burnin’ when they don’t play fair
------------------------------------------------------------------
No smiles and hairstyles and soundbites from you
You say what you mean and that’s what you do
You speak for the workin’ class woman and man
You sometimes get angry ‘cause you give a damn
------------------------------------------------------------------ F C
Hey Bernie, Hey Bernie, let’s take it all back G
We raised fifteen million with no super PAC C F C
And that oughta show them what the people can do G
Hey, Bernie Sanders I’m votin’ for you
----------------------------------------------------------------
You speak the words that we need to hear
While others grow rumors like tumors of fear
And when the mud-slingers mount vicious attacks
You stand by your record and stick to the facts
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Bernie, Hey Bernie, they’re runnin’ scared
They say you’re too old and you’ve got messy hair
They call you a socialist and you say it’s true
And that’s when they know they got nothin’ on you
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
You stood for gay marriage before it was cool
You stand with the students payin’ too much for school
You stand with the middle class falling behind
While the top one percent is robbing us blind
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Bernie, Hey Bernie, let’s take it all back
We raised fifteen million with no super PAC
And that oughta show them what the people can do
Hey, Bernie Sanders I’m votin’ for you
--------------------------------------------------------------
And some folks might say, “Why bother to fight it?
The whole game is rigged by Citizens United”
But united we stand or divided we fall
And I’d rather have false hope than no hope at all
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Bernie, Hey Bernie, they say it’s a dream
The people can’t win against the corporate machine
But ninety-nine percent is a heck of a lot
And I say we give it whatever we got
--------------------------------------------------------
Seems all politicians know just what to say
And when to shut up so the donors will pay
Sell favors to the slavers who butter their bread
That’s why I’m voting for Bernie instead
-------------------------------------------------------
Hey Bernie, Hey Bernie, let’s take it all back
We raised fifteen million with no super PAC
And that oughta show them what the people can do
Hey, Bernie Sanders I’m votin’ for you
Don't get me started
I'm so focused on getting Sanders elected, otherwise all we're going to get is more lip service, that I'm not wasting my time even reading the posts of people who haven't been on the same side for any important issues, especially when they try to confuse the terminology and facts. The time for discussion was yesterday. Today is action and change. The hope and wait part is so yesterday.
Original on file at Birmingham Public Library
And I love how the same people who have a vested economic interest in keeping poor people divided over *attitudes*, dismiss brother after brother and sister after sister as *radicals*. "Oh they don't represent the majority" "They're fringe" "No one in the Black community pays attention to Cornel West or Tavis or blah blah blah". Well hah, poor people are rising up under our noses and all this talk that racism and economic injustice don't go hand in hand is to keep us separated like people can't smell the same old bullshit.
You remember right here, for the 2008 elections, we had some PUMA, overtly racist prolific Clinton supporter here for months telling us how we should be grateful and kissing her ass or go back to mopping floors? And not a single moderator would delete her vile shit. Not a single Clinton supporter would call her on it, they just pretended they didn't see it and when called on it with direct links, they either disappeared for a while or explained it away. Even when you wrote to the mods with direct quotes after the alers failed, her posts remained. I sent Skinner a very upset note I was that mad and to do him credit, he tombstoned her right then and there and sent me a really nice note apologizing we were subjected to that and letting me know he got rid of her. Go back to mopping floors my ass. Be grateful my ass.
I think this is what is scaring the status quo more than anything. There's been a class war going on for decades racism is just a sideline they use to divide and conquer, to obscure what's really going on and deceive people by playing on their fears. Socioeconomic status is the largest factor in racial injustice, poverty, joblessness, imprisonment, lack of healthcare, but they don't want us talking about it because we might unite. The Black voting bloc might back Sanders instead and be their worst nightmare since Martin Luther King started talking about workers rights for all colors and travelled to Memphis to support a LABOR strike by Black sanitation workers and organized the Poor People's March a few weeks before they decided enough was enough with all that socialist talk and gunned him down.
Brother Cornel West, who's treated like a rock star on the streets where the direct actions are taking place against racial injustice, just endorsed Sanders with the explicit caveat that
The Clinton camp tried the race card in 2007-2008. That failed miserably and backfired spectacularly. Now they're trying to play the opposite race card and just as clumsily too. Helllloooo! Think people are that dumb?
Mopping floors. Carrying bags. Attitudes. Change hearts instead of economics. Got it.
KISS MY BLACK ASS (not you of course, the oppressors trying to keep us divided)
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/09/10/lets-be-friends
Ugh. "Revealed: Asian slave labour producing prawns for supermarkets in US, UK "
Thai 'ghost ships' that enslave and even kill workers are linked to global shrimp supply chain, Guardian investigation discovers
• Trafficked into slavery on Thai trawlers to catch food for prawns
• Thailand's seafood industry: state-sanctioned slavery?
Slaves forced to work for no pay for years at a time under threat of extreme violence are being used in Asia in the production of seafood sold by major US, British and other European retailers, the Guardian can reveal.
A six-month investigation has established that large numbers of men bought and sold like animals and held against their will on fishing boats off Thailand are integral to the production of prawns (commonly called shrimp in the US) sold in leading supermarkets around the world, including the top four global retailers: Walmart, Carrefour, Costco and Tesco.
...
Men who have managed to escape from boats supplying CP Foods and other companies like it told the Guardian of horrific conditions, including 20-hour shifts, regular beatings, torture and execution-style killings. Some were at sea for years; some were regularly offered methamphetamines to keep them going. Some had seen fellow slaves murdered in front of them.
Fifteen migrant workers from Burma and Cambodia also told how they had been enslaved. They said they had paid brokers to help them find work in Thailand in factories or on building sites. But they had been sold instead to boat captains, sometimes for as little as £250.
"I thought I was going to die," said Vuthy, a former monk from Cambodia who was sold from captain to captain. "They kept me chained up, they didn't care about me or give me any food … They sold us like animals, but we are not animals – we are human beings."
Another trafficking victim said he had seen as many as 20 fellow slaves killed in front of him, one of whom was tied, limb by limb, to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.
...
The alarm over slavery in the Thai fishing industry has been sounded before by non-governmental organisations and in UN reports.
...
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jun/10/supermarket-prawns-thailand-produced-slave-labour
Thank you Miles Archer!
The ruling class doesn't really care about color, anymore than they care about LGBT
so as far as the ruling class was concerned, it was ok when Martin was just sticking to racism but when he got all uppity about capitalism and threatening their capital by telling poor people of all colors to rise up, that's when he had to go.
And a certain contingent in the Black community wasn't too pleased about King refusing to separate economic injustice from racial racism. It wasn't the poor contingent either, they were all geared up for the Poor People's March. Some things never change.
“We must admit there was a limitation of our achievement in the South,” he told a meeting of the SCLC board in 1967. SCLC would have to call for a “radical redistribution of wealth and power.” On several occasions, King told his aides that the US needed a democratic socialism that would guarantee jobs and income for all.
Other SCLC leaders, such as Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, and Ralph Abernathy, were hostile to plans for the Poor People’s March. The SCLC’s Southern field offices had been neglected during an ill-fated attempt to organize against housing segregation in Chicago, and the group’s Northern offices were even weaker.
Moreover, the plan clashed with the black capitalist orientation of SCLC’s Operation Breadbasket, directed by Jackson. “If you are so interested in doing your own thing that you can’t do what the organization is structured to do, go ahead,” King said in response to Jackson’s criticism of the march. “If you want to carve out your own niche in society, go ahead, but for God’s sake, don’t bother me!”
Still, the Democrats saw betrayal in King’s Poor People’s Campaign — while the right wing declared it proved their longtime claim that King was a Communist. These elements, encouraged by the presidential campaign of segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace, publicly threatened King’s life.
Faced with hostility from the Johnson administration, criticism from both black nationalists and the black establishment, and a divided staff, King was politically isolated as never before when he was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968 — less than three weeks before the Poor People’s Campaign was to begin. King had travelled to Memphis to support a strike by black sanitation workers — he was the only national civil rights leader to do so.
Yet it wasn’t long after his death that the media hacks of the ruling class began to convert King into a harmless saint.
...
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/01/martin-luther-king-socialist/
from Jesse: The Life and Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson By Marshall Frady
It's difficult because if you admit economic injustice is inseparable
then you have to examine your own privilege and your own responsibility. And then if you're any sort of a human being, you're compelled to take action. It's so much easier to blame it on an "attitude" and leave it at that.
I'm fighting for both. With you and millions like us. Period.
Class and race operate both separately and together to impoverish people.
Class and race operate both separately and together to impoverish people. Racism does not explain everything. The greatest leaders of the civil rights movement understood that. Martin Luther King Jr understood it which is why he was focusing on economic issues and anti-capitalism before he was assassinated.
It is impossible to work for economic justice without combating racism but it is entirely possible to focus on racism and ignore economic justice. That's very convenient for maintaining the status quo of economic injustice - blame it on an "attitude". That's why the whitewashed version of civil rights taught in schools totally leaves out, or barely mentions, how civil rights leaders tied economic issues to the struggle.
If a white man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it’s a question of power.
Racism gets its power from capitalism. Thus, if you’re anti-racist, whether you know it or not, you must be anti-capitalist. The power for racism, the power for sexism, comes from capitalism, not an attitude.
You cannot be a racist without power. You cannot be a sexist without power. Even men who beat their wives get this power from the society which allows it, condones it, encourages it. One cannot be against racism, one cannot be against sexism, unless one is against capitalism.
— Stokely Carmichael, in answer to a question about racism and sexism
Brother Malcolm put it more succinctly
— Malcolm X
Sanders wows the crowd in North Charleston
Schuyler Kropf
Aug 22 2015 9:58 pm
A large and enthusiastic crowd greeted presidentical candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday as the Vermont senator brought his campaign to the Charleston Area Convention Center in North Charleston. Paul Zoeller/Staff
Democratic candidate for president Bernie Sanders finished his two-day tour of South Carolina here Saturday night, collectively drawing the largest and most enthusiastic crowds seen by any hopeful — from either party — this election season.
...
His topics ranged from advocating free public college tuition, expanding health care, ending mass incarceration, pressing for racial justice and protecting minorities of all sectors, naming gays, new immigrants and women in the workforce.
...
Estimates put the total attendance from his four stops in Greenville, Columbia, Sumter and North Charleston this weekend at around 9,500 people hearing his message over the past two days. The Charleston stop drew about one-third of the total, at about 3,150, the campaign said.
The crowd Saturday was overwhelmingly white, meaning Sanders has work to do in integrating his support if he wants to be successful in the Democrats’ Feb. 27 presidential primary. Still, there were several black voters in the crowd who said they were backing him fully, rejecting front-runner Clinton.
“African-Americans still have a bad taste in their mouth from the 2008 election because of the hateful things that Hillary and Bill Clinton said about our president, Barack Obama,” said John Moore of St. Helena, pointing toward the Clinton-Obama feud for the nomination that year.
...
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150822/PC1603/150829701
Video of rally here for anyone who missed it: http://www.democraticunderground.com/128041052
President SC AFL-CIO was speaking in total support! sounded like an endorsement
Just read that the South Carolina AFL-CIO endorsed Sanders months ago, but had to take it back after the national organization got mad.
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Name: CatherinaGender: Female
Member since: Mon Mar 3, 2008, 03:08 PM
Number of posts: 35,568
