Commentary on the presidential candidacy of Bernie Sanders

We think that it is a good thing that Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is running for president. Senator Sanders has attracted some of the largest crowds of any presidential candidate by hammering away at the growing income and wealth inequality in the U.S. He supports the $15 per hour minimum wage, a government single-payer health care program and has been a consistent opponent of so-called ‘free trade’ agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP.

Senator Sanders has also been a critic of Wall Street and the most blatant displays of the richest 1%’s domination of elections. He wants to overturn the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that ended restrictions on corporate donations to political candidates. Sanders has also fought hard against the right wing and oil and gas industry’s opposition to any action on climate change.

That said, we cannot support the candidacy of Mr. Sanders. As senator, Sanders supported the 2010 Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that included more militarization of the border, more temporary workers, cutting legal immigration from Africa in half by the elimination of the so-called diversity visa, and cutting back on family reunification visas. Sanders has said almost nothing about the ongoing police occupation of oppressed nationality communities, and the plague of police killings that target young Black and brown men.

While Sanders has been a critic of the Pentagon, he does so from the perspective of pinching pennies, not from an opposition to U.S. intervention in countries around the world. Sanders has supported sanctions on Russia that are part of the U.S. strategy for ‘regime change’ in former soviet countries to isolate Russia. Even worse, he has been a supporter of the brutal Israeli attack on Gaza, which massacred over a thousand Palestinian civilians and hundreds of children.

For those of our readers who see change coming through elections, there is (unfortunately) no major candidate to the left of Senator Sanders. He is certainly better than Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party mainstream, having opposed President Bill Clinton’s welfare reform and having endorsed the Reverend Jesse Jackson’s campaign for president in 1988. But for those of us who see that “change is in the streets,” we will be putting our time, energy and meager amount of money into organizing on campus, in the community and at our workplaces, not into the election campaign of Senator Sanders. We invite you to join us.

Via: Fight Back News

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[VIDEO] Greta: 'Knockout Game' No Laughing Matter ... Where Are Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Others?

Let's all go "Off the Record" for a minute. Look at this. Take a close look. Do you know what is going on? That is young African-American teenagers viciously and gratuitously attacking a random victim, a teacher, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now, this violent act is what the teens where this is happening laughingly call "The Knockout Game."

This is no game. It's a mean, dangerous and a deadly crime. Already, one man hit has died from the so-called "Knockout Game." That's murder.

It's hard to think it could be worse, even more degrading, but it might be because lots of other teens know about this "Knockout Game." They have even been interviewed laughing about it, laughing like they don't get that this is wrong. Instead, acting like it's funny. Funny, really? They think it's funny?

Watch the videos on Gretawire. It's posted there. There is even more. This "Knockout Game" crime is a trend. It's growing. Don't believe me? We've had two incidents in the last few days right here in D.C. I know this is a very touchy topic because the game is regrettably popular amongst unsupervised African-American teens. No one wants to get near the topic of race. We also can't run from this one.

People are getting her hurt and murdered, and even those who live in these communities where this is happening. They have a right to be safe, and they don't have to live in fear of having their children hurt or even poisoned by ugly peer pressure, right? This game has to be condemned. And in order for the condemnation to have any impact whatsoever it has to come from important role models to these young teens.

I beg of Reverend Jesse Jackson, Reverend Al Sharpton and even President Obama to step up right now and speak out. Your silence will speak volumes, but your voice could make a big difference. Don't wait. Be leaders, they need you. We need you.

Via: Fox News

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EXCLUSIVE: Rev. Jesse Jackson says Ronald Reagan wanted to ban blacks from playing football with whites

Deceased-Republican President Ronald Reagan sought to to permanently ban African Americans from playing college and professional football in the South with white people, civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. alleged in a speech to Furman University on Wednesday evening.

In the same speech he also alleged that modern Tea Party was born from efforts to sustain segregation.

“Goldwater and Reagan – had they been successful, it would have been illegal for blacks and whites to play together on a Saturday afternoon,” he said.

“You couldn't have had the Carolina Panthers behind the cotton curtain playing the Atlanta Falcons…[inaudible] it would have been illegal.”

In the tirade, recorded by a Furman University student, Jackson went on to claim that if Reagan and former GOP presidential candidate Barry Goldwater had their way, there would have been no Olympics in Atlanta, and basketball legend Michael Jordan would have ineligible to play basketball at the University of North Carolina (UNC), where he got his start.

“Michael Jordan couldn't have gone to UNC… [inaudible] it would have been ineligible for him to play at UNC,” he continued “You couldn't have had the Olympics in Atlanta Georgia. You couldn’t have had the Dallas Cowboys in Houston, Texas, you couldn't have had the Super Bowl in New Orleans or in Atlanta or in Jacksonville or Miami.”

Jackson may have been referencing Reagan and Goldwater’s vocal support for state and individual rights, which a small number of far left critics interpreted as thinly veiled appeals for segregation.

In the hour long speech, which focused on race but meandered through a number of subjects, Jackson made other incendiary comments, for example suggesting that the Washington Redskins name is a reference to the scalping of American Indians.

“How about pictures we see of Indians stabbing the cowboys” he asked. In reality what happened was if If you killed an Indian... [inaudible]…finally you got paid for the scalps of the red skins of the Indians…and that’s how we got the Washington Redskins football league.”

He repeatedly calling the United States South “the land of the free, the home of genocide” and suggested that the modern day Tea Party was born from efforts to maintain "the walls" of slavery and segregation.

Via: Campus Reform

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RACIAL TRADE-OFFS

Black congressmen and black public officials in general, including Barack Obama, always side with teachers unions in their opposition to educational vouchers, tuition tax credits, charter schools and other measures that would allow black parents to take their children out of failing public schools. Most black politicians and many black professionals take the position of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who is on record as saying, “We shouldn’t abandon the public schools.”

Taking such a political stance is understandable because black congressmen and other black elected officials are part of a coalition. As such, they are expected to vote for things that other coalition members want in order that those coalition members vote for things that black politicians want. There’s no question that these black public officials are getting something in return for their support of teachers unions and others who benefit from the educational status quo. The question not addressed by black people is whether what black politicians are getting for their support of a failed educational system is worth the sacrifice of whole generations of black youngsters, educationally handicapping them and making many virtually useless in the high-tech world of the 21st century.

Though many black politicians mouth that we should fix, not abandon, public schools, they themselves have abandoned public schools. They see their children as too precious to be sacrificed in the name of public education. While living in Chicago, Barack Obama sent his daughters to the prestigious University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When he moved to Washington, President Obama enrolled his daughters in the prestigious Sidwell Friends School. According to a report by The Heritage Foundation, “exactly 52 percent of Congressional Black Caucus members and 38 percent of Congressional Hispanic Caucus members sent at least one child to private school.” Overall, only 6 percent of black students attend private school.

Via: Human Events

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Jesse Jackson: ‘Tea Party Is Resurrection of the Confederacy’

Jesse Jackson has no doubt that on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Republican opposition to President Obama’s policies is motivated by racial animus reminiscent of the Civil War-era South. “The tea party is the resurrection of the Confederacy, it’s the Fort Sumter tea party,” Jackson toldPolitico’s Glenn Thrush.

Jackson, who Thrush describes as the man “who more than anyone occupies the no man’s land between his mentor King and Obama,” is “absolutely” convinced that attempts to thwart the president’s agenda are motivated by his race.

The question “To what degree is the partisan gridlock that is frustrating his attempts to govern racially driven?” is one that President Obama himself is “begging to ask,” according Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of a triology on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The president can’t publicly broach the topic, Branch said, because “the slightest mention of race could alienate the millions of white Americans who voted for him.”

The half-dozen aides Thrush interviewed for the article disagree with this assessment, saying that they have never heard Obama suggest that race is a factor in the opposition he faces from the GOP. “Bill Clinton was a white guy from the country, and they were just as vituperative,” said one. “But I don’t know what the president thinks about it.”

Via: National Review Online

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Will Empowerment Ever Trump Perpetual Victimhood For The Black Community?

Jesse Jackson Is Being Honored For Providing Inner-
City Youths With Increased Photo Opportunities...The 
Onion

• Much has been written about the failure of black leadership in America over the last several decades. I revisited this issue after reading and hearing reports of Oprah's alleged encounter with racism while shopping for a purse in Zurich, Switzerland, several weeks ago. But that's not what I found interesting about the story. I found it interesting that one of the richest black women in the history of the planet, a women who made much of her wealth from a message of empowerment, had to resort to whining and portraying herself as a victim.
• And this incident is precisely what brings me to my point today. Too many African Americans promote perpetual victimhood---even those who have been remarkably successful.
• There is no doubt that racism still exists in America. But there is also no doubt that African Americans have too many black leaders who promote racial division largely for fame and financial gain. One can make a lucrative career in America by stroking the fires of racial conflict and tension. Too many continue to pursue failed social programs that only promote unending hopelessness, misery and anguish. They know they can make a lucrative career by stroking the flames of racial conflict and continual tension.
• Not long ago, I wrote a piece about Al Sharpton, a race-baiting hustler and hypocrite of the worst kind. Not only has this thug been involved in promoting some major hoaxes on the public, Jonah Goldberg of theNational Review wrote Sharpton knows how to cash in on his access. It's the likes of Sharpton and other so-called black leaders who always turn to a failed ideology that relies on victimhood instead of promoting empowerment, a process where marginalized people can truly flourish without being dependent on the government and society for perpetual handouts. It's through the help of others who sincerely care---not charlatans---that marginalized people will get access to the many opportunities available in life and society. And those "others" happen to be other distinguished black Americans that many never hear about.

Via: PWZ

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