Video: Who really stands up for African Americans?
- Text by Alex King
“The Bernie Sanders campaign is a loooooove train.” explains Cornell West. “Get in on the movement.”
With the greatest African-American academic of our generation and one of the world’s foremost radical intellectuals coming out for him, you might expect Sanders to be making strong headway among black voters.
But Bernie is still struggling to dislodge Hillary Clinton’s dominance among the African American community. Although Sanders was boosted by winning 30% of the African American vote in Michigan, exit polls in Mississippi’s Democratic primary showed 89% of black voters supported Clinton and Sanders has struggled to win above 15% of the vote with black people in the south.
As the race for the democratic nomination comes down to the final rounds, the African American vote looks increasingly like it could be the decisive factor.
But which candidate has really earned those votes? Who has the best track record on issues that disproportionately affect the black community, like police brutality; access to healthcare and education; and the prison industrial complex?
Comedian Matt Orfalea has entered the fray with his video mashup of Sander’s high-profile supporters, including Killer Mike, Harry Belafonte, Spike Lee and Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner, who featured in Sanders’ brilliant campaign video It’s Not Over (below).
Orfalea’s video polemic comes hot on the heels of his brilliant explainer on the Sanders campaign, Do The Bernie Bongo (below).
In just three-and-a-half minutes, his bongo rap tells you more about Bernie Sanders’ all-conquering presidential campaign than any nightly news report.
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