Continuing to cover the primary elections, we will examine the second scholar in our three part series on unconventional views and commentary concerning the 2016 primary election. This post will summarize and expand on an Op-Ed piece published by Politico, and written by Cornel West, a former professor at Harvard and Princeton University, current political commentator, and first African-American to ever receive a Ph.D from Princeton in Philosophy. In the humorously titled article, Why Brother Bernie Is Better for Black People Than Sister Hillary, West compares and contrasts the history both candidates have campaigning for civil rights, and the current incentives both nominees can offer the Black community.

Hillary Clinton is the former First Lady, former Secretary of State, and the Democratic candidate who is assumed to have the African-American voting edge. West attempts to dismantle some of her Black appeal in one part of his article. He recalls Hillary’s statement where she recounted meeting Dr. King in 1962; she admired his “moral clarity”. Afterwards, this statement proved to hold little weight as a mere two years later, she campaigned on behalf of businessman Republican Barry Goldwater, who King despised due to his “staunch opposition” to the recently enacted Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Hillary Clinton also worked for the Children’s Defense Fund as a staff attorney after graduating law school. Here she worked to advocate on behalf of children, lobbying to pass legislation for an improved education system and welfare benefits to children in need. Later in her political career, while defending Bill Clinton’s punitive crime bill, referred to gang-related youths as “Super-Predators” in a campaign speech provided by C-SPAN.

In relation to her current campaign, she accepted over one hundred thousand dollars from lobbying firms representing private for-profit prison groups. She later changed her mind, pledged to stop accepting funds from such groups, and stated she would end mass-incarceration. While the change of heart is certainly noble, this is rhetoric that the other nominee, Bernie Sanders, has been promoting all along.

Bernie Sanders, according to West, was closer in proximity to Dr. King both physically and in ideology. He attended the 1963 march on Washington, where he protested alongside Martin Luther King Jr., and in addition to that, was arrested for protesting segregation in Chicago the same year.

While these fun facts and political tidbits certainly appeal to West’s favor of Sanders, he also cites the candidate’s policy suggestions of “$15 minimum wage, a massive federal jobs program with a living wage, free tuition for public college and universities, and Medicare for all” as applicable solutions that would “undeniably lessen black social misery”.

With West arguing that Bernie Sanders certainly deserves the “Black Vote” more so than Hillary, the question emerges, how well did the candidates appeal to African-Americans in Michigan? The Detroit Free Press reports,

Clinton did far better with black voters, as expected, winning that bloc, 65%-31%, but that was a much smaller margin than in Southern states, and black voters made up less than one-quarter of those voting. And among the 68% of voters who were white, Sanders won handily, 57%-41%.

One of the key factors contributing to Sanders’ small African-American surge was Clinton incorrectly accusing Sanders of voting against the 2009 auto bailout, which Sanders not only denied, but then turned the tables on Hillary by mentioning her support for the trade deals that hurt U.S. employment. This really seemed to resonate with many of Michigan’s working class individuals.

While the delegate count for Hillary is increasing with every consecutive primary win, West does make a case for Sanders being the candidate that deserves the “Black Vote”. Michigan in the end, was a win for Sanders, who won by a slim margin. Perhaps the small percentage of Black voters Sanders recently captured created the slight edge he needed to win Michigan.



Politico: Why Brother Bernie Is Better for Black People Than Sister Hillary

Detroit Free Press: How Bernie Sanders won Michigan