Bernie and Hillary battle for black vote

Bernie Sanders met with Rev. Al Sharpton Wednesday in NY in an apparent move to diversify his voting base, which may become crucial as the campaign moves into SC.

In remarks after the meeting, Sharpton said he “bluntly” asked Sanders about the water crisis in Flint, affirmative action and police brutality, which he described as “issues that affect our communities around the country”. A chief complaint among Clinton backers appalled by her 22-point loss in a state with long and fond ties to the Clintons is that she isn’t getting through to voters.

Geneva Reed-Veal will join the Democratic presidential candidate at a February 17 voter mobilization event in Chicago.

Sanders realizes that, in order to win the Democratic nomination and defeat rival Hillary Clinton, he will need to find a way to garner more support from African American voters. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Tuesday night in New Hampshire, a state that is 94 percent white. Clinton is expected to strike a more aspirational, optimistic tone that is a tacit acknowledgment that simply knocking down Sanders’s ideas as unrealistic was not enough.

Sanders, who won the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, has received several prominent African American endorsements including former NAACP leader Ben Jealous.

Clinton’s campaign argues she will perform better as the race heads to more racially diverse states, including Nevada and SC.

Though she is now leading in polls of black voters and has focused a lot of energy on maintaining their support, Clinton’s record on criminal justice is still being sharply criticized and scrutinized. “We have to face up to the hard truth of injustice and systemic racism”, she said.

Taheeb Medford, 28, a security worker who has lived in the neighborhood his whole life, said he had to come out and support Sanders when he heard he was coming to Harlem. Onlookers chanted “feel the Bern”, and “Bern baby Bern” as Sharpton walked the candidate to a waiting vehicle. “We’re going to take stock, but it’s going to be the campaign that I’ve got”, Clinton told MSNBC ahead of the vote.

“Bernie Sanders has an incredibly powerful story to tell”, said adviser Tad Devine.

Sanders left without speaking to reporters. He added that he would not make a decision until after a meeting of civil rights leaders next week that both candidates plan to attend.

“My concern is that in January of next year, for the first time in American history, a black family will be moving out of the White House”.