Photo Credits: Black Christian News Network One
The Black college vote is crucial to Bernie Sanders in his quest to win the Democratic Presidential Primary.
“We are not leaving any votes on the table,” said Symone D. Sanders, the 25 year-old National Press Secretary for the Sanders campaign. Ms. Sanders, no relation to the candidate, said that “no other campaign has a similar initiative on Black college campuses.”
“We have over 200 college chapters and the only campaign in at least the last two campaign cycles to have a National Historical Black College and University Director,” Sanders said. “We are asking Black college students to join the political revolution this year.”
The Sanders campaign has committed to a Black College Tour which will include appearances at the following Black colleges and universities: South Carolina State University, Alabama State University, Jackson State University, Tennessee State University, Howard University, Atlanta University Center, Benedict College and Florida A&M University.
The Bernie Sanders Black College Tour began on Thursday of this week at South Carolina State University. According to the Washington Times, key South Carolina Democratic officials believe that Sanders is gaining on Hillary Clinton in the Palmetto State. See http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/14/bernie-sanders-gaining-crucial-ground-over-clinton/
Ms. Sanders said that the candidates’ schedule will not permit him to attend all of the stops on the Black College Tour. However, the campaign had good “surrogates to stand in for him, like Dr. Cornel West, who delivered the keynote speech at the South Carolina State University kickoff:
Other surrogates are: Killer Mike, former Ohio State Representative Nina Turner, and Shaun King. King endorsed Sanders this morning in the New York Daily News.
King’s endorsement began, “Today — on what happens to be Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday — I am proud to endorse the presidential candidate who I believe most embodies the values and ideals of the man who scared the hell out of the American government and was assassinated in 1968 after so bravely fighting against the Vietnam War and for income equality.” For his complete endorsement please see:
Ms. Sanders, a graduate of Creighton University, says that she is feeling the “Bern” because Bernie Sanders is the only candidate in the race who understands the connection to “economic inequality and racial justice.”
She plans to join the Black College Tour at Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama, the cradle of the old confederacy.
Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist, the author of Paper puzzle and Justice in the Round. He can be contacted at haroldmichaelharvey.com