Keith Reed
[email protected]
The South Carolina Democratic primary will take place Saturday. In a 2014 survey, the U.S. Census Bureau found that almost 30 percent of South Carolina’s population is African American. It is only fair that the Democratic presidential candidates try to sway that disenchanted demographic. Along the campaign trail, both Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have made great progress in these efforts and missteps.
Clinton’s latest push for votes has led her to speak on the school-to-prison complex.
Simply mentioning the removal of the school-to-prison complex would get many on board with Clinton’s campaign, but this is an empty promise to me. She believes that there should be no more racial profiling and supports of legislation to end it. This is problematic, because people are getting killed and maimed for this as we speak.
Laquan McDonald was a name on the tongues of many just days before Thanksgiving. On Nov. 24, 2015, video surfaced of the brutal killing of McDonald on Chicago’s South Side. The video not only showed the unnecessary force delivered by the police officers, but the fact that this was covered up by the Chicago police force and others.
This is just one of many stories heard around the country of young African-American men getting killed for petty crimes. Rahm Emanuel, Anita Alvarez, and Garry McCarthy, the mayor, the state attorney for Cook County, Illinois, and the police chief, have been asked to step down because of the length and depth of this travesty.
Sanders and Clinton both had very different responses when this scandal surfaced. Sanders called for everyone involved, including elected officials, to be held accountable and that no one should be spared because of their position or name. He is referring to Emanuel. I think that is what needs to be done.
RELATED: The importance of Black History Month
On the other hand, Clinton, in an interview on “Meet the Press” on the topic of McDonald, said there should be a probe into the Chicago police by the Department of Justice. She did not state any particular fate for Emanuel because he is one of her strong financial supporters. She said there needs to be a change in the tide of systematic racism and policing procedures.
Sanders has recently opened a campaign office in Flint, Michigan, where the water has lead contamination. The population of Flint is one of the cities with the highest percentage of African Americans in the United States. He also visited and spoke to the general public where he has called for the resignation of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. He proposed that local and state government have to get this problem fixed but, if they don’t, the federal government has to step in.
The local government should have rectified this water crisis, and it should not be an issue undertaken by the federal government by any means. The fact that this problem has been going on for almost two years now is baffling. What is happening in the government in Flint to allow this to go on this long?
The ways the presidential candidates respond to issues regarding racial injustices are important in garnering the African-American voters to either side. I think that Sanders is on to something when it comes to getting the problem situated. He wants people to be held accountable and, regardless of status, face the consequences. Clinton deflects the actual issues at hand and calls for other departments to take care of them. She wants others to protect the people that financially support her campaign and her friends. Time will tell who will win in the end.
