Bernie Sanders stumbled with Black Voters in 2016. Can he do better in 2020?



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"The individual roles of the African-American liaison staff have evolved as the campaign and schedule progress, as in all departments," said the senator's campaign committee.

Sanders' advisers say he is determined to have a more diverse campaign staff where he has to re-represent himself, and there are signs that he is trying to strengthen his relationships with the community. black. During his trip to South Carolina last month, he spoke with students at Benedict College, a historically black college, and met with clergy and members of the state's black legislative caucus.

South Carolina Representative James Clyburn, 3rd Democrat in the House, was with Mr. Sanders on Martin Luther King's birthday and said that the tone of the Senator's speech was different from that of his previous speeches.

"In South Carolina before, his speeches were not amenable to being accepted by the African-American community," said Clyburn. Mr. Sanders' recent speech, in which he described President Trump as racist, "showed much more sensitivity to the dreams and aspirations of African Americans than he did in 2016," said M Clyburn.

Sanders also made contact with black leaders, including Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Mayor of Jackson, Miss. And Derrick Johnson, president of the N.A.A.C.P. – discuss issues affecting black communities, such as economic justice and voter blocking.

But he also had missteps. Some critics have cited recent remarks that white voters were not comfortable voting for black candidates "not necessarily racist". star and the first black woman chosen to give the official answer.

Many former staff members said that, especially, if Mr. Sanders was a candidate in 2020, they wanted to know the composition of his campaign staff – and to determine if people of color had the power to act – before ability to evaluate progress.

"It can start with the hiring process," said Glover, the organizer of the university tour. "These first recruits will let us know when he learned the lessons from the 2016 cycle."

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