1, 2, Bernie's coming for you...

[MakeItRain]

MIR was watching CNN and you wouldn't like what they said about Hillary's victory in MS

I was losing my rough ridin' mind. Donna Brazille made the astute point that black people in Michigan don't vote like black people in Mississippi but they essentially ignored her and and were like "nah all coons are the same, they decided at the meeting that they would back newly Southern Black Baptist Hillary."

[MakeItRain]

Don't have the exact quote but yes, and emphasizing Bernie hasn't done well with them.

Are black people anti-Semites?

Yep, every single one. That one was decided at the meeting on September 7, 1977. This is known by the negro underground as the 9-7 compact.

[sonofdaxjones]

But this runs counter to that scene from The Blues Brothers. #confused

[Tobias]

That one was decided at the meeting on September 7, 1977. This is known by the negro underground as the 9-7 compact.

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

Seriously though, I'd be curious to hear MIR's explanation for why black people are supporting Hillary so overwhelmingly over Bernie.

[sys]

I was losing my rough ridin' mind. Donna Brazille made the astute point that black people in Michigan don't vote like black people in Mississippi but they essentially ignored her and and were like "nah all coons are the same, they decided at the meeting that they would back newly Southern Black Baptist Hillary."

i mean they voted for her a little less.  but they still voted overwhelmingly for clinton. 

[star seed 7]

One man's perspective

I will respond as a black voter (and registered independent) who admires Bernie Sanders and would vote for him in a general election, but would've supported HRC yesterday. I will obviously be generalizing heavily below in order to provide a some more context re: racial politics you may not be familiar with.
(1) Fundamentally, Bernie's campaign does not seem to understand how the liberalism of black democrats differs from that of their white counterparts. Specifically, culture-war issues play a much smaller role, because that is one place where black and white Democrats do not align perfectly.
Religion is just one facet of this difference, but I'll highlight it here because it's the easiest one. In 2008, many of my liberal friends were surprised to hear Barack Obama profess devout Christian faith and an opposition to gay marriage. Some assumed both were simply political calculations designed to improve his electability. I would say this is a misread of Obama as a person and a politician. (His "Amazing Grace" speech in the aftermath of the Charleston shootings last year should have erased all doubts regarding his genuine religiosity.) His religious belief, and his opposition (and later evolution) on marriage equality, are pretty standard among America's black professional/political class.
The reality is that "black liberalism" has historically existed hand-in-hand with religious belief, whereas "white liberalism" often exists in opposition to it. In black America, the church is widely perceived as a liberating force - the seed from which the Civil Rights Movement grew. White democrats tend to see it as a source of oppression, particularly during the past decade's fight for LGBT rights. The "alliance" between socially liberal whites and culturally conservative minorities continues to exist, because minorities are not as politically invested in the social issues that have defined the culture war over the last three decades. So while black Americans as a group are actually fairly religious and socially conservative, we differ from white liberals and white conservatives in that these culture-war issues are less likely to influence how we vote.
So in this case at least, it's helpful to think about the other question: not "why don't black democrats find Bernie appealing?" but rather, "why do white democrats like him so much?" My impression has been that for many of Bernie's (mostly young, largely white) voters, Bernie's social liberalism (including his irreligiosity) is a big part of his appeal. He has reaped the benefits of staking out positions on the liberal side of the culture war. But culture war issues don't pay as many dividends in a heavily Protestant black electorate (or a heavily Catholic brown electorate).
Please understand: I'm not saying that that social issues have helped Hillary and harmed Bernie's standing among black voters. I'm saying that they have helped Bernie among white voters but have done him no good among black voters. It just doesn't factor that heavily in the political calculus.
(2) So then, what is motivating black voters, if not culture-war issues? I will suggest the following (seemingly contradictory) statement: within the Democratic Party, black voters feel political insecurity and economic optimism that white voters do not.
Politically: black Americans have historically been excluded from the basic egalitarian social contract which (in theory) defines this country. Free speech, the right to worship in peace, due process, equal protection under the law - for most of American history these were empty promises. The Civil Rights Movement was less than a lifetime ago, and in a world after Charleston, a world after Tamir Rice, a world where Donald Trump finds his biggest fans among white nationalists, a world where "voter ID" laws are being employed to disenfranchise poor blacks, those political victories seem very fragile. Bernie Sanders has admirable political responses to all those issues -- but he has been unable to demonstrate that he could prevail in a general election against a GOP candidate who might be openly hostile to black Americans. (Even Barack Obama had trouble earning black voters' support until he showed that he could win in a place like Iowa.) When a voter feels deeply threatened he/she is most likely to seek security in a candidate, and black voters see that security in the political juggernaut that is Hillary Clinton. I concur with /u/chefcgarcia 's post below: electability is the most important characteristic that black voters seek, because the GOP candidates are unacceptable.
Economically the history of black America has not been characterized by the 1:1 relationship between hard work and success which has motivated both the native born and immigrants alike. Americans tend to think of the "American dream" as a kind of birthright which is in danger of slipping away. Meanwhile many black Americans have historically perceived the American dream as a goal to strive for, a pleasant fiction, or an absolute lie. Bernie's entire argument is that things were once better, and are getting worse. He is not calling for a return to the past (as many Republicans are) but a rewrite of America's economic contract. Superficially, this argument should appeal to black Americans who have disproportionately been harmed by the economic inequalities he has highlighted. But here's the thing: black Americans perceive - with justification - that their (our) economic standing is getting better, and therefore are more willing to stay-the-course. (edit: see link for an article that explains this optimism better than I can.) Bernie's pitch misses the mark because he wants to overthrow a system that is finally starting to work, in order to help us reclaim something we never had.
(edit: To put it another way, black voters are frustrated by the economy too, but we are less nostalgic for the past and are more optimistic about the future. We do not feel the same sense of loss/dispossession/pessimism that is driving white voters toward Sanders and Trump.)
In contrast, Hillary Clinton has wisely lashed herself tightly to Barack Obama, who remains the most popular black politician of my lifetime. Further, her campaign is about social and economic inclusion rather than revolution. Black voters (like other minorities) are deeply unsettled by the the GOP's constant purity fights and increasingly narrow definitions of what it means to be a real Republican or a real American. Clinton's basic message - which is implicitly, 'we the people' means every single one of us - resonates with black voters and other minorities in a way that Bernie's majoritarian populism does not. It's a rallying cry for those at the margins.
(3) Last point. Bernie's minority outreach has unfortunately been woefully inadequate. For example: Cornel West - who described Obama as the "first n***erized black president" - is not an effective face for minority outreach! (Remember, Obama is still extremely popular among black voters). In 2008, Barack Obama relied on his wife to "make the sale" (so to speak). Bernie Sanders has yet to find an equivalently convincing surrogate.
As I said: I admire Bernie Sanders a great deal. And I think, with time, he could become a formidable GE candidate. But he's basically run out of time to become that candidate.

[MakeItRain]

Seriously though, I'd be curious to hear MIR's explanation for why black people are supporting Hillary so overwhelmingly over Bernie.

I was losing my rough ridin' mind. Donna Brazille made the astute point that black people in Michigan don't vote like black people in Mississippi but they essentially ignored her and and were like "nah all coons are the same, they decided at the meeting that they would back newly Southern Black Baptist Hillary."

i mean they voted for her a little less.  but they still voted overwhelmingly for clinton. 

KSUW, we are largely talking about southern black people. Southern black people, just like southern white people tend to be more conservative so southern democrats are evangelical moderates, Hillary is the moderate in the race. I don't know this but I feel like southern blacks are more provincial than northern and western blacks and there are people that see her and bubba as southern although I am more southern than she is and I hate the south.  It is frustrating to me that things like mass incarceration of blacks aren't sticking to the Clintons like they should. It is also stunning that out of Sunday nights debate we heard chatter about Bernie Sanders ghetto comment but we didn't hear a damn thing about Hillary's clunky and transparently disingenuous answer to the question about the role God plays in her life. She has spent the better part of two months talking to people in southern black churches and she can't clearly identify the role God plays in her life.

Sys, yes she did do well with blacks in Michigan but it is worth noting, in the south and everywhere else for that matter that the black voting block is largely comprised of women. Black men were statistically insignificant in the CNN Michigan exit polling data, because the Clintons put most of us in jail amirite! I think the numbers of black people supporting Bernie would be stronger if like, with white people, black men had equal representation within the voting block of the race. The woman also explains why Hillary is polling better with southern blacks than Obama did in 2012, that and Edwards was still around the race when the south was in play.

[8manpick]

Saw this explanation on Reddit the other day. Interesting points re: The Clintons

https://www.reddit.com/r/NeutralPolitics/comments/472fj6/why_isnt_bernie_sanders_doing_well_with_black/

Many reasons off the top of my head. Take it as you will:
Because we already know what it's like to have someone promise us the moon and leave us out to dry. Believe it or not, we actually have a great deal of experience with far left politicians and figureheads. MLK, it's argued, was a socialist. The Black Panthers were socialists. We've had these ideas and promises run up and down our communities from East to West coast, North to South.... It never pans out. We've seen assassinations, fraud, all sorts of dirty tricks... Oftentimes though, it's as simple as politicians flat out lying to us. Bernie Sanders isn't new. So all these promises sound great and all, but they all sound like pipe dreams.
Who is he? No, not saying "black people haven't heard of Bernie Sanders", I mean, who is Bernie Sanders? He's this guy from Vermont apparently that claims he was very active in the Civil Rights movement but has been auspiciously absent from just about every black struggle since then. Suddenly he's on the national stage and all these people are saying, "well, he was there with you in the 60's so you should be with him now". Uh huh, and where has he been since? I honestly can't believe people would actually try and say what Sanders and his supporters say to black people with a straight face. Like we owe him something. Here's the truth, a LOT of people were involved in the CRM. Many went on to lead illustrious careers in politics and government. Some became real usurpers and phonies, others never stopped working for the community. Others simply moved on. The ones that the black community supports the most are people who went on to politics and government and never stopped working for the Black community. They represent us to this day. They give back to our communities. They speak out for us etc etc.... Suddenly Sanders wants to come around after 50 so years and cash in on some credit he has from the 60's and his supporters are demanding support as if he's been a champion of our community all this time? Nah son. Doesn't work that way.
His supporters, again, have done him no favors. His supporters are rabid. Especially true online. When the BLM thing happened, holy crap, the racism and venom was unbelievable. These people were supposed to be progressive too... But all you read was how stupid we were, n-word this and coon that. Even now, those same people are making passive aggressive (or flat out aggressive) comments towards black people for not supporting bernie enough or those who say they support Hillary. Black people are on the Internet, folks. We see exactly what you see when we read the comments section on news sites, on Reddit, on tumblr, on Twitter, on Instagram or on Facebook etc.
Black people aren't as liberal as a lot of people think we are. We just don't vote republican. But we are HUGE on church. We aren't comfortable supporting gay rights and we really aren't comfortable with atheism. Again, Idk if there's sources (I'm sure there should be- look at how CA went for Prop 8 in 2008 on basically the backs of black turnout) for this but I'm just speaking as someone who IS black and IS active in his community and has been all his life. As far as politics go, we're pretty moderate, if not straight conservative.
We LOVE the Clinton's. Again. We LOVE the Clinton's. Bill is the nigga and Hillary is a G haha but seriously, they're basically heroes for us and honorary black people to many black people. And it's rightfully earned. People always point to the crime laws as how we should be against them, but there ignorant of the fact that WE SUPPORTED THOSE CRIME LAWS. Man, the 90's were CRAZY. People were getting smoked for wearing Starter jackets and getting jacked for shoes. You couldn't go into certain neighborhoods or parts of the city if you didn't know someone who would vouch for you. And if you had on the wrong color, it was wraps. People were getting killed left and right. Innocent people too. Sitting in their living rooms watching tv and little kids were catching stray bullets through the eyes. The 80's and 90's were HELL. We were pissed off that the government wasn't helping us. Of course we wanted these gangsters and thugs locked up... WTF? Are we HAPPY that the laws unintended consequences ended up locking more of us up disproportionately? No. But no one can say with a straight face that, when those laws were written, Bill Clinton's goal was to lock up all black people. And Hillary's super predator comments? Bruh, that crap was real! It's surreal to watch urban white yuppies tell us what we should be outraged about. You never lived in our hoods. There sure as crap were young ass kids in middle school and high school that were out bangin and they were stone cold killers. Let me repeat that one more time: there absolutely were people on the streets, young ass kids too, that would have no qualms with jacking a couple, shooting an old lady through the lung and watching her bleed out. I'm talking about stoniest of the cold killers. Baby killers. Infant killers. Some of these thugs had no soul bruh, the brutality is something I've noticed a lot of white Americans are just completely ignorant or unaware of. That crap was absolutely accurate! And every time I hear crap like this from Bernie supporters my only reaction is, "damn... You really don't know". Dude, the 80's and 90's were HORRIBLE for black people and the ONLY people in government that seemed to care were the Clinton's. They fought HARD and passed the gun laws. They passed the crime bills that cleaned up our streets (albeit with terrible unintended consequences). They tried their best and they fought hard for us when no one else really did. Everybody was still wet off Reagan and was trying to be the next Ron. I know this is neutral politics and I'm trying to be on my best behavior, but F--- Ronald Reagan tho. Seriously. The reason me saying that matters is because, to a lot to black people, the Clinton's were the ones who had our backs after that guy ripped our communities to shreds and ruined us. Back to the point, we see the mud Bernie supporters are trying to sling on Hillary (and Bill to some extent), and it's just more of the same crap we saw in the early 90's. But Clinton had our backs in the 90's and we had his at the voting booth. And we got her back too now. She's not the same lady she was back then. She's older, obviously. But is ANYONE the same person they were 25 years ago? I'd hope not.
Just my perspective. Take it or leave it.

[sonofdaxjones]

Wow, so much explaining.  #tryingtohard

[MakeItRain]

Wow, so much explaining.  #tryingtohard

Yes, both of those are obnoxious

[sys]

like, you can argue about why clinton is getting the margins she is with black voters, but it'd be crazy to ignore it.  she's all but guaranteed to win the democratic nomination and it's pretty much entirely due to black voters (maybe to a lesser extent other minority voters, but i'm not sure she needs them).  if it were up to white democrats, sanders would win.

[MakeItRain]

Who's ignoring it? What exactly are you looking for me to say here?

[gatoveintisiete]

That the black vote appears to be monolithic 

[sys]

Who's ignoring it? What exactly are you looking for me to say here?

you don't have to say anything.  i'm just commenting on why cnn and the others keep talking about it.

[MakeItRain]

Who's ignoring it? What exactly are you looking for me to say here?

you don't have to say anything.  i'm just commenting on why cnn and the others keep talking about it.

I don't care that they talk about it I care that they insist on ignoring any nuance on the subject. White people can have geographical voting patterns but apparently black people can't, we're a monolith and we need people to tell us who is best for us.

[SdK]

Seriously though, I'd be curious to hear MIR's explanation for why black people are supporting Hillary so overwhelmingly over Bernie.

Why the eff does MIR need to explain that to you?

[SdK]

Seriously though, I'd be curious to hear MIR's explanation for why black people are supporting Hillary so overwhelmingly over Bernie.

Why the eff does MIR need to explain that to you?

I'd like to retract the profanity.

[MakeItRain]

Seriously though, I'd be curious to hear MIR's explanation for why black people are supporting Hillary so overwhelmingly over Bernie.

Why the eff does MIR need to explain that to you?

He doesn't strike me as a reader so why not "ask a black dude?"

[MakeItRain]

[sys]

Who's ignoring it? What exactly are you looking for me to say here?

you don't have to say anything.  i'm just commenting on why cnn and the others keep talking about it.

I don't care that they talk about it I care that they insist on ignoring any nuance on the subject. White people can have geographical voting patterns but apparently black people can't, we're a monolith and we need people to tell us who is best for us.

blacks are only about 14% of the population, iirc.  by the time you delve into age, gender and geographic patterns you're talking about fairly small numbers.  i mean, it is interesting that young black people are close to 50/50 sanders/clinton, and old black people are hugely clinton.  but how relevant are those breakdowns to predictions?

[MakeItRain]

Who's ignoring it? What exactly are you looking for me to say here?

you don't have to say anything.  i'm just commenting on why cnn and the others keep talking about it.

I don't care that they talk about it I care that they insist on ignoring any nuance on the subject. White people can have geographical voting patterns but apparently black people can't, we're a monolith and we need people to tell us who is best for us.

blacks are only about 14% of the population, iirc.  by the time you delve into age, gender and geographic patterns you're talking about fairly small numbers.  i mean, it is interesting that young black people are close to 50/50 sanders/clinton, and old black people are hugely clinton.  but how relevant are those breakdowns to predictions?

I agree with all of that, but if you're going to talk about it there has to be some advanced thought. It's 24/7 cable news, properly discuss it or leave it alone.

[SdK]

Seriously though, I'd be curious to hear MIR's explanation for why black people are supporting Hillary so overwhelmingly over Bernie.

Why the eff does MIR need to explain that to you?

He doesn't strike me as a reader so why not "ask a black dude?"

Ahhh ok. While I have you, why does this one black guy at my work wear a cowboy hat?

And why does this other black guy sit by himself?

And this other black guy, why does he drink vanilla coke everyday like I do?

[SdK]

Seriously though, I'd be curious to hear MIR's explanation for why black people are supporting Hillary so overwhelmingly over Bernie.

Why the eff does MIR need to explain that to you?

He doesn't strike me as a reader so why not "ask a black dude?"

Ahhh ok. While I have you, why does this one black guy at my work wear a cowboy hat?

And why does this other black guy sit by himself?

And this other black guy, why does he drink vanilla coke everyday like I do?

Cowboy hat guy is a KU fan. Go figure. So disregard that question.

[Emo EMAW]

Who's ignoring it? What exactly are you looking for me to say here?

you don't have to say anything.  i'm just commenting on why cnn and the others keep talking about it.

I don't care that they talk about it I care that they insist on ignoring any nuance on the subject. White people can have geographical voting patterns but apparently black people can't, we're a monolith and we need people to tell us who is best for us.

blacks are only about 14% of the population, iirc.  by the time you delve into age, gender and geographic patterns you're talking about fairly small numbers.  i mean, it is interesting that young black people are close to 50/50 sanders/clinton, and old black people are hugely clinton.  but how relevant are those breakdowns to predictions?

I agree with all of that, but if you're going to talk about it there has to be some advanced thought. It's 24/7 cable news, properly discuss it or leave it alone.

I never see any advanced thought in the subjects I find interesting.  They don't have time for advanced thought on anything.