How to Get the Black Vote: “Stop Bernie-Splaining to Black Voters”

By Tomiko J. Nichols

In support of the op-ed in the NY Times by Charles M. Blow entitled “Stop Bernie-Splaining to Black Voters” I want to second his emotions.

I know that as a black woman I have said practically these same words about "po white trash" who vote republican.

"If only [poor white] people knew more, understood better, where the candidates stood — now and over their lifetimes — they would make a better choice, the right choice."

So I get the intention. Why does anyone vote against their own best interests? If only I could help them see.

The thing is with black people it's not about voting for one or the other, it's about voting period. For ANYBODY.

I have been saying that it’s not Hillary supporters that need to be convinced to vote for Bernie, it’s disenfranchised and apathetic people that need to be convinced to vote period. So many more black people could give less than a damn about politics than white people because historically they have never felt completely represented OR part of the process. Remember in Selma, a driving force behind getting black people registered to vote was because it was a requirement of jury duty. No black jurors meant that black people could never be judged by a jury of their peers and the criminal justice system would never dispense justice fairly for them.

Ok, sure, that wasn’t the only reason to register but it was a compelling enough reason for people to bother facing down a mean, horse-mounted militia unarmed, on foot across a bridge. Picking from the available lineup of evil politicians just wasn’t a good enough reason on its own.

I think we now have that primary reason that some see as secondary which is a chance to begin to change politics itself to finally include us. Bernie’s policies can go a long way to leveling the playing field, first of all, which can create a place where that change is at least possible. That magical land just plain ole doesn’t exist now. We do want to uplift our own race but with the deck so stacked we have been content to be proud of managing to survive at all.

The second thing is that it’s now possible to be more involved and knowledgeable about politics with a whole lot less effort. Heck, you don’t even have to put on a robe and slippers and brave 6 seconds of cold rain to get the newspaper. Nope, just drop your hand off the bed, pick up the phone you laid down last night and open your eyes. Bam, you are in Congress watching a senate hearing. No expensive ticket to Washington required. Don’t even have to wait for it to be highlighted on the 6 o’clock news. No one has to explain anything to you because you saw with your own eyes how hard that congressman tried to stop that bill, how pissed that senator was, how unprepared that testimony was.

You can verify almost anything, even integrity. You can lay odds on a candidates intentions based on their documented history. You can get that done in a couple of hours or less if you want.

You don’t need to do anything different to get black people to vote for your candidate than you do for white voters. You find the issues and values that are important to them and present your candidates platform on those issues.

But what you do have to do is convince them that their vote matters. That they are not just helping YOU elect someone for YOU but rather that voting is not just an exercise in futility. Poor whites vote for someone they think will keep things from getting worse. And by "things" I mean they are not trying to improve their lot in life because no matter what, their lot will still be better than a rich black man’s simply because they are not black.

I hope that befuddles you. If that doesn't even compute for you, good. It means you are not one of those voting against your best interests.

By contrast, blacks do vote to improve their lot in life and we really haven’t seen a politician care about black people’s lot, beyond rhetoric, practically since JFK.

So if you really want the black vote focus on convincing them that finally their vote will help more than just you. Convince them that a political revolution meant to create a system that works for them as well is actually possible. They will then have all the information they need to choose the right candidate. No Bernie-Splaining required