title:  Bernie Sanders Just Got One Of The Most Important Endorsements Of His Campaign, So Far
text: Bernie Sanders just picked up one of the most important endorsements of his campaign. No, it isn t a politician, pundit, or, celebrity. It is Eric Garner s eldest daughter, Erica Garner. She, like too many others, is a family member of one of the victims of police brutality, and the racism that drives it. Her father s death helped catalyze the Black Lives Matter movement. Erica Garner has since worked as an activist. She is the founder of the Garner Way Foundation.Garner s endorsement comes in the form of a powerful essay, published in the Washington Post. In the endorsement, she writes about her disillusionment with a system that has for so long been able to pretend that the life of her father, her own, and all people of color s lives have mattered.She writes that: If our lives really mattered, we d have equal access to decent jobs, good schools and affordable housing. If our lives mattered in this country, we d have equal access to clean air, clean water and real investment in black neighborhoods. If black lives mattered in America, those who routinely brutalize us wouldn t be the ones paid, with our tax dollars, to keep us safe.I trusted establishment Democrats who claimed to represent me, only to later watch them ignore and explain away the injustice of my father s death. I trusted the system; then I watched as politicians on both sides of the aisle   from Chicago s Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel to Michigan s Republican Gov. Rick Snyder   disregard the will of the people they were elected to represent and abdicate their responsibility to protect them. I ve watched as our system criminalizes blackness while allowing Wall Street to bilk the American people with impunity. Sanders has met with quit a few family members of family members of high-profile victims of anti-black state violence. After taking a tour of the neighborhood Freddie Gray lived in, Sanders was disturbed, if unsurprised, by the deplorable economic conditions that people survive in. Anyone who took the walk that we took around this neighborhood would not think you are in a wealthy nation. You would think you are in a third world country,  Sanders said after the tour.Then of course, there is the chance meeting with the mother and sister of Sandra Bland that occurred, and was not initially reported to the media, where Sanders promised to keep saying Bland s name. Sanders was the only candidate to say her name during the first Democratic debate. The lawyer for Walter Scott s family publicly endorsed Sanders.In her endorsement, Garner lays out who she think s will be the best candidate to serve black people, by saying: Who will address the criminalization of our people? Who understands that we re experiencing an economic crisis made worse by structural barriers to jobs and education? Who will bring us closer to real safety, freedom and power? Who has clearly shown us where they stand?The answer is someone who started this work well before campaign season, who understands our deaths as tragedies   not political talking points   and someone who will speak out against the wars being waged against our communities. Not someone who only pays attention to our concerns when it s time to collect our votes. Not someone who gives us bread crumbs and expects us to be full.Black Americans   all Americans   need a leader with a record that speaks for itself. And to me, it s clear. Of all the presidential candidates, Sen. Bernie Sanders is our strongest ally. Earlier in January, Eric Garner s mother, Gwen Carr, endorsed Hillary Clinton. Her endorsement was put our in the form of a press release by the Clinton campaign. In the press release, Carr writes: Hillary seems to be the only candidate right now who s talking about how we can be strategic in trying to solve this problem. That s why I m endorsing her for president. In contrast, Garner sees Sanders as similar to President Obama. She writes that President Obama was decried as being too extreme and too inexperienced. I remember another candidate who dared me to believe in hope and change. His opponents said he wasn t ready for leadership. They said he couldn t win. He said, Yes, we can.  And we did. I still believe we can. That s why I endorse Bernie Sanders for president. There has been a stark generational divide between Clinton and Sanders supporters, this divide between two different members of the Garner family fits that pattern and shouldn t shock anyone. Both candidates have had some trouble when it comes to racial justice issues. Sanders has had trouble recognizing the non-economic ways that violence is inflicted on people of color. Clinton, (somewhat unfairly) has had to distance herself between the policies that her husband, former president Bill Clinton, ushered in in the 1990 s. Those policies led to the dismantlement of welfare as it was known, and in some ways helped create our current era of mass incarceration. Both candidates have  put out criminal justice reform packages. Here is Clinton s and here is Sanders .For some, the idea that anyone who works within the current political system will truly be an ally for people of color may be seen as wishful thinking. The politics of any movement that built on a collection of diasporic communities can be hard to nail down. Black Lives Matter is no different. But one thing is for sure, for many the  black vote  is no longer a guarantee for the Democratic Party.  That isn t to say that people of color are jumping ship to vote for Republicans. However, with snake people, especially those in more radical activist communities, you have to earn people s votes, and support.  Garner feels that Sanders has earned the title of being people of color s  strongest ally.  That status has a lot to do with Sanders  reaction to criticism of his racial justice package.Whether that proves to be true or not, only time will tell. Regardless of who is the eventual nominee, the public must continue to work towards pushing candidates to do more than pay lip service to traditionally marginalized communities. Change does not always come easy, but it does come when people remain persistent that their communities matter. You can read Garner s full endorsement here.Featured Image Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr 