What Went Down At The Fourth Democratic Debate

If you follow the hashtag #DemDebate on Twitter, you’ll find a series of approving or neutral remarks about how many black people are at the audience for this Congressional Black Caucus Institute co-sponsored debate (with NBC and YouTube). It also includes some tweets with highly racialized content. I’ve gotten a chance to report on every presidential race starting in 1996, and the level of vitriol around race, ethnicity, immigration and refugee status is the strongest I’ve observed since I started covering politics. Part of it is our moment in time, with disruptive innovation and globalization shaking up the economy and provoking anxiety and perhaps a nativist discourse. And part of it, I think, is the ease with which social media allows people to remain semi-anonymous in their most aggressive critiques or attacks. In some ways, Sanders and Trump both speak to a country with deep economic anxiety more directly and with claims that outsider status will provide fresh leadership. I think following the racialized #DemDebate feed is one important way to keep track of the range of perspectives — including on the fringe — that are influencing the center.

The Clintons still have equity with black voters. Despite a growing recognition that the Clinton era brought about changes that swelled the prison system, primarily with blacks and Latinos, the Bill Clinton presidency was a time of relative prosperity for black America. But as black voters demonstrated in 2008, with South Carolina as a tipping point, Hillary Clinton will not be judged as black America’s default candidate. At the same time, I think Bernie Sanders may be seen as too risky of a bet by black voters.

Farai, do you buy this argument that black Democrats just aren’t familiar with Sanders and that’s why they don’t support him?