JANUARY 23, 2019

NEWS AND VIEWS

IS IT THAT RIGHTIST POLITICIANS ARE DUMB, OR THAT THEY THINK WE ARE DUMB? CHICKEN OR EGG? PROBABLY SOME OF BOTH. THE RIGHTISTS HAVE NOT BEEN RECEIVING ANY REAL OPPOSITION, FOR THE MOST PART, UNTIL THE LAST FEW YEARS, PARTLY BECAUSE OF OUR FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT. AS A RESULT, THEY ARE GENUINELY “PERPLEXED,” AS KING CLAIMS HERE TO BE. THE TRUTH IS THAT IF THEY STAY IN THEIR LITTLE CORNER OF ALABAMA, THEY CAN SAY WHAT THEY PLEASE, BUT IF IT HITS THE NATIONAL PRESS, THEY ARE IN TROUBLE. WE HAVE TURNED A CORNER.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/iowa/articles/2019-01-23/iowa-rep-king-returns-to-district-after-uproar-over-comment
Iowa Rep. King Returns to District After Uproar Over Comment
Less than two weeks after Congress repudiated his comments, Rep. Steve King will hold the first of his promised 39 Iowa town hall meetings.
Jan. 23, 2019, at 11:33 a.m.

Photograph -- FILE - In this June 8, 2018, file photo, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, listens during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. On Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, the House voted 416-1 for a resolution repudiating King’s words expressing puzzlement about why terms like “white nationalist” are offensive. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DES MOINES, IOWA (AP) — Less than two weeks after Congress repudiated his comments, Rep. Steve King will hold the first of his promised 39 Iowa town hall meetings.

King announced Wednesday he would delay a planned meeting Thursday but would hold another event Saturday morning in the small northwest Iowa city of Primghar.

Although he has been elected to Congress nine times, King has rarely held such meetings. He prefers private gatherings with groups, saying public meetings attract out-of-state protesters who object to his conservative views on topics like immigration, race relations and abortion .

King promised to hold meetings in each of his district's 39 counties after narrowly winning re-election last November.

On Jan. 15, the House voted 424-1 to rebuke King for his comments about white supremacy. King supported the measure of disapproval.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_King
Steve King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steven Arnold King (born May 28, 1949) is an American politician and former businessman serving as a U.S. Representative from Iowa since 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Iowa's 5th congressional district until 2013, when redistricting renumbered it the 4th. This district is in northwestern Iowa and includes Sioux City. He is the only Republican in Iowa's House delegation.

King is an opponent of immigration and multiculturalism, and has a long history of racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions.[1][2] King has spoken favorably of white supremacist ideas,[3] specifically against Jews,[4] African Americans,[5] Latinos and immigrants in general,[6][7][8] and has supported European right-wing populist and far-right politicians accused of racism and Islamophobia.[9] The Washington Post has described King as the "Congressman most openly affiliated with white nationalism."[10] For much of King's Congressional tenure, Republican Party politicians and officials were largely silent about his rhetoric, and frequently sought his endorsement and campaigned with him because of King's popularity with Iowa conservative voters.[2][11] A short time before the 2018 election, the National Republican Congressional Committee withdrew funding for King's reelection campaign and its Chairman, Steve Stivers, condemned King's conduct.[12] The Republican Steering Committee removed King from all House committee assignments[13] following a January 2019 interview in which King questioned why terms such as "white nationalist" and "white supremacy" were considered offensive.[14] Some have pushed for King to be censured, but Democratic leaders brought the matter to the Ethics Committee.[15] King later said he had been misunderstood.[16]

Personal life, education, and business career

King was born on May 28, 1949, in Storm Lake, Iowa,[14] the son of Mildred Lila (née Culler), a homemaker, and Emmett A. King, a state police dispatcher.[17] His father has Irish and German ancestry, and his mother has Welsh roots, as well as American ancestry going back to the colonial era.[17] His grandmother was a German immigrant.[18] King graduated in 1967 from Denison Community High School.[14][17][19] In 1972 he married Marilyn Kelly,[20] with whom he has three children. Though raised Methodist, King attends his wife's Catholic church, having converted 17 years after marrying her.[17] His son Jeff King, a consultant, has been active in his political campaigns.

King attended Northwest Missouri State University from 1967 to 1970, where he was a member of the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity and majored in math and biology, but did not graduate.[17][21] In 1975, King founded King Construction, an earthmoving company.[14] In the 1980s he founded the Kiron Business Association. King's involvement with the Iowa Land Improvement Contractors' Association led to regional and national offices in that organization and a growing interest in public policy.[19][22]

Iowa Senate (1997–2003)

King as an Iowa state senator

In 1996, King was elected to Iowa's 6th Senate district, defeating incumbent Senator Wayne Bennett in the primary 68%–31%[23] and Democrat Eileen Heiden in the general election 64%–35%.[24] In 2000, he won reelection to a second term, defeating Democratic nominee Dennis Ryan 70%–30%.[25] During his tenure in the Iowa State Senate, King filed a bill requiring public schools to teach children that the U.S. "is the unchallenged greatest nation in the world and that it has derived its strength from... Christianity, free enterprise capitalism and Western civilization", and served as chief sponsor of a law making English the official language of Iowa.[1] In May 2001, King visited Cuba.[17]



THIS PARTICULAR VIDEO IS BETTER THAN THOSE FROM THE LAST TWO DAYS, BECAUSE IT DOES SHOW AN ADULT MAN IN THE INEVITABLE MAGA HAT TALKING CALMLY TO PHILLIPS, THE NATIVE AMERICAN, AND ADVOCATING THEIR SITTING DOWN TOGETHER FOR COFFEE TO “FIGURE THIS OUT.” HE CERTAINLY WAS SHOWING NO DISRESPECT, DESPITE THE HAT, AND WAS CLEARLY CONCILIATORY. I’M GLAD TO SEE THAT. UP UNTIL NOW THERE HAD BEEN NO PHYSICAL SIGN OF AN ADULT WITH THE BOYS, WHICH BOTHERS ME A GREAT DEAL. A HUNDRED TEENAGED BOYS LOOSE ON THE MALL ARE A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO EVERYONE ELSE’S SANITY.

THE TEEN SANDMANN ALSO SAT DOWN FOR AN INTERVIEW IN THIS VIDEO, MINUS THE SMIRK, SAYING THAT HE HAD “A RIGHT” TO STAND IN A CONFRONTATION WITH PHILLIPS. TO PHILLIPS, A YOUNG PERSON SHOULD NOT SHOW DISRESPECT TO THEIR ELDERS. PERIOD. I’M SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN, BUT THE AMERICAN INDIAN WAS DOING NOTHING WRONG IN MY VIEW, AND THE YOUNG MAN WAS. IT WAS A COMMONLY OCCURRING FORM OF “WRONG,” BUT IT IS STILL HARMFUL TO SOCIETY AS A WHOLE. THERE WAS NO SIGN ANYWHERE IN HERE THAT PHILIPS TRIED TO DO ANYTHING BUT INTERVENE IN THE FIGHT BETWEEN THE WHITE BOYS AND THE BLACK RELIGIOUS GROUP.

A TWITTER ACCOUNT RESPONSIBLE FOR SPREADING THIS VIDEO IN THE FIRST PLACE “HAS BEEN REMOVED.” FOR A MUCH BETTER PRESENTATION OF THE THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE TENSE INTERACTION, GO TO THE WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE BY MICHAEL E. MILLER, JANUARY 21. THE YOUNG MAN SAID THAT IT SEEMED TO HIM THAT “ADULTS WERE TRYING TO PROVOKE TEENS.” IF THIS IS A COMMON ATTITUDE, IT’S NO WONDER THAT SO MANY SCHOOLS HAVE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS TO THE POINT THAT THEY THINK THEY NEED AN ARMED POLICEMAN ON THE STAFF. THAT IS A SAD TREND IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM THESE LAST SEVERAL YEARS. ACTUALLY, ALL THE ELDER WAS TRYING TO DO WAS SEPARATE THE SCHOOL BOYS FROM THE AFRICAN AMERICAN GROUP, AND EXCEPT FOR SANDMANN, ALL OF THE OTHER BOYS DID STEP ASIDE AND CREATE AN AVENUE FOR THE AMERICAN INDIANS TO WALK THROUGH, THOUGH THEY CONTINUED TO JUMP UP AND DOWN, IMITATE THE SINGING, MAKE FACES, WAVE THEIR ARMS, AND SHOUT. AGAIN, PERVERSELY, DONALD TRUMP PRAISED THE TEENS, PRESUMABLY FOR “STANDING UP TO” AN “INFERIOR” RACE.

I WISH THE CHAPERONES HAD BEEN WITH THESE KIDS THE WHOLE TIME, AND DOING SOMETHING TO MAKE THEM BEHAVE MORE QUIETLY, WITH ABSOLUTELY NO “TOMAHAWK CHOPS.” THAT’S SOMETHING THAT STARTED, I THINK, WITH A FOOTBALL TEAM, BUT IT’S RUDE EVEN IN THAT CONTEXT. THE “WASHINGTON REDSKINS” GOT IN TROUBLE FOR THEIR NAME ALONE. I BELIEVE THEY WERE SUED IN COURT. IT IS A FACT THAT WHILE MOST CIVILIZED AMERICANS WOULD NEVER SAY “N....R” NOW, THEY WILL BE EXCEEDINGLY UNKIND TO NATIVE AMERICANS, OR ABOUT THEM AT ANY RATE.

SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT BEING DISRESPECTFUL IS ONLY IMPORTANT IF THE OBJECT OF THE SCORN IS PRESENT AND CAN HEAR IT. UNFORTUNATELY, THAT KIND OF THING IS THE CENTER I BELIEVE OF THE ANTI-OTHER VIEW THAT HAS BALLOONED TO SUCH HUGE PROPORTIONS IN THE LAST TEN OR SO YEARS. MY VIEW ON THE AMERICAN INDIANS IS THAT THEY WERE HERE BEFORE WE WERE, AND THEY ARE A FINE SPECIMEN OF HUMAN BEING. LOVE THEIR SONGS AND DANCING. I ALSO VALUE THE PRESERVATION OF OLD WAYS, UNLESS IT IS ABUSIVE. CALLING BLACK PEOPLE BY A WIDE RANGE OF ABUSIVE NAMES IS AN OLD TRADITION, BUT NOT A GOOD ONE, SO I BELIEVE THAT SHOULD BE THROWN INTO THE DUNG HEAP WHERE IT BELONGS.

I SEE HERE ANGER ON BOTH SIDES. I HAVE TO STAND BY THE NATIVE AMERICAN 63 YEAR-OLD VIETNAM VET ELDER, HOWEVER, BECAUSE BY THE VIEW OF MOST AMERICAN ADULTS, THE YOUTHS SHOULD HAVE ALLOWED THE GROUP THROUGH AND CERTAINLY NOT HARASSED THEM. IT IS A RULE FOR ME, ALSO, THAT PRIVILEGED PEOPLE SHOULD NEVER HARASS OR SHAME ANYONE WHO HAS LESS POWER IN THE SOCIETY. THAT’S WHY MEN SHOULD NEVER PURPOSELY HURT WOMEN. IT’S JUST WRONG. THAT’S ALL I’LL SAY ON THIS SUBJECT.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covington-catholic-high-school-twitter-takes-down-account-spread-confrontation-video/
CBS NEWS January 23, 2019, 7:23 AM
Twitter takes down account that helped spread Lincoln Memorial confrontation video

Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky is reopened Wednesday morning after safety concerns shuttered it Tuesday in the wake of a videotaped encounter involving its students, Native American marchers, and black activists in Washington.

Police officers will be stationed across campus through the evening and will remain in place as long as needed. The school said it closed school following, "threats of violence" against the students. Meanwhile, the school is promising a third-party investigation into what happened, reports CBS News' David Begnaud.

Conflicting accounts sowed confusion about confrontation at Lincoln Memorial
Trump backs students from Lincoln memorial confrontation
Demonstrators led by Native American advocates gathered outside the Roman Catholic diocese of Covington, Kentucky on Tuesday. They said they wanted to turn Friday's confrontation into a teachable moment.

At one point, both sides appeared to reconcile their differences. A person in a "Make America Great Again" hat shook hands with a Native American man and suggested they sit down and share a cup of coffee or a meal.

Multiple videos have emerged of Friday's incident, some showing a radical group known as the Black Hebrew Israelites taunting the group of Covington Catholic High School students who had just participated in a March For Life anti-abortion rally.

But it was one moment between Native American activist Nathan Phillips and Covington student Nick Sandmann that caused outrage. Some believed Sandmann was being disrespectful, but he said he was helping to defuse the situation.

"As far as standing there, I had every right to do so. I don't – my position is that I was not disrespectful to Mr. Phillips. I respect him. I'd like to talk to him," Sandmann told the "Today Show."

The Twitter account that helped spread the initial video has been removed. The user -- @2020Fight -- claimed to be a teacher and advocate named Talia from California with a photo appearing to show Brazilian model and actress Natalia Cardoso.

In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson said "deliberate attempts to manipulate the public conversation on Twitter by using misleading account information is a violation of the Twitter rules."

"The lesson here is really to question, what is the genuine source of this content and how is it being framed? And then, how is that framing elevated by the news media that you're looking through?" said Louise Matsakis, who writes about cybersecurity and online culture for Wired.

There were some questions as to where the account originated from and we're told Twitter has every indication that it was a U.S.-based account. Natalia Cardoso has not commented publicly on the controversy.

House Intelligence lawmakers are reportedly asking Twitter about how the initial video came to be so widely viewed so fast.

The White House said it's reached out to the Covington Catholic students and hasn't ruled out inviting them to Washington.

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


EVERY BUSINESS, COMPANY, SCHOOL, HOSPITAL, MILITARY OR POLICE FORCE, OR ANY OTHER ENVIRONMENT, IN WHICH THERE IS A HIGH DEGREE OF DIFFERENCE IN EMPOWERMENT SHOULD FIRE ANYONE WHO DOES ANYTHING ABUSIVE, ESPECIALLY OF A SEXUAL NATURE, BUT ALSO GIVE A PSYCHIATRIST-RECOMMENDED PSYCHIATRIC EXAM BEFORE THEY ARE HIRED. THAT SORT OF PERSON SHOULDN’T EVEN BE A VOLUNTEER IF THEY ARE IN CONTACT WITH PATIENTS. IT’S LIKE THE FIRE DEPARTMENTS. A CERTAIN PROPORTION OF FIREMEN ARE ALSO “FIREBUGS.” THAT’S WHY THEY WANT TO BE AROUND FIRE. IN THE CASE OF PEDOPHILES, THEY ARE ATTRACTED TO SCHOOL JOBS. NAIVETE ON THE SUBJECT OF SEX IS A DANGER.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hacienda-healthcare-investigation-police-arrest-nathan-sutherland-incapacitated-woman-who-gave-birth-2019-01-23/
Nurse arrested in case of incapacitated woman who gave birth
UPDATED ON: JANUARY 23, 2019 / 12:36 PM / CBS/AP

A nurse has been arrested on a charge of sexual assault in the impregnation of an incapacitated woman who gave birth last month at a long-term health care facility, police said Wednesday.

Investigators arrested 36-year-old Nathan Sutherland on one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said.

Williams said Sutherland, a licensed practical nurse, worked at the Hacienda HealthCare facility where the woman lived and had been providing care to her.

nathans2.jpg
Nathan Sutherland
MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

Sutherland was linked to the case through DNA, police spokesman Tommy Thompson said. Investigators determined his DNA matched that of the baby.

Hacienda HealthCare said in a statement Wednesday that Sutherland had undergone "an extensive background check" when he was hired. It said he was fired as soon as its leadership team learned he was arrested.

"Every member of the Hacienda organization is troubled beyond words to think that a licensed practical nurse could be capable of seriously harming a patient," the statement said.

The 29-year-old victim has been incapacitated since the age of 3 and gave birth to a boy at the facility on December 29. Employees said they had no idea she was pregnant. Court records said her last known physical was in April.

Hacienda Healthcare said it has boosted security in the last two weeks to ensure patients' safety.

"We will continue to do so," it said. "We also will continue to review and improve what is already an in-depth vetting process for caregivers at Hacienda. We will not tolerate any mistreatment of a Hacienda patient, nor will we stop until every Hacienda patient is as safe as we can make them."

The case has prompted the departure or discipline of key figures at Hacienda HealthCare, including the CEO. The provider on Sunday announced that one doctor who had cared for the woman resigned and another had been suspended.

Earlier stories had described the patient as being comatose or in a vegetative state. But her parents released a statement on Tuesday disputing that characterization. They described her instead as intellectually disabled because of seizures in early childhood. While she doesn't speak, she has some mobility in her limbs, head and neck. She also responds to sound and can make facial gestures.

First published on January 23, 2019

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



BERNIE IS MAKING OUTREACH SPECIFICALLY TO BLACK PEOPLE NOW, WHICH I FEEL SURE IS A GOOD THING. HE HAD SHUNNED “IDENTITY POLITICS,” WHICH WOULD AVOID THE TAINT OF SEEMING ANTI-WHITE, BUT WHICH FAILED TO INTEREST THE BLACKS. I HAVE SEEN ENOUGH OF THE WHITE ATTITUDES TOWARD BLACKS TO UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WANT TO KNOW WHO’S A FRIEND AND WHO’S A “FRENEMY,” AND THE BLACKS I HAVE KNOWN PERSONALLY ARE DEFINITELY “WARM” IN THE WAY THEY INTERRELATE. I NOTICE THAT NOW TRUMP HAS SHOWN HIS TRUE FACE SEVERAL TIMES, THEY ARE MORE WILLING TO TRUST SANDERS. ALSO, HE HAS BECOME MUCH MORE WELL-KNOWN NOW.

HOWEVER, IT IS A FACT THAT MOST BLACKS ARE FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIANS WHO MAY NOT LIKE JEWS; ALSO, THEY HAVE BEEN BITTEN MORE THAN ONCE BY WHITES. HILLARY AND BILL CLINTON SPENT YEARS INTERACTING WITH BLACKS IN THAT VERY WARM WAY THAT SOUTHERNERS LIKE (INCLUDING MYSELF), WHILE BERNIE SANDERS IS CLEARLY “A YANKEE.” I JUST HAPPEN TO LIKE MANY OF THE “YANKEES” WHOM I HAVE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO KNOW PERSONALLY. MOST WILL WARM UP AFTER A BIT.

I SPENT 20 PLUS YEARS IN WASHINGTON, DC. I NOW LIVE IN A MAINLY BLACK BUILDING AND AM ENJOYING THAT, TOO. I WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD MIX IT UP IN THE WAY THEY THINK ABOUT PEOPLE, AND TAKE THEM AS INDIVIDUALS. IF YOU LOOK AT A BLACK PERSON, YOU WILL SEE DARK SKIN, BUT LOOK AT THE EYES AND SMILE FIRST. THAT’S MY METHOD. THE FIRST THING I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT ANYBODY IS WHETHER THEY ARE OPEN AND HONEST. I GET THAT FROM THE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND VOICE DURING SPEECH.

FINALLY, SANDERS IS INTO OUR NATIONAL ISSUES AS AN ECONOMIC MATTER NOT TO THE EXCLUSION OF “IDENTITY POLITICS,” BUT AS THE PRIMARY ISSUE OR PROBLEM; AND IT IS CLEAR TO ME THAT IF BLACK PEOPLE HAD MORE MONEY THEY WOULD LIVE IN A MUCH DIFFERENT WORLD, ALLOWING THEMSELVES TO DO SOME “WHITE” THINGS AS WELL AS BLACK. I HAVE KNOWN BOTH GROUPS OF BLACKS FROM WORKPLACES AND EVEN HAD A BLACK ROOMMATE. WHEN PRESIDENT OBAMA WAS CRITICIZED BY SOME BLACKS FOR “ACTING TOO WHITE,” THAT OFFENDED ME. THAT ATTITUDE WILL NOT BOOST UP YOUNG BLACK PEOPLE IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD, NOR WILL IT GIVE THEM SUCCESS IN LIFE. IT’S A LOSING GAME.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sen-bernie-sanders-changes-his-message-to-black-voters-racism-is-alive/2019/01/22/6c2b5466-1dbe-11e9-8e21-59a09ff1e2a1_story.html
Sen. Bernie Sanders changes his message to black voters: ‘Racism is alive’
By Annie Linskey and David Weigel January 22, 2019

COLUMBIA, S.C. — With the state capitol behind him and a crowd of hundreds in front of him, Sen. Bernie Sanders celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by telling a rare personal anecdote: He was in Washington, with the marchers, when the civil rights icon delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

“Let us never forget that the title of that march was ‘Jobs and Freedom,’ ” said Sanders, the Vermont independent. “I find it remarkable that 56 years after that march, many of the demands being made then are still being fought for.”

Sanders set out to reintroduce himself to black voters this week as he mulls another presidential bid, offering a message that emphasizes the role of racism in American culture. It marked a substantial revision from his 2016 presidential bid, when he downplayed racism and blamed economic inequities on a rigged system of government that affected all workers equally.

“Racial equality must be central to combating economic inequality,” Sanders said, in a speech that used the refrain “racism is alive” to walk through a litany of problems faced by minorities.

The changes from Sanders’s last campaign were hard to miss. In 2016, he said that “identity politics” distracted from what he considered real issues, like economic inequality and the decline of organized labor.

This week, on his first trip to an early-primary state since the midterm elections, Sanders called President Trump a “racist,” pushed for an end to private prisons, endorsed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to vote and advocated for an end to the cash bail system. He spoke at two black churches, mingled with supporters at a barbecue joint and met with the state’s legislative black caucus, which had largely rejected him in 2016.

Sanders at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Columbia. He has said he isn’t sure yet whether he’ll run for president in 2020. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

He also used the trip — two days including the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday — to tie King’s legacy to the movement that powered his run in 2016.

“We are here today to understand that he had a revolutionary spirit. Yes, he was a revolutionary,” he said, using a word that Sanders’s supporters use to describe the senator.

Sanders’s tour came after years of overtures to black voters, a constituency he’d struggled with in his race against Hillary Clinton, who with her husband, Bill, had spent decades building relationships with black leaders and voters.

“He saw room for growth and improvement on civil rights and justice issues,” said Shaun King, a civil rights activist who endorsed Sanders in 2016 and has been an informal adviser since then. “It just struck me as very sincere, and I’ve had real insincere conversations with people about that stuff, so I think I can tell the difference.”

Blacks made up 25 percent of voters who participated in the 2016 Democratic primaries and caucuses, according to exit polls. Sanders won, on average, 21 percent of the black vote across the primary and caucus states with exit polling. Clinton’s strength among black voters gave her victories that stopped Sanders’s momentum after his early strong showings in Iowa and New Hampshire. His continued unpopularity among nonwhite voters assured his defeat in a primary process that stretched to the late spring of 2016.

In South Carolina, the fourth state on the Democratic primary and caucus calendar, black voters made up 61 percent of the electorate in 2016, up from 55 percent eight years earlier. Sanders won just 14 percent of the black vote, then angered some black leaders by saying that Clinton had drubbed him in “the most conservative part of this great country.”

But this time Sanders has worked to forge more connections in the state and the broader black community, and polling has consistently shown him with high favorable numbers among black voters. Since 2016, he has endorsed strikes and union drives by nonwhite workers in Los Angeles and Mississippi, and he lent his support to new, young black mayors in Birmingham, Ala., and Jackson, Miss.

“People know him a lot better,” said Henry Griffin, a vice president with the South Carolina State Conference NAACP, who supported Clinton in 2016.

“There’s a much better feeling about him,” explained Kathy Jarvis, 67, of Columbia. She was among the few black voters who supported Sanders last time, but she said he didn’t visit enough black churches. “This is where the votes are,” she said.

But the political landscape for 2020 is not shaping up like the last one. Clinton is not running, and the list of contenders could include at least two African American colleagues of Sanders’s.

Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) officially joined the race Monday morning, adding a high-profile black woman to the roster of presidential candidates. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who appeared with Sanders at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia on Monday, said he’s “close” to deciding whether he’ll also join the field.

Both candidates have faced criticism from Sanders supporters and the broader left — especially Harris, a former county prosecutor and state attorney general who had defended tough-on-crime policies now far out of fashion among Democrats.

But since the beginning of the South Carolina Democratic primary in 1988, every black candidate who has seriously competed for the state has won it. As Harris’s record was being picked apart in Washington, some in South Carolina asked whether the criticism was unfair.

“We all have records that we have to defend,” House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) said in a short interview near the state capitol. “I have no idea what all this stuff is, but the fact is, she was an attorney general, and the law dictates what she had to do. She should not be held responsible for the law.”

Sanders sounded torn when asked during a panel discussion Monday whether he’d enter the contest.

“There are some really good people who have announced, and they’re friends of mine,” Sanders said, listing Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), along with Booker and Harris.

“My views are maybe a little bit different,” he added. “You need to take on the people who have power . . . the assessment I’ve got to make is, is there a willingness in the grass roots of this country to take those people on?”

Sanders still faces considerable skepticism here. “Bernie’s taking the temperature, and it is cold,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist who worked on Clinton’s campaign last time.

He predicted that it will be difficult for Sanders to stand out in a field that’s likely to include multiple black candidates, given that, as he put it, “Sanders has always struggled stylistically.”

Yet the senator has clearly made some connections. On Monday night, Sanders gave a brief version of his speech to a church service in Florence organized by the NAACP, then headed out the door.

“I was going to say some things I wanted him to hear,” said the Rev. Norman Gamble, the evening’s keynote speaker. Moments later, Gamble told the audience that “capitalism” amounted to “exploitation” for millions of people; it was a message that could have come from Sanders.

Most Read Politics
1
Analysis
Trump bluffed hard on his State of the Union, and Pelosi called it
2
Pelosi tells Trump: No State of the Union address in the House until government is opened
3
Lara Trump tells federal workers that their missed paychecks are sacrifices for the ‘future of our country’
4
‘Master negotiator’ or ‘nonentity’? Kushner thrusts himself into middle of shutdown talks.
5
Giuliani’s missteps frustrate Trump but underscore the unique role he plays for the president