Sanders Campaign Press Release - Leading Black Scholars, Writers, & Educators Throw Support Behind Bernie 2020

BOSTON – More than 100 Black scholars, writers and educators on Saturday announced in a joint letter their support of Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign for President. The group cites the senator's consistent record, intersectional policy proposals and leadership as reasons they back Sanders.

"A Sanders presidency would go a long way toward creating a safer and more just world," the letter says. "The commitment to free college education, the elimination of student debt which so many of our students suffer under, and the enfranchisement of incarcerated citizens, are only some of the reasons we have come to this conclusion. His support of a commission to study reparations for slavery is another reason for our decision, as well as his staunch commitment to the needs of poor and working people over the course of his career."

The letter of support comes on the heels of a recent Reuters poll showing Sen. Sanders leading the national primary field among Black voters, with twenty-six percent saying they support Sanders.

Dr. Barbara Ransby, one of the organizers of the endorsement effort and author of the award-winning biography on civil rights leader, Ella Baker, said that: "It is Black History Month. This is an historic election. We wanted to make our voices heard as scholars who write, research and teach about the struggles of Black people in this country. We feel the platform of the Sanders campaign and the movement his campaign is building offer the best hope for the future in terms of racial, economic and gender justice and for peace."

The text of the letter and the full slate of endorsements is below.

We are Black scholars, writers and educators whose careers have been devoted to uncovering, analyzing, telling the stories, and uplifting the cultures of African Americans and peoples of the African Diaspora. We are also deeply invested in the freedom of our people and the subjects of our research.

In this crucible year of 2020, when so much is at stake, not only for Black people but for all people, and all life on the planet, we feel it imperative that we step outside of our classrooms and go beyond our campuses, to speak out on the current presidential election.

After much research and reflection we have concluded that while imperfect, as we all are, Bernie Sanders, the politics he advocates, the consistent track record he demonstrates, and the powerful policy changes he has outlined, if elected, would make the most far-reaching and positive impact on the lives and condition of Black people, and all people in the United States. A Sanders presidency would go a long way toward creating a safer and more just world. The commitment to free college education, the elimination of student debt which so many of our students suffer under, and the enfranchisement of incarcerated citizens, are only some of the reasons we have come to this conclusion. His support of a commission to study reparations for slavery is another reason for our decision, as well as his staunch commitment to the needs of poor and working people over the course of his career.

At the same time we respect our friends and colleagues that have chosen the other progressive candidate in the race, Elizabeth Warren, and if she wins the primary, we will support her too. Still, we feel it is important to state flatly that we feel a Sanders campaign can win and a Sanders presidency would be a game changer for the people and communities of which we are a part.

While we are not all democratic socialists, we will not be red baited to reject and vilify Bernie Sanders' views. In fact there is a long and strong tradition of Black socialists in the United States and globally that have fought for racial and economic justice, from the great scholar and intellectual, W.E.B. DuBois to labor leader, A. Philip Randolph to legendary civil rights organizer, Ella Baker. So, we see Sanders' commitment to challenging the ravages of racial capitalism as connected to an ongoing and ideologically diverse Black Freedom Movement.

We live in perilous but promising times. What we do or don't do in 2020 in the electoral arena, and beyond, will determine the future trajectory of this country and the world. We invite you to stand with us and support the Bernie Sanders campaign, as one step away from the precipice of fascism and toward a brighter more just future.

Note: Titles and institutional affiliations are listed for identification purposes only and in no way reflect any institutional endorsement whatsoever. Signers are acting in their capacity as private citizens.

• Beatrice J. Adams, Doctoral candidate, History, Rutgers Unviersity
• Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd, J.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Rutgers University
• Laylah Ali, Professor of Art, Williams College
• Abdul Alkalimat, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Sam Anderson, Center for the Advancement of Black Education
• Herman L. Bennett, Professor of History at the Graduate Center, City University of New York
• Carwil Bjork-James, Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University
• Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Professor, Sociology, Duke University
• Carole Boyce Davies, Professor of English and Africana Studies, Cornell University
• Lisa Brock, Associate Professor of History, Kalamazoo College
• Elsa Barkley Brown, Associate Professor of History and Women's Studies, University of Maryland College Park
• Nicole A. Burrowes, Assistant Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies Department, University of Texas, Austin
• Linda E. Carty, Associate Professor, African American Studies, Syracuse University
• Rosa Clemente, Professor, Independent Journalist, Producer
• Matthew Countryman, Associate Professor, Departments of History and American Culture University of Michigan
• Dana-Ain Davis, Professor, City University of New York
• Michael Dawson, John D. MacArthur Professor of Political Science and the College, University of Chicago
• Frank Deale, Professor of Law, City University of New York Law School
• Ajamu Amiri Dillahunt, Ph.D. Student, Michigan State University
• James Counts Early, Former Assistant Secretary for Education and Public Service Smithsonian Institution
• Erica R. Edwards, Associate Professor of English, Rutgers University-New Brunswick
• Ashley D. Farmer Ph.D., Assistant Professor, History & African & African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas-Austin
• Crystal N. Feimster, Professor, Yale University, African American Studies Department American Studies Program, History Department, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program
• Jonathan Fenderson, Assistant Professor of African & African-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis and Associate Editor, The Black Scholar
• Johanna Fernández, PhD, Department of History, Baruch College, City University of New York
• Bill Fletcher Jr., Independent Scholar and Author, Executive Editor, Global African Worker
• Tyrone Forman, Professor, African American Studies and Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Paul Foster, MPA, Emerita Clinical Co-ordinator, Harlem Physician Assistant Program, Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, CCNY
• Olubukola Gbadegesin, Associate Professor, African American Studies and Art History, Saint Louis University
• Adom Getachew, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Political Science and the College, University of Chicago
• Keedra Gibba, Teacher of History and Social Studies, Francis W. Parker School, Chicago
• Dayo Gore, Professor, Ethnic Studies and Critical Gender Studies, University of California, San Diego
• Cecilia A. Green, Associate Professor of Sociology, Syracuse University
• Josh Guild, Associate Professor of History and African American Studies, Princeton University
• Sarah Haley, Associate Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
• Darrick Hamilton, Professor and Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University
• Michael G. Hanchard, Gustave C. Kuemmerle Professor and Chair of the Department of Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania
• Diane Harriford, Professor, Department of Sociology, Vassar College
• Cheryl I. Harris, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
• Faye V. Harrison, Professor of African American Studies and Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Renee Camille Hatcher, Assistant Professor of Law, John Marshall, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Professor and Thomas E. Lifka Chair in History, University of California, Los Angeles
• Marc Lamont Hill, Professor and the Steve Charles Chair in Media, Cities and Solutions, College of Media and Education, Temple University
• Elizabeth Hinton, Professor of History and African and African American Studies, Harvard University
• Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African American Studies, University of Houston
• Zenzele Isoke, Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, University of Minnesota
• Lynette A. Jackson, Associate Professor, Gender and Women's Studies and Black Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Joy James, Ebenzer Fitch Professor of the Humanities, Williams College
• Destin Jenkins, Assistant Professor of History, University of Chicago
• Ryan Cecil Jobson, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor, Anthropology, University of Chicago
• Cheryl Johnson-Odim, Ph.D., Provost Emerita and Professor of History, Dominican University, Illinois
• Tracey Johnson, Ph.D. candidate, Rutgers University
• Robin D.G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, University of California, Los Angeles
• Ainsley LeSure, Assistant Professor of Politics, Black Studies Advisory Council, Occidental College
• La TaSha Levy, Assistant Professor of American Ethnic Studies, University of Washington-Seattle
• R. L'Heureux Lewis-McCoy, Associate Professor, New York University
• Toussaint Losier, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts – Amherst
• Sheldon Bernard Lyke, Assistant Professor at Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law
• Minkah Makalani, Director of the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, University of Texas at Austin
• Austin McCoy, Assistant Professor of History, Auburn University
• Deborah E. McDowell, Alice Griffin Professor of English, Director, Carter G. Woodson Institute, University of Virginia
• Erik S. McDuffie, Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Mireille Miller-Young, Associate Professor, Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Quincy T. Mills, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park
• Leith Mullings, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emerita, Graduate Center, City University of New York
• Donna Murch, Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University
• Linda Rae Murray, M.D., MPH, Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Premilla Nadasen, Professor of History, Barnard College, and President of the National Women's Studies Association (2018 -2020)
• Celia E. Naylor, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies, Barnard College, Columbia University
• Rosemary Ndubuizu, Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Scholar, Washington, D.C.
• Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African American Studies, Duke University
• Prexy Rozell Nesbitt, Presidential Fellow, Chapman University
• Margo Okazawa-Rey, Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair, Mills College & Professor Emerita, San Francisco State University
• James Padilioni, Jr, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion, Swarthmore College
• Melina Pappademos, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies, University of Connecticut
• Kaneesha Cherelle Parsard, Provost's Postdoctoral Fellow, English, University of Chicago
• Tianna S. Paschel, Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley
• Earl Picard, Independent Scholar, Atlanta, Georgia
• Steven C. Pitts, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education
• Sherie M. Randolph, Associate Professor of History, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Barbara Ransby, Distinguished Professor, African American Studies, Gender and Women's Studies and History, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Ismail Rashid, Professor of History, Vassar College
• Aisha Ray, Professor Emerita, Erikson Institute
• Shana L. Redmond, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
• Russell Rickford, Associate Professor of History, Cornell University
• J. T. Roan, Assistant Professor of African American Studies, School of Transformation, Arizona State University
• Francesca T. Royster, Professor, DePaul University
• Tanya L. Saunders, Associate Professor, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida
• Kesho Yvonne Scott, Professor Emerita, Grinnell College
• Barbara Smith, Independent Scholar, Albany, New York
• Lester Spence, Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies, Johns Hopkins University
• Robyn C. Spencer, Associate Professor, Lehman College, City University of New York
• David Stovall, Professor, Black Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Stacey Sutton, Assistant Professor, Urban Planning & Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Assistant Professor, Department of African American Studies, Princeton University
• Ula Y. Taylor, Professor of African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley
• Alia R. Tyner-Mullings, Associate Professor, Sociology, Guttman Community College, City University of New York
• Melissa M. Valle, Assistant Professor, Sociology and African American Studies, Rutgers University-Newark
• Stephen Ward, Department of Afroamerican & African Studies (DAAS), Residential College, University of Michigan
• Jakobi Williams, Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor, Indiana University
• Naomi R. Williams, PhD, Assistant Professor, Rutgers University
• Hazel Carby, Charles C & Dorathea S Dilley Professor of African American Studies & American Studies at Yale University.
• George Yancy, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy, Emory University
• Jasmine K. Syedullah, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Vassar College