African-Americans for Bernie Meetup Notes 8-24-15

African-Americans for Bernie Sanders Agenda Notes
8-24-15
I.	Introduction
A.  Meeting was facilitated by Nadya and Stan
1. Regular introductions made; a few other organizations present (Occupy Bed-Stuy, former Obama campaigners, public school teachers union, nurses’ union, most individuals unaffiliated)
2. General housekeeping
II.	What is AA for Bernie about?
A.	Need to plug into black communities
1.	Needs to be done online and on the ground
i.	Strong need for web-based organizing
ii.	List of connections to other groups need to be made (mostly accessible though Facebook  or map.berniesanders.events)
iii.	Need to go into churches and local community events
2.	Plan to organize for the West Indian Day Parade and the Labor Union Day Parade
3.	Report from AfroPunk festival
i.	General public can be broken down into 3 categories:
1.	Those who know Bernie
2.	Those who don’t know Bernie
3.	Those who don’t believe he can win
4.	Bernie has no Super Pac money,  so he is heavily dependent on grassroots organizing led by communities
i.	Need to empower local communities
ii.	Need to better connect local communities to the national campaign
5.	Question was asked to express the need to encourage people to participate more in local/state elections
6.	Question was also asked how do we sway those that believe that Bernie is a socialist
i.	Place emphasis that he is a democratic socialist (much like Europe)
ii.	Focus on issue that people care about
iii.	Provide present day examples of socialism that exists in our country ( ex. Social Security, Medicare)
iv.	Place emphasis on Dr. Kings insistence on need of change of values in our country
7.	Question was asked to have the Bernie campaign address affordable housing and AMI calculations on a federal level
III.	Additional responsibilities
A.  Strong need for media presence (twitter feeds, hashtag ideas)
1. one connection to Black twitter / Black Tumblr (through Venise Stepehenson)

IV.	Help at the national level
A.	3 People were interested
B.	They are willing to make call to voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, and Nevada
V.	Upcoming events
A.	Smith Day reunion this Saturday
B.	African-American Day Parade
C.	Smorgasbord Brooklyn (Prospect Park)
D.	Anniversary of Occupy Wall Street (march from Zuccotti Park to City Hall)
E.	Anniversary of Million Man March
VI.	Next Meeting will be September 21st 6pm
A.	Need to  find another venue, a black owned or managed venue that is centrally located
B.	Someone suggested going to CUNY/college black student unions