Mr. Spike Lee, impressed with Mr. Bernie Sanders’ history in the civil rights movement, endorsed him for President, though his wife, Mrs. Tonya Lewis Lee, is siding with Mrs. Hillary Clinton.
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The 2016 race for the presidency, particularly on the Democratic side, has reinforced the truth that the black community isn’t a monolith. Siding with Mr. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Senator, is Dr. Cornel West, who recently called Mrs. Hillary Clinton the “Milli Vanilli of American politics;” Mr. Ben Jealous, the former President and CEO of the NAACP; Mr. Danny Glover, an actor best known for his roles in the ‘Lethal Weapon’ franchise; Atlanta Rapper Killer Mike and, as of today, famed filmmaker Mr. Spike Lee, who twice endorsed Mr. Barack Obama in his quest for the presidency, once in 2008 and again in 2012.
Standing with Mrs. Clinton, who’s maintaining a national double-digit lead, is Mr. Morgan Freeman, an acclaimed actor and narrator; Mr. Michael A. Nutter, the third black Mayor of Philadelphia who backed Mrs. Clinton in 2008 when she ran against Mr. Obama and who finds Mr. Sanders’ deficit-based comments regarding African-Americans and Latinos offensive; the campaign arm of the Congressional Black Caucus; Congressman John Lewis, who was a student activist during the march from Selma to Montgomery; and Mrs. Tonya Lewis Lee, the wife of the honorary Oscar-winner whose works included ‘Malcolm X’, ‘Bamboozled’ and ‘Get on The Bus.’
The latter name, which may have come as surprise to many, shows that marriages, like races of people, aren’t monoliths either. Mrs. Lee, after the media was set abuzz with the news that her award-winning husband is throwing his weight behind Mr. Sanders, the winner of New Hampshire primary, suggested that Mr. Lee doesn’t speak for the whole family, and that she stands with Mrs. Clinton, who on Saturday won the Nevada primary by roughly five percentage points.
“We need Hillary to be the next POTUS,” Mrs. Lee tweeted.
Mr. Lee couldn’t disagree more. In an ad he recorded that’s currently on the airwaves, the acclaimed movie maker suggested that Mr. Sanders’ civil rights record, coupled with the fact that he doesn’t take money from Wall Street, makes him the only choice. Like Dr. West, Mr. Lee refers to the Democratic socialist as “Brother Bernie.”
Black endorsers for both candidates have been sprouting up rapidly as the race moves in South Carolina and other territories where the black vote is prominent and, more importantly, needed. As of today, Mrs. Clinton leads in support from black voters with 65%, compared to Mr. Sanders’ 28 percent.
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