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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNYMag - Bernie Sanders and the Lies We Tell White Voters
Two years into the Trump presidency and Bernie still continues to deny that Trump voters are often motivated by hate stoked by Trump's scapegoating of immigrants and trade. Bernie needs to take some lessons from AOC and be unafraid to call out Trump for racism and be unafraid to call out how the racism of Trump's supporters is used to oppress his own supporters. The father of Medicare, Lyndon Johnson, a white southerner, knew this:
If we continue to lie to white voters and assure them that there distrust of immigrants, trade, minorities, educated women, etc., is justified, then we are facilitating their oppression.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/11/bernie-sanders-and-the-lies-we-tell-white-voters.html
In the 2016 Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton mopped the floor with Bernie Sanders among black voters. That a commanding 50-point margin separated the two with this crucial cohort prompted soul-searching for the Vermont senator, whose 2020 plans rest on building a more multiracial coalition. Sanders has responded with earnest outreach. He has communicated frequently with progressive black mayors across the South and endorsed popular black statewide candidates, like Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams. The Associated Press reports the senator huddles more routinely with black lawmakers to discuss shared priorities. And Sanders continues to downplay his 2016 black support gap, pointing out that he won voters under 30 across racial lines.
So it seemed a setback on Thursday when the Daily Beast published an article quoting Sanders on the role of racism in Gillums apparent defeat. I think you know there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American, the senator said of the Florida governors race. A small outcry ensued, accusing Sanders of evading the reality that opposing a black candidate out of discomfort with black leadership is, by definition, racist. Sanders tried to clarify his comments later that day. Theres no question that in Georgia and in Florida, racism has reared its ugly head, he told NPR. And you have candidates who ran against Gillum and ran against Stacey Abrams who were racist and were doing everything they could to try to play whites against blacks.
In neither statement did Sanders indict voters for backing racist candidates. To the Daily Beast, he recast their racism as mere discomfort, and to NPR, blamed a candidate-led con job and not the electorate itself. That he did this may have been a rhetorical lapse, or strategic to his political aspirations calling racist white people racist is a good way to ensure they do not vote for you. But either way it is not the truth, and echoes a broader tendency in American politics to entice such voters by lying to them about how racist they actually are.
Sanders is far from alone in failing to upbraid bigots, but he is singular among white progressives being floated as 2020 hopefuls. He is the most popular political figure in America, according to multiple polls. He has almost single-handedly driven the Democratic Partys leftward shift on policy, giving him significant sway over whatever platform future candidates put forth. Such influence has likely engendered caution. Sanders saw what happened to Hillary Clinton when she told the truth. In September 2016, the then-Democratic presidential nominee made a speech decrying half of [Donald] Trumps supporters as deplorables racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic. She was not being derogatory. Clintons claims were borne out by several polls attesting to the bigotry infecting Trumps coalition. But looking back, even she sees her honesty as a gaffe. Im sorry I gave [Trump] a political gift of any kind, but I dont think that was determinative, Clinton said last year. The term deplorable has since assumed totemic power among the presidents base, adorning T-shirts worn proudly by those Clinton described as such.
DURHAM D
(32,595 posts)emulatorloo
(43,982 posts)I think you know there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American
Me.
(35,454 posts)It was a terrible thing to say.
TomCADem
(17,378 posts)That is only two months ago.
uponit7771
(90,225 posts)Cha
(295,912 posts)is not going down the rabbit hole.
".. Not necessarily racist.." right. wtel..
babylonsister
(170,963 posts)Yea, real mature, or really realistic. I think talking to people vs. telling them how they're wrong is not a bad idea.
Cha
(295,912 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)Cha
(295,912 posts)those trying to defended it. smh.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)I'm not in the habit of giving people a free-pass for saying racially offensive things like that, and I don't intend to start now.
Cha
(295,912 posts)excoriated and Not given a pass.
Words matter.
NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)He could have easily said that racism was a factor in Gillum's loss. He could have said white people have a history of racism and therefore had a hard time voting for an African American. Either way, he could have called out racism as a reality and as one reason Gillum lost.
But he didn't, because that's not what he meant. Sanders has given many interviews and has spoken publicly many many times. He says what he means.
Personally, I take him at his word.
Cha
(295,912 posts)NYmag is right..
andym
(5,441 posts)there are a group of Americans who are prejudiced and therefore racists without being consciously aware of it. Perhaps Senator Sanders is referring to them in his in-artful way.
From Psychology Today in 2012:
"Dr. David Williams, professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, cited studies documenting that when Latinos and African Americans were treated by physicians for a broken bone in their leg, they received pain medication significantly less often than white patients with the same injury."
" minorities are less likely to be given appropriate cardiac medications or to undergo bypass surgery, and are less likely to receive kidney dialysis or transplants. By contrast, they are more likely to receive certain less-desirable procedures, such as lower limb amputations for diabetes and other conditions.'
"The data beg an obvious question, and Williams did not disappoint. How on earth do we make sense of this? he asked. How is it possible for the best trained medical workforce in the world to produce
care that appears to be so discriminatory?"
"The answer, Williams argued, is unconscious discrimination. According to Williams, the research shows that when people hold a negative stereotype about a group and meet someone from that group, they often treat that person differently and honestly don't even realize it. Williams noted that most Americans would object to being labeled as racist or even as discriminating, but he added, Welcome to the human race. It is a normal process about how all of us process information. The problem for our society is that the level of negative stereotypes is very high....
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-the-lines/201204/studies-unconscious-bias-racism-not-always-racists
elmac
(4,642 posts)mentalslavery
(463 posts)Cha
(295,912 posts)jalan48
(13,798 posts)chwaliszewski
(1,514 posts)fleabiscuit
(4,542 posts)emulatorloo
(43,982 posts)chwaliszewski
(1,514 posts)thanks OP, for pointing that out to us.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)In my opinion, that was something that completely DISQUALIFIES him from seeking higher office. He cannot represent our nation with totally wrong-headed thinking like that. I mean, saying things like that might be appropriate among his Vermont constituents. But outside the homogeneous demographics of his own "home state" it sounds as unpleasant as fingernails scraping on a chalkboard. I think we can do better and I will not support anyone who thinks that way. It's just wrong.
All I'm saying is that the Democratic party has an abundance of very bright and talented and forward-thinking DEMOCRATS to choose from. As a party we're looking up and forward and to the future. It serves no good purpose to look back and down and to the PAST. Bernie is in the past.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)fleabiscuit
(4,542 posts)Sometimes facts be damned.
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)It isn't just a Kentucky problem.
populistdriven
(5,639 posts)ucrdem
(15,512 posts)As with civil rights, so with health care, and while LBJ richly deserves credit for passing both pieces of legislation, they were originally sent to Congress by the Kennedy administration. Civil rights didn't get voted on before Kennedy died, but Medicare did, and was defeated in 1962. So props to LBJ for getting it done and props to Kennedy for proposing it:
R B Garr
(16,920 posts)like today.
MLK
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)R B Garr
(16,920 posts)Awkward!
He also failed to upbraid oligarchs by refusing to vote on Russian sanctions. Why let oligarchs off the hook? Weird.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid