The reason why some black people (me included) are side eyeing this is because, he literally said that white people who were uncomfortable voting for Abrams or Gillum because they were black weren't necessarily racist, which is straight bullshit. There is additional context to this.
I will just say Bernie has too many slips to be truly down for the cause folks project him to be. Abandoning the south during the last primary then calling them "low information voters", the common bit of tying employment to black humanity, the dismissing racism line, Vermont having more black people in prison than walking the streets, etc.
A lot of us aren't white. Bernie has more non-white supporters than white supporters. I'm Mexican-American born to parents who worked on the fields picking vegetables.
And that's just %, not raw numbers. Bernie has to work on the boomer generation.
The first and perhaps most essential act of combating racism is acknowledging its existence. In that regard, the people you're mocking in this scenario have already done more than you.
The answer is (and I think Bernie's actual point buried beneath the way he tries to frame it) is that you combat racism in the south by campaigning for progressive causes and getting the youth involved in politics. Because yes, the south is full of old racists. But if you write off the south completely and don't try to campaign at all, you're just letting the next generation stew deeper in that racist quagmire which means once the boomers die off we just have another generation of racists to deal with.
I explained this a few posts after. But for the record: In this case, Sanders was talking about a subset of the working class that happens to be white and in Mississippi.
It's arguing for his larger theory of change, to have white working class people to also vote for the platform which does the most for minorities because it's in their best interest to, and to pick up voters the Democratic party gave up on.
This is the best question I've read so far in this thread. Why is Bernie always going out of his way to make unnecessary statements like this. If you really feel the need to reach out to Mississippi voters, who've done nothing in modern history to demonstrate that they're interested in the Democratic platform, why not just say that the Democrats can do more to appeal with them? Why is it necessary yet again to absolve racists of their racism? I'm getting incredibly tired of reading these kind of statements from him. If you don't want to take the issue seriously then please stop talking about it.
You don't even possess sufficient self awareness to realize how silly a look it is to grossly caricaturize "liberals" who acknowledge how racist the South is before immediately taking offense at your own position being given the same treatment mere minutes later.
good god glad I checked your post history, had me going there for a second lol
My dude you did not address anything in my, instead you deflected, we saw how the country changed with Obama. America woke up and remembered it was inseminated, nurtured, and born in racism.
I think it's a problem our country never solved. The civil war ended, but one side never conceded.
That its scary to post when people make assumptions on who you are and when people see things in either black or white with 0 shades of grey. Some convos here are amazing but damn intimidating to weight every words. You go in my history and dig posts and say i downplay racism and dismiss racial concerns. Which is , to some people here an inch close to being a racist....thats scary to me. Because as i said, to me racists are the scum of the world and deserves no respect. Yet here u are doing that and half accusing me of it.
You're showing a good understanding of people's views in this thread. Really.
Are you even reading what people are saying about why his statement sucks
Well it would help if the white voters of the state didn't keep voting for GOP people who refused to expand the ACA and other ways to try and stymie progress that Democrats want to make in Mississippi.
he's AT WORST underestimating it. Did you watch the video in the OP?
I don't know how this contradicts what was said. Mississippi has a massive racism problem, something Sanders has also said. That doesn't mean the 90/10 split can be boiled down to racists and non-racists, as if they are all unreachable. It's not like he's saying they can all be reached. His ambition is 25-30%.
