8 Reasons why Blacks Reject Bernie Sanders (And They're Not What You Might Think)
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| Bernie Sanders' Black Headache |
1. Blacks distrust his core message. The term "income inequality" is a multi-terraced minefield. While young whites see themselves as being screwed by the so-called establishment, from the vantage of most blacks these college students have led privileged lives, relative to disadvantaged minority groups in this country. Bernie supporters grew up in middle class neighborhoods, benefited from the higher quality of education they obtained in well-financed, non-ghetto schools, and can look forward to inheriting their parents' middle class assets, Blacks don't begrudge any of this. But, they cannot help but notice the startling silence in the Bernie Sanders brigade as regards how the racial income gap will be bridged, while the Bernie folks are shaking down Wall Street for themselves.
2. Sanders is unelectable. The GOP has laid off attacking Sanders thus far in hopes of getting Democratic voters to give Bernie the nomination. Then, they will rip the 74 year old democratic socialist, atheist to shreds. It is only now that Sanders can be seen by his followers as pristine, honorable and pure because the kleig lights have not yet been shone on his flimsy record in Congress, support for the same anti-criminal justice bills that he blames Bill Clinton for passing, and youthful flirtation with Soviet-style communism and the Iranian revolution, which brought the Ayatollah Khomeini and other right-wing religious clerics to power.
3. Bernie Sanders tried to undermine Barack Obama's presidency. His behavior was unconscionable, as far as black Democrats were concerned. Sanders believed that Obama should be given a Democratic opponent in the 2012 primary.
4. Sanders' supporters are launching cyber attacks against blacks. It is in retaliation for Bernie's 50 point loss to Hillary Clinton in South Carolina. African-Americans are being depicted as uneducated, thoughtless, uncouth idiots (or worse), who don't know their own interests. These Bernie supporters believe that they do know what's best for blacks, which is to support their candidate.
5. The "Bernie or Bust" movement is scary. If Democrats don't give Bernie the nomination, a growing number of his supporters are signing pledges and making pronouncements that they will either sit home or vote for Donald Trump.
6. Blacks know what to expect from the Clintons. Bernie's supporters, on the other hand, are trying to turn two-party electoral politics into a monolithic movement. If it leads anywhere, it will be to a Donald Trump presidency, which is a terrifying prospect for minorities.
7. Gun violence. Sanders' voted against the Brady Bill, which mandated background checks for gun owners, and favored the granting of civil immunity to gun manufacturers. Black communities that have been ripped apart by gun violence and have reason to fear the growing boldness of white militias, are desperate to see, at the very least, some commonsense gun-control measures.
8. Reparations. Blacks have never seriously advocated that they be paid reparations for slavery because it would be a waste of time, and a true lost cause. But then Bernie Sanders came along campaigning on fixing "income inequality". His policy wish list included a massive increase in taxes paid by billionaires, an expensive single payer health care system, free college tuition and several other radical measures that would never make it through Congress. At that point some blacks saw a golden opportunity. If Bernie was serious about repairing income inequality and continued to insist that any proposal he came up with could get passed by Congress, then the reparations advocates spoke up and said, why not put "reparations" on the list. However, Bernie dismissed reparations as unrealistic, even though few outside his circle of true believers, could see any of his other legislative initiatives getting passed either.
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