Racial Equity Anti Hero: Bernie Sanders

Intro to Series: laceonrace.com/2021/02/04/racial-equity-anti-hero-series/

Tiffany Washington talks her shit from the backwoods of Alabama. Her work appears on Facebook because she’s already been rejected by The Root.

Today, in Black History, we get ready to open up Pandora’s box in the comment section.
See, I know what’s going to happen: “bu…buh…Clinton!” And, because of that, I thought I would do a 2 for 1 just to get it out of the way. Then, I thought about doing a Clinton (or 2) first so I wouldn’t have to hear it.
But then, I figured….I’m not catering to white folks in February.
So here we are: we have reached everyone’s favorite “classism, not racism,” mouthpiece. All the way from one of the whitest states in the country….Senator Bernie “Wall Street” Sanders.
Sanders is your typical “lowkey” racist. He says questionable shit all the time, but his supporters still think this man shits roses in his depends.
“Yes. I mean, I think we’ve got to work in two ways,” Sanders answered. “Number one, we have got to take on Trump’s attacks against the environment, against women, against Latinos and blacks and people in the gay community, we’ve got to fight back every day on those issues. But equally important, or more important: We have got to focus on bread-and-butter issues that mean so much to ordinary Americans.”
Throughout his campaign (and afterwards), he did just about everything he could to separate minorities from the “ordinary Americas” that he so loved. In case you’re a little slow….that means white folks. Because, in his eyes, and the eyes of the far left, racism is a symptom of classism….when it’s really the other way around: classism is a symptom of racism and white supremacy in this country.
I also can’t forgive the “more important” issue, here. What the fuck issue does liberal white American have that trumps (ha) the dangerous racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic shit that has been spewed across the nation these past couple of years? Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
Oh, but it gets better! Order now and you’ll receive a bonus slap of “good people on both sides!” *in my Trump voice.
“Some people think that the people who voted for Trump are racists and sexists and homophobes and deplorable folks. I don’t agree, because I’ve been there.”
Nah, no racism there, fam. They are good people…they are just like me. #Charlottsville
You can argue all you want, but you can still die mad about it.#TodayinBlackHistory

-Tiffany Washington


3 responses to “Racial Equity Anti Hero: Bernie Sanders”

  1. Emily Holzknecht Avatar
    Emily Holzknecht

    Your comment leads me to think of the various European countries that have a lot of what Bernie fights for and I see them in the news periodically because of their racism.

  2. Rebecca McClinton Avatar
    Rebecca McClinton

    I feel clench here, as a Bernie fan, and that makes me pause and consider a couple different things: (a) how I still struggle with dichotomous thinking…how much I still default to thinking in either or’s rather than AND’s (b) how liberal policies just like conservative policies can become an economic construct that perpetuates racism.

  3. Emily Holzknecht Avatar
    Emily Holzknecht

    From Bernie’s own words, it is clear that he sees white Trump supporters as being like him (which is probably pretty accurate…for all of us white people, more than we want to believe) and that he sees marginalized groups as the Other, an after thought after his people. Classism is not THE shared American issue. White supremacy is. Classism is pretty strong in the US because of white supremacy. If the US was a country of all white people, we would already have a lot of the things Bernie fights for, just like a number of other mostly white people countries that have universal healthcare and free university and high minimum wage and so on. We don’t have those things because white people would rather deny some white people (including ourselves in some cases) those things than make those things available to Black and brown folks.

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