How you can tell if Sanders speaks to the concerns of people of color

[Cha]

164. It's fair now. many AAs have spoken out about his kick off.. not just us.. this is very important

to a lot of people and Bernie's supporters who are trying to sweep it under the rug aren't helping him. and, not all of his supporters are trying to sweep it away. Props to them.

"Why Bernie Sanders doesn't talk about race"

"But there's a reason I say "those progressives" instead of just "progressives": because not everyone in the Democratic base shares those particular passions, or those passions alone. For other progressives — many of them black or Latino — economic inequality is important, but so is racial inequality. They're extremely concerned about racial bias in policing, and about ending mass incarceration.They're concerned about the treatment of unauthorized immigrants, and about protecting voting rights (an issue like campaign finance where progressives are worried the integrity of the political system is at stake — and where the outcome doesn't look good for them)."

"And Bernie Sanders doesn't speak to those concerns. He didn't mention those issues in his campaign launch yesterday, or in his email announcement to his supporters last month, and they're not on the issues page of his website."

This isn't an accidental oversight. These simply aren't issues Sanders is passionate about in the way he's passionate about economic injustice. When my colleague Andrew Prokop profiled Sanders last year, he pointed out astutely that Sanders's career has been "laser-focused on checking the power of the wealthy above all else." Sanders believes in racial equality, sure, but he believes it will only come as the result of economic equality. To him, focusing on racial issues first is merely treating the symptom, not the disease.

To be clear, Sanders hasn’t avoided talking about race throughout his career because he’s a bigot. His motivations have been unsentimental and practical (again: Vermont is about as diverse as a Simon & Garfunkel concert). But they’ve been ideological, too. “Sanders believes in racial equality, sure,” writes Lind, “but he believes it will only come as the result of economic equality.” A politics of racial justice that neglects the question of economic power — or treats it as a secondary, separate issue — is, in Sanders’ mind, equivalent to “treating the symptom, not the disease.”

Senator Sanders is very smart, though.. and I would think he'll learn all about Social Justice when he gets out on the campaign trail.

In the mean time there's not a thing wrong with pointing this out. I don't care what those who want to "coddle" him have to hammer about it.

little end snip//

"..She doesn't embody any single progressive passion the way Sanders embodies economic populism — but it looks like she's responding to the progressive concerns Sanders has mostly ignored.."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026749264

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6749877