2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: POC aren't buying the "Bernie's been fighting for you all his life so you should vote for him" claim [View all]morningfog
(18,115 posts)DU posters are, for the most part, just regular people posting whatever comes to mind.
I find Sanders inability to win over African Americans a very interesting topic. He clearly failed in SC. He could not have done much worse.
I don't presume to have the answer to what he did wrong or how he could fix it. It would be presumptuous and insulting for me to act like I had the answers.
Having said that, I will put myself out on a small limb in deconstructing his clear failure. As a preface I strongly disagree with anyone who blames any group of voters for their loss. I strongly disagree with anyone who claims any state, region or race does not matter or that they should be ignored.
I am more interested in understanding what went wrong. I saw this coming for some time and have held back on offering my opinion. I never suggest I know better than someone else for whom they should vote.
I am sure there are countless reasons for which I am unaware or ignorant. There are undoubtedly dynamics which I just don't get.
This is my humble take. Bernie, as a democratic socialist, I think, follows the basic principle that analyzes all struggles as class struggles. In that world view, racism is fundamentally a class issue. The remedy, the solution, is equality. If everyone has a right to higher education, health care, a living wage, a clean environment as well as the abolition of the drug war and for profit prisons, many (most?) of the symptoms of systemic racism would be addressed. Even if he is right, it glosses over the significance of the racial disparity. I fault him for not better articulating both his diagnosis and his remedy as well as his lack of recognizing the unique and justified rage of persons of color.
That, plus, Hillary was able to speak to the African American community and earn the endorsements of critical civil rights figures, organizations and elected representatives.
I don't see how Sanders can correct course at this stage of the race. It is disappointing for me as a Sanders supporter. But again, I do not begrudge anyone for their choice of vote.