Froma Harrop: Bernie Sanders’ problem with blacks — and others

[portlander23]

Bernie Sanders’ problem with blacks — and others

So Barack Obama is “a Rockefeller Republican in blackface.” He’s “a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs” and “a black puppet of corporate plutocrats.” Those are the words of Cornel West, an African-American academic whom Bernie Sanders invites to campaign beside him.

Everyone is entitled to criticize Obama’s policies, but beating him up in racial terms is crude and unfair. Being black himself does not excuse West from the racial extortion he practices. (By the way, why can’t an African American be a Rockefeller Republican if he so chooses?)

Not only hasn’t Sanders condemned these remarks but also his campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, defends them. Weaver says of West: “He’s a forceful voice for understanding the intersection of racial justice and economic justice. He understands very well Bernie’s message.”

Bernie’s positions on civil rights have been close to impeccable, but his history with nonwhites is more complicated.

Back in 1960s New York, black radicals weren’t keen to sit at the knees of white intellectuals and be told what’s what. The ensuing tensions prompted many white radicals to flee to the more accommodating hills of Vermont. Sanders was one. There’s no gentler way to put this, but they were part of the era’s white flight.

Sanders has a son born out of wedlock. In 2015, that is not a disqualifier — certainly not if you’re a white male. If you’re black (or female), I couldn’t imagine such a detail going so little noticed.

[Vattel]

1. This little hit piece is completely irrational.

Claim: Sanders moved from New York to Vermont to escape tensions between black and white radicals. Evidence? None

Claim: Sanders has a son born out of wedlock? Relevance? None.

Claim: West is guilty of racial extortion? Evidence? none.

Claim: Sanders' campaign manager has defended West's calling Obama "a Rockefeler Republican in blackface," etc. Evidence? None. What Weaver has said, according to the piece, is true: “He’s a forceful voice for understanding the intersection of racial justice and economic justice. He understands very well Bernie’s message.”

[truedelphi]

31. But why is a little thing like truth required when the

Accusations are so delicious, from a "race card" stand point. <Sarcasm meant>

Hillary Clinton has quite a bit of chutzpah - she actively campaigned among some of the nation's most racially intolerant white neighborhoods in Ohio back in 2008, very happy that those residents would chose her over the black man she was running against, but now her campaign is taking Bernie to task?

And with bald faced lies, no less?

[beam me up scottie]

64. She thinks it's unfair to bring up oow children when it's AAs/women but it's okay for her to do it?

What a whiny hypocrite.

[hifiguy]

82. As Hitchens said,

what can be asserted without evidence may be dismissed without evidence.

[Chitown Kev]

2. Need some precision about this

In 1967, SNCC kicked all whites out of the group. Some whites, like Bob Zellner, were bitter about that.

http://archives.livedtheology.org/node/140

And Bob Zellner wasn't just anybody.

Robert Zellner, the grandson of a member of the Ku Klux Klan, joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1961. He became SNCC's first white field secretary and was arrested 25 times in five different Southern States. He was interviewed about his experiences by Clayborne Carson in 1978.

http://spartacus-educational.com/USAsncc.htm


Not all of the black activists in SNCC agreed with that decision.

[Chitown Kev]

3. Oh, goodness, this is not factual

The ensuing tensions prompted many white radicals to flee to the more accommodating hills of Vermont. Sanders was one. There’s no gentler way to put this, but they were part of the era’s white flight.

Sanders went to Europe and eventually to Israel and worked on a kibbutz (which I personally think is awesome) before going to Vermont.

She does get the part about "white flight" to Vermont somewhat correct, though, it was more like a hippie flight to Vermont in the late 1960's and early 1970's and it was covered in the media at that time. Can't remember all of the sources that I've read, but Sanders was on the fringes of hippie communities of that time and was not considered to be "a hippie" by those who were.

[portlander23]

4. White flight

I confess I'm not old enough to have observed any sort of flight to Vermont, so I can't make claims of the veracity of that. Overall, it is quite the sprawling hit piece focusing on associations over substance.

[Chitown Kev]

7. It was covered in many a magazine at that time

http://vermonthistory.org/research/research-resources-online/green-mountain-chronicles/back-to-the-land-communes-in-vermont-1968

In an article for Playboy in 1970, John Pollack estimated that there were 35,800 hippies in Vermont, who accounted for roughly 33 percent of the total 107,527 people in the state between the ages of 18 and 34. Daley counted seventy-five communes in Vermont between 1968 and 1974.

The New Hamburger Commune in Plainfield formed in 1970 from two separate communes. It achieved some notoriety by establishing a cooking and catering business. In 1975, when an article appeared about them in the food section of the Free Press, the commune consisted of seven men, four women, and two children. Located outside Plainfield village, the commune owned 85 acres of land on which were four dwellings and a main house. Members of the commune raised their own fruits and vegetables, did cooking and catering of vegetarian foods, had recently set up a cannery that produced unsweetened apple sauce and apple butter, and even taught a course on “the politics of food” at Goddard College during the summer of 1975.

Some argue that it was the election of Bernie Sanders as mayor of Burlington that made Vermont more "liberal" in some places. I've always thought that quite the opposite was true; that it was the influx of very liberal, hippie "whites" and their growing political influence as the years went by that created the conditions where a Bernie Sanders could be elected in the first place.

[portlander23]

8. Could be

Could be that is what made Mr. Sanders electable in Vermont, though I must say his message is resonating with many people that I know that have somewhat diverse backgrounds. I can't tell if he really does represent mostly majoritarian positions or that people respond to someone speaking so frankly.

Either way I'm behind him.

[Ken Burch]

11. Give me a break.

The white leftists who went to Vermont did NOT go there because they were scared of black people. They went there because it was cheaper to live and it was easier to avoid getting hassled by the FBI.

How is Bernie moving to Vermont racially worse than Hillary being a supporter of "law and order" crime policies and cheerleading for the expansion of the damn death penalty?

[Chitown Kev]

14. They were primarily urban whites, though

who were active in the black civil rights movements and the anti-war movements and feminist movements so I would say that you are defining "white flight" as narrowly as the author of this hit piece.

I never said that Bernie's moving there was racially better or worse, it just is. If black liberals had tried to move there, there would have been trouble, trust me...Vermont is having issue with the influx of African immigrants even now (as is Maine).

[Ken Burch]

26. "white flight" is white people leaving racially mixed communities for specifically racist reasons.

It's not white flight just to move to a state that has a overwhelmingly white population. A lot of white leftists moved to places like that because they were trying to organize working-class whites in support of a program of radical change(remember, we still need to GET working-class white support for any left program to have any chance of success...and if you get working-class whites organized for a left program, you are going to be getting them organized for a clearly anti-racist program as well.

Others moved to rural states because of the "back to the land" idea...an idea that was never based on excluding people of color.

It was happenstance that the leftists who ended up in Vermont were predominately white. They moved there because it was rural and it was a way to law low in a time of extreme police repression. If large grous leftists of color had showed up in Vermont, it goes without saying that the white leftists would have welcomed them and worked with them there as equals.

White leftists going to places like Vermont or Oregon was not "white flight". It was just about being an activist and laying low 'til the heat blew over.

[Chitown Kev]

30. well, working-lass whites get this

and if you get working-class whites organized for a left program, you are going to be getting them organized for a clearly anti-racist program as well.

and many of them prefer to hate on people of color, quite frankly.

Surw, white leftists would have welcomed leftists of color (there were a very few people of color that did move to Vermont during that period) but what about whites "to the right" of white leftists.

You might be right about Vermont but I am not sure about Oregon...outside of Portland and maybe Eugene, it is redneck heaven.

Also, you seem to carry the assumption that white leftists are devoid of racism or racial anxiety. Trust me, as someone who lives in one of "the most liberal cities" in the country, that is not the case.

[truedelphi]

33. "White leftists" is a term that has a pretty all inclusive

"Base" but as far as white liberal "leftists" in Chicago, I was shocked at the attitudes of some in my HS graduating class at a recent class reunion.

Everyone was very devoted to the Democratic Party, but some of the discussions left me feeling that the Civil Rights movement had passed them by.

[Ken Burch]

42. working-class whites are taught to be racist as part of "divide and conquer".

They don't hate people of color for the sake of hating people of color.

It's part of the way the ruling class stays in power to keep reinforcing white working-class racism. It was in the 19th Century(when the Bourbons used racism to prevent working-class whites and working-class blacks from making common cause against Bourbon economic power in the South and white upper-class industrialist power in the North)and it hasn't changed.

The way to working-class whites to stop being racist is not to just say "don't be racist&quot a tactic that doesn't ever work with anyone), it's to show that they have reason to find common cause with people of color and that they will gain from doing so...to get it out of the "if THEY gain something, we're going to lose something" mindset).

This is why it is crucial(and most anti-racist activists get this) for people who want to fight racism to also fight for a broad program of economic justice. Economic justice won't "take care of racism&quot and Bernie and his supporters never said or thought that it would) but there's no chance of ending working-class racism.

Saying this does not mean putting the fight against racism on the back burner. It just means recognizing that racism can only be ended from below, instead of from above.

And I didn't say that Oregon was a racial utopia(grew up there myself and I still remember being taught about the sign in the old Greyhound depot in Salem, my home town, that identified the city as "99.24% white". And in the same city, Paul Robeson was denied a room in every hotel and motel in the city after performing a concert there in the late 1940's). I just meant that the white leftists who moved there were always working against racism in Oregon(and in Vermont).

It's just silly to argue that the white leftists were obligated to stay in the large cities, where they were no longer welcome in the freedom movements, in order to prove they weren't racists. What good could they possibly have done in those places if they weren't allowed to be part of the movement anymore? It wasn't really possible, from what I can see for them to have fought racism from outside the antiracist movement.

[Chitown Kev]

46. well, the terms

de jure and de facto have meaning here. The places we are talking about weren't all that welcoming to hippies and definitely would not be all that welcoming to hippies of color, who would have been subjected to far more surveillance by the local yokels.

I'm not saying that white leftists were obligated to stay there; I am saying that if black hippie leftists had followed them (and black hippie leftists had other issues that necessitated many of them staying in the city) then things would have turned out differently.

The whiteness wasn't an accident of the white leftists making.

[Ken Burch]

48. But the white leftists weren't responsible for the fact...

...that black leftists weren't as welcome in those places(and were trying their best to change that)...therefore, there wasn't any great betrayal in the white leftists in making those moves.

And of all the reasons PoC might have for being suspicious of Bernie, his decision to move to Vermont should NOT be one of them. He and the rest of the white leftists or hippies(Bernie never considered himself a hippie, FWIW) clearly did not move to Vermont out of personal racism or even out of indifference to racism.

As long as he isn't actually living in a segregated neighborhood or "gated community", the question of where Bernie resides has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not he can be trusted to fight grassroots OR institutional racism. It's simply irrelevant.

[Chitown Kev]

53. i disagree with you to an extent

I'm NOT saying that it's white liberals fault then again there but this is a general freedom of movement that whites had that would not have been allowed for blacks. (damn what the law is, there are many ways to skin a cat.

[Ken Burch]

59. Yes, there is a greater freedom movement for whites than for blacks.

We agree on that.

We agree that that is an inexcusable thing.

And we agree that white privilege needs to be brought to an end.

Pretty sure Bernie and all those who support him agree with us on all of that as well.

I think that dealing with economic justice is crucial TO the goal of ending white privilege(or, in the case of working-class whites, the delusion that treating PoC as the enemy protects privilege, when in fact working-class whites don't gain a damn thing from it other than in terms of false pride-look at how poor a lot of the whites who fought so brutally against the freedom movement in states like Mississippi were...look at how down-on-their-luck a lot of Northern working-class whites who harbor racist views are-in 1984, Reagan carried Massachusetts on the votes of poor whites in PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS, for God's sakes).

To break that form of racism, it is crucially important to dissolve the false consciousness that feeds it AND to make sure that nobody can convince working-class whites that they will lose economic ground if they stop demonizing blacks. That's why people like Bernie(and people like Malcolm and MLK and Angela Davis and the guy in my signature line, back in the day)tied the fight against racism to the fight against class-based exploitation: Not to argue that grassroots racism(institutional racism is a separate issue)doesn't matter...but to make damn sure it is brought to an end.

What we saw in the Seventies was that, if you don't address economic inequality, you can't really do anything to stop grassroots racism. It just ends up getting reduced to middle-class people wagging their fingers at working-class white people and saying "naughty, naughty, naughty", and it just entrenches the myths that;

A)Middle-class people are morally superior to working-class people(they are not, and that's one reason I don't identify as "middle-class" anymore)

B)Racism is a "working-class" thing that middle-class people(especially middle-class liberals)have evolved beyond(a view that allows middle-class liberals to indulge in both snobbery and delusions of personal purity at the same time).

[HooptieWagon]

61. I think your mostly correct.

The 'back to the land' movement started gathering momentum in the late60s, early 70s. There were plenty of reasons: self-sufficiency and growing your own (natural) food, ecology, fleeing big city cop hassles (and growing weed), cheaper cost of living, quieter lifestyle. I'm quite sure fleeing black activists was NOT a reason, that suggestion in OP was absurd. Notable is the publication of the Whole Earth Catalog and beginning of Mother Earth News magazine about that time. The 'live on a boat' alternative publication was Wooden Boat Magazine. All were instructional manuals for DIYers.
I don't think Sanders was a back to the land Hippie, more of an intellectual activist, but probably settled in VT for some of the same reasons. Plus, people tend to move in groups...one person discovers a cool place to live, tells their friends, they tell their friends, etc... much like the AA migration from the South to Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, etc.

[Ken Burch]

62. And a lot of the people pushing the "Bernie can't be trusted to fight racism" meme now...

...are the same people who were arguing, between 1988 and 1992, that the Democratic Party had a "white man problem" and had to distance itself from things like the black freedom movement(as the activists actually called it among themselves in the Sixties...they used the phrase "civil rights" because they believed-probably correctly, given the sickening nature of this country at the time...that it would scare white folks away if the words "black" and "freedom" were put right next to each other like that) and who insisted that the party take a "law and order&quot i.e., "we'll kill the n____s, too&quot stance on crime-and the same people who also insisted that the party could only win by not challenging that all racist double lie that all black people were poor, out-of-wedlock parents or criminals and all poor people, out-of-wedlock parents and criminals were black. And the same people who stood and cheered when a supposedly Democratic president signed a vicious, punitive welfare bill that demonized the poor and falsely implied that only black people were on public assistance.

[HooptieWagon]

63. Exactly.

And Bernie didn't abandon AAs then either. He campaigned for Jesse Jackson for POTUS.
The whole notion that Hippies in general, and Sanders in particular, were fleeing blacks is just silly. People were just tired...altamonte, Kent State, Nixon getting reelected, the war continuing, drug busts (real and trumped up)... and needed a break. Blacks had nothing to do with it.

[Chitown Kev]

74. Well...the whole country was "tired" in the late 60's and early 70's

and the turn in the black civil rights movement had something to do with that overall feeling; riots, assassinations, and what not.

I doubt that "getting away from blacks was a conscious thought for most but it was in the mix of a whole lot of things.

[portlander23]

34. African immigrants

You are 100% correct on African immigrants CK.

There is a growing Somali population in Portland, Maine (we're a sanctuary city). As a city, Portland is very progressive, but the state as a whole, not so much. Le Page, the Republican governor, has been trying to cut off any assistance for immigrants, and let's face it, he means black immigrants.

How quickly things change in a decade. Now I have Somalis as friends and neighbors. I'm astounded by their stories and how they've managed to take root with few resources to get settled. One person I know actually lived in the park for six months until he could get into subsidized housing. Living outdoors in Maine is not a small feat.

I bought another one of my neighbors an English-Arabic dictionary to help with his studies. I'm sure that purchase put me on a watch list ...

But as a whole, New England ... well a lot of it is like the Northern-most Southern state.

(Not Portland! Come visit! Buy some lobster! In the summer, not the winter!)

[jfern]

17. When Sanders was elected to Congress from Vermont

Vermont had voted for a Democrat in a Presidential election just once (1964), and Senator Leahy and some one term Representative were the only non Republicans elected to Congress for over a century before Sanders' was elected.

[Chitown Kev]

23. But look at the Republicans that they did vote for...

remember, there was no shame in Republicans being for civil rights through much of the 1960's.

and if you are going to credit a Democrat for making Vermont more level, former governor Philip Hoff would be your man.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_H._Hoff

[appalachiablue]

12. So why did you post 'quite the sprawling hit piece'? Bored maybe.

I knew many people who moved from cities to the country and smaller towns, farm areas and communes to live, work and start families in less expensive and more down to earth communities in Ohio, western MD and VA, FL and CA. That was not unusual for young, bright, creative, and artistic and entrepreneurial people in the late 60s and early 70s.
They weren't leaving or fleeing cities and suburbs for negative reasons like crime, drugs or gangs but mainly to pursue a less hectic way of life. It was a positive era and many stayed, others returned to more mainstream lifestyles in metro areas.

[portlander23]

16. Telling

I think it's telling that a number of people are trying detract from Mr. Sanders via his association with Mr. West. My previous experience with Cornel West has been watching him give commentary Democracy Now!

I've been honestly fascinated that he's seen as controversial.

[Chitown Kev]

20. Well, I'm black and I've been a student of Dr. West's work

for almost 25 years, so I am not surprised, to say the least.

[Chitown Kev]

32. But let unpack this for a sec

They weren't leaving or fleeing cities and suburbs for negative reasons like crime, drugs or gangs but mainly to pursue a less hectic way of life.

What do you think was going on in cities in the late 1960's that made the city way of life more "hectic"?

And even if there were people of color who wanted to do the same, there were barriers to most of those who would have wanted to do that, in spite of the civil rights laws that had passed.

Now those "barriers" would not be the fault of white liberals but don't think that wasn't happening.

[truedelphi]

35. I am a bit hesitant to embrace your notion that there

"were barriers."

Communes were open to anyone, and many communes had people of color. Certainly few and far between, but since the communal land was usually purchased by the white former college students, and they were supporters of Civil Rights movement, no one who showed up was turned away on account of skin pigment.

I happened to be married to a man whose sister had married a black man. When we two headed off into the country, both of them thought we were nuts, as did ALL of my brother-in-law's black friends. They liked the Chicago night life, and didn't relate to the idea of being in the country.

An excellent account of what it meant to going back to the country and to nature is to be found in the book, "The Eden Express." It correctly identifies the spirit of the times, and it is interesting to note that after all the challenges were met, at the end of the day, the people that Mark Vonnegut** had set out with to make a new way of living ended up being basically very very bored.

So there was something to the notion of nature=boring and the Big City Night life being compelling, at least for that age group.

I think the communes that were the most fun and most successful were those located not too far from a college town, where people could still go into town and party with others, and not be limited to socializing with just a few people out on the farm.

**Mark was the son of the writer Kurt Vonnegut, and like his dad, he has a way with words and a story.

[Chitown Kev]

37. I'm not speaking of the communes themselves

or even white liberals.

I am speaking of white non-liberals who, yes, probably feel at home with the one or two black families that have lived in the area for decades (if not centuries), but would not feel at home if similar surge of urban blacks were to move even into a commune much less a city and formed a small community.

[truedelphi]

40. Okay, I get it.

And in fact, many times the hippies moved into a backwoods area only to find themselves in continual hot water with the local "rednecks" and the local police.

I remember as late at 1984, mentioning to a friend in Oregon that I would be coming to see her from San Francisco, and she said, "Please avoid the Medford area. They stoned a hippie during the Vietnam years." I can't remember if the man that got stoned was "merely" badly injured or if he was killed, but I did my best to stay out of that place. (I think now it is a fairly chi chi and tourist-y place, but I still have not been there.)

[appalachiablue]

36. You are completely mistaken, generalizing and making unfounded claims. The cities and

suburbs I am referring to had none of the major urban problems you mention, as I brought up in my post. The young people I knew went to school and college with kids of all backgrounds and races including blacks, whites, Japanese Americans, Swiss American, some New York Puerto Rican Irish, Cuban, Italian and Mexican heritage who wanted a simpler yet active and healthy work and family life balance on the land and more near nature.
They did not want to be consumed in a 9-5 businessman, plant worker or housewife life that their parents followed in the 1950s and 1960s. To unpack it for you the way Tavis Smiley does, NOTE: THEIR DECISION WAS NOT ABOUT WHITE FLIGHT FROM BLACK PEOPLE AND MINORITIES OR URBAN CRIME AND DRUGS.

I do not think you are well informed enough to be discussing and posting these erroneous statements here. There is good reason to believe you are drawing on superficial and stereotypical material. I wonder about your age and intentions in regards to Bernie Sanders and young people of that time you don't even know with these ridiculous sand inaccurate comments.

[Chitown Kev]

38. You probably have no idea of

the backgrounds that those young people of color came from nor what they encountered living in those small and exclusive suburbs...hell, even "black flight" is a thing

[marym625]

58. just a note

On the "hectic." People moving to the more rural areas to "get back to nature" or to have a quieter, simpler life, can have nothing to do with anything more than wanting to be far from the noise of traffic, the crowds, etc. What was going on in those cities in the 60s oft had nothing to do with people leaving the cities.

Sanders' move to Vermont was nothing more than a man living a dream; owning a piece of land, 82 acres and no electricity.

[Ken Burch]

51. And when the white leftists left the cities, the fought to remove those barriers in their new homes.

AFAIK, white leftists(as distinct from white liberals) didn't defend or support those barriers. And they didn't even give them a pass.

And it's not as if those barriers would have fallen if only white leftist HADN'T moved to those places.

You're seeing an invocation of privilege where it didn't happen. Yes, white privilege exists and yes it needs to be ended, but people like Bernie were already doing all they could to fight it.

And it's fair to ask at this point...were any of the other possible Democratic nominees showing greater commitment to fighting racism than Bernie was in period? O'Malley was just a kid...Biden was still sneering at antiwar protesters and the counterculture types on campus(which means he also looked down on the freedom movement)and HRC just saw everything out there from an Olympian distance as nothing but "policy" and "working within the system-I.e., selling out and giving up).

If you want to say that white America in general didn't do enough on this, that's fair...it's the idea that Bernie is singularly suspect and untrustworthy, among every Democratic presidential candidate) that is really deeply personally unfair to the guy. And I think that it's that sense that he's being "singled out" on this that has provoked some of the most intemperate responses from some Sanders supporters in the threads here.

[Chitown Kev]

78. Don't sneer at Hillary Clinton's work

for the Children's Defense Fund or at Hillary Clinton's work on Walter Mondale subcommittee for migrant workers; Hillary received a lot of accolades for that work that did affect policy.

I'm just not very interested in all of these stupid "Bernie did x while Hlllary was y comparison.

My problem is this:

Bob Zellner (who I mentioned above) is a bit of civil rights hero who has kept the faith.

Another white person in SNCC, Al McSurely, continues to do civil rights work up to the present day and is part of the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina.

http://keywiki.org/Al_McSurely

One of the famed Chicago Seven, the late David Dellinger was arrested in Bernie Sanders's Burlington Office in 1999 for protesting the NATO air strikes on Kosovo.

Bernie sanders record as far as his civil rights activities is fine with me. No need for pumping it up for any reason, which is what some Sanders supporters tend to do.

[Ken Burch]

86. I think a lot of the "pumping up" came from Bernie being accused of not caring about racism.

Would you agree that at least some of the attacks on him about that were unfair?

[Chitown Kev]

87. Yes, but I also think that some of the commentary

about black people has been unfair and racist as well.

I have also seen some of the most wild generalizations about black people and the black community from people who are not black (and many of those accusers have been white).

Also remember that how white people see things and how black people see things is affected by the color line.

In my experience, a simple resume ticking off what Sanders did is enough. Put the info out there and let potential black voters make of it what they will, without much comment...I agree that a lot of this is media driven drama, though.

[Trajan]

5. It's time for you to go

Specious argument is rejected ...

[olddots]

6. who is Froma Harrop ?

I will check her credentials .

[olddots]

9. a quick google search answered my question

about Froma Harrop but I will dig into the real deep stuff now and I go way , way back .

[portlander23]

10. Careful!

I know that Bernie people are going to howl at me for this unflattering portrait. I ask them how they’d react to Donald Trump’s defending race-studded attacks against our admirable president.

She's cleverly inoculated herself against any rebuttal you might wish to attempt

[truedelphi]

43. Please say more.

Curious minds hope you do.

[SonderWoman]

13. So he "marched with MLK", then fled to VT in 1964...

During the height of civil rights?

[Ken Burch]

27. He didn't just march with MLK"(why the scare quotes), he was a organizer with SNCC for years.

Full-time. Being an organizer was walking the walk...he could easily have ended up like Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman. No one you ever supported took any personal physical risks for civil rights or any other cause.

And he only moved to Vermont in 1971.

[Bonobo]

15. UPDATED LIST OF SLEAZY POSTS TRYING TO PAINT SANDERS AS A RACIST:

Not Good Enough, Bernie
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026737025

Bernie Sanders tries to meet with Black leaders but nobody shows up: Only 6 CBC members attended
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=589553

A very warm but mostly white crowd welcomes Sanders in mostly non-white Atlanta.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251587673

Online And In Person, Bernie Sanders’ White Supporters Advance A Black Lives Matter Conspiracy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251535654

The Ironic Hijacking of the Bernie Sanders’ Campaign by Elitist White Progressives
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251539502

Bernie Sanders and the Black Vote
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251588739

Sanders gets raucous, but mostly white welcome in South Carolina as he works for black support
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141185124

Can Bernie Sanders Be Less White?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251469025

Sanders supporters are wealthier, whiter, and more male than Hillary supporters.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251542288

Bernie Sanders Not Doing Well With Minorities
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017271081

"Interrupting Bernie: Exposing the White Supremacy of the American Left"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=508942

A sober look at Sander's Greensboro, NC rally...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=591120

Bernie Sanders’ Problems With Black Voters Go Much Deeper Than Him Just Blaming The Media (WaPo)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251594315

Can't the Cornel West apologists admit that his use of the word "n***ized"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=594113

Froma Harrop: Bernie Sanders’ problem with blacks — and others
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251603222

Can Bernie Sanders Win Working Class (ahem, white) Votes?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251602626

Bernie Sanders's ability to rally black supporters may be critical to his success
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251603172

Bernie Sanders & Cornel West Go To South Carolina. Were Black Voters Listening?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251599969

[portlander23]

18. My Intention

My intention here was not to paint Mr. Sanders as a racist nor do I hold that position. This sort of attack is so thin, that I think it falls apart merely by reading it. It comes across as largely unhinged. I don't know what comment I could add to piece to illuminate it more than the original text.

I'm also surprised that the association with Cornel West is seen as controversial. I've been a fan of his. I confess that I had not been familiar with the particular line of criticism he'd used against President Obama, but I'm not going to fault Mr. West for being disappointed with the current administration.

What's the most fascinating about using the West association to bash Mr. Sanders is that I have yet to hear a concise argument of what views Mr. West (or Mr. Sanders) hold that are so repugnant other than they have criticized a Democratic president.

[Chitown Kev]

21. Well...I don't want to get into this anymore

but it's not really that he's criticized the president, it's the WAY that he criticized the president, the language that he's used, and the way that he has talked about other black intellectuals even when those intellectuals have criticized the president..telling an outright lie on Ta-Nehisi Coates, for example, who has criticized the president to the president's face.

[portlander23]

44. Let's get into something else CK

Where I’m coming from is Occupy. I was at Zuccotti Park. I'm pissed about the wars. I’m still pissed off that the bankers got bailed out and no one was held accountable. I think Mr. Sanders is the best bet to address that wrong. I’m also partial to him on a number of other issues from taxation to trade, etc.

But’s let’s talk about Bernie and black people. Let's talk Black Lives Matter. I was not happy when they interrupted Mr. Sanders in Portland (the other one). Why? Because I want Bernie to win and I felt like they were unfairly targeting him.

That said, upon reflection, BLM isn’t an electoral movement. They don’t have to play nice with or back any candidate. They've got a point to make, and they’re not wrong. It doesn’t matter if I agree with the tactics, they don’t need my permission. If we can’t handle shutting down a few political events to draw attention to the very real problems we have with killing people of color and having a rigged system, then we’re in deep trouble. I shut down a park because of bad bank loans.

BLM changed my mind.

Let’s be very clear so there is no misunderstanding; the article I’ve referenced, I don’t agree with this point of view. I think there’s an ugly attempt to portray Mr. Sanders as a racist, or at least too out of touch. This article is light on substance and heavy on slur. Really, read it.

I’ve posted other articles here that I think prove Mr. Sanders is reaching out:

Sanders meets with Black Lives Matter activists

But that doesn’t mean Mr. Sanders is a perfect candidate. He's just a man, and anyone who's survived as long as he has in politics has probably made his fair share of compromises and artful dodges. That said, I'm 100% with him. I think he's the best option, and I think his willingness to change his message and to have these conversations means he’s listening.

I’m staring here from a place of ignorance. I’m not black. I don’t know what it is to be black. Marching a few times with the NAACP doesn't change that. I was so turned around that I was miffed that BLM interrupted my candidate instead of being angry that the system is rigged, and that it’s literally a life or death problem.

I really want Mr. Sanders to be the candidate of Occupy and the candidate of BLM, so I’m willing to start from the assumption that Bernie has room for improvement. That means shooting down articles like this while still assuming we got work to do.

I’ve got a lot to learn, and I want to know what I can do help. I hope that is what Bernie is doing, and I hope that’s where all my fellow Bernie supporters are at. This article is bullshit. We gotta shoot down this crap like this, but in all seriousness, we need to figure out what we need to do to make a movement that is everything it needs to be for everyone it needs to work for.

So, I’m listening.

[Chitown Kev]

52. tomorrow

driving rainstorm in Chicago plus knocked out wifi plus i hate posting on the phone plus my bedtime means i'll get back to you tomorrow and answer this question in full.

[marym625]

54. THIS

Should be your OP

[portlander23]

55. No Kidding!

But at this point I'm more interested in listening to what Chitown Kev has to say.

[marym625]

56. Absolutely

But this will be lost to most here and it should be out there for all to see

[portlander23]

57. Moved

Let's maybe have a serious conversation about race, Bernie Sanders, and the election

I dunno how this turned into an interesting conversation, but here we are.

[Pope Sweet Jesus]

69. Just wanted to say I look forward to your posts!

They are great reads, my friend.

[Bonobo]

24. Whatever your intentions, this entire thing, merely through repetition is -like the BIG LIE

It is a technique precisely like the Big Lie wherein merely associating him over and over with headlines about his "problems with blacks" that this BECOMES the defacto truth.

I am sick of it.

[Ken Burch]

28. You just said what your intention wasn't. Care to say what your intention WAS? n/t.

[portlander23]

29. Call it out

To call this stuff out and to tear it down.

I'm very concerned about this line of attack on Mr. Sanders. I think he's acquitted himself fairly well with his encounters with Black Lives Matter, I think he's a man of substance on this topic, and I've posted several articles highlighting how he's reached out in the past month.

So I don't think these sort of articles should go unchallenged. This one in particular is not even subtle as the ones that portray his crowds as "mostly white".

This is full-on unhinged.

[TheFarS1de]

19. But where is the proof ?

[Zorra]

81. Bookmarking. This is the ugliest, filthiest, long term smear campaign DU has ever seen,

by far.

I have well over 100 posters on ignore because of their promotion of this filthy smear campaign, and they will remain there, because they have nothing to say that would be of any value to me.

[Cheese Sandwich]

22. I don't like this

Somebody posted it the other day

[portlander23]

25. Two minds

On one hand, it's really disturbing that there's a trend in anti-Sanders stories that portrays him as either out-of-touch on race or simply racist. I don't think that's the case, though clearly he needs to expand his base. I happen to think that as he starts vigorously campaigning in more states this will work itself out.

On the other hand, if this is the best anyone can do to attack him ... man. They got nothing on Bernie.

[MannyGoldstein]

39. One day - not in your lifetime or mine -

the US will elect a black President.

We what?

Well, @#$% me. We did.

And the median income of black families, already 40% lower than that of white families, dropped by 10% under his Presidency? Vs 5% for white families?

So, clearly, as you implicitly claim, Cornel West can only be disgusted by Obama because West does the white man's bidding. Only possible reason.

After all, Obama's DOJ took bold and decisive action in Ferguson when their cops shot a black man for being black, and terrorized and extorted their black population for decades. Holder putting a "needs improvement" on their report card will haunt them forever.

Do ever.

Cornel West. Unbelievable. He should just STFU, got it.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

41. I'm curious about your purpose

in posting trash like this. Can you tell me your purpose?

[marym625]

45. Talk about grasping at straws!

Wow. This is some seriously ridiculous shit.

Let's go back and criticize President Obama, and even further back to Senator Obama, about his relationship with Bill Ayers and others.

Better yet, let's go all the way back to 1992.

Maybe Dan is available to help you with your little hit piece.

Wow!

[Scootaloo]

47. Froma Harrop: Another dipshit right-winger unable to attack Sanders on his positions

Looks like the New York Times and its associates really have a gun out for the Senator.

[marym625]

49. Absolutely

But how far right is it coming from? The far right? The center right? Or is there a third way?

[portlander23]

50. Wow

Ok, I'm just gonna sincerely apologize to everyone on this one. I really thought this was something of a trifle; an easy torn down hit piece. Almost comical in its vitriol. I can't tell if this thread is spiraling into self-parody or oddly mutating into a substantive conversation on race.

Let me repeat, I don't agree with the article. I could barely have made a better straw-man than this person's apparently serious (?) point of view. I would assume anyone could tell from my incessant pro-Bernie posts that I don't subscribe to this particular newsletter.

On the other hand, let's not get so defensive as Bernie supporters as to think that we or our candidate don't have work to do. Just like every Hillary Clinton story isn't the carefully constructed attack of the vast right wing conspiracy, maybe not every story about Bernie and race is entirely off the mark.

Not this story, this is not a serious story. This one is way off the mark.

But let's tackle this head on. We gotta do better, and not just because the race stuff is a crass anti-Bernie meme, but because it's the right thing to do.

[beam me up scottie]

60. Your intentions may have been good but posting another 'Bernie is a racist' op

was bound to raise some hackles.

From associating Bernie with slavery and racist cops to counting black faces in crowds some HC supporters have gone to disturbing lengths to "prove" he has a race problem.

We've been subjected to this meme for months and everyone is sick of race being used as a political football.

Maybe you should slow down a little, discuss the issues with others instead of posting dozens of ops every day without comment. Let people get to know you.

Just a friendly suggestion.

[Bluenorthwest]

66. People who are not honest brokers don't get to tell me what's the right thing to do.

The author of the trash you posted is a person I already hold in great contempt for her other libertarian flavored conservative views. I see her as a raging bigot.
You could explain what your objective is in posting this crap. But you won't.

[appalachiablue]

68. +1 Truth & essence of the main posters & OP-'trash, crap from people who are not honest brokers'.

Last edited Fri Sep 18, 2015, 10:32 AM - Edit history (2)

Conflicting statements, feigned ignorance AFTER posting a divisive 'hit piece' on worn controversial issues, Sanders personal life and fabricated theories about his motivation to relocate and then calling for the candidate and us to work more on this is "Not Good Enough Bernie" of May 27 continued.

[NCTraveler]

65. Sanders doesn't condemn the remarks because he supports them.

Lost a lot of respect for Sanders over his West move.

[Bluenorthwest]

67. In 2008 Obama had a surrogate in SC who had called LGBT people vampires and said we kill children

No apology has been issued as yet. 'The gloves must come off, this is war! They are trying to kill our children!' That's Obama surrogate Donnie McClurkin on the 700 Club TV show.
After that, Obama hired Rick Warren to do the Inaugural rituals days after Warren had equated all gay relationships to pedophilia and incest. I watched this entire Party bow their heads and honor that hate spewing bigot Rick Warren. Again, no condemnation of the remarks and to this day no apology.

I doubt I will ever be able to forgive the straight people in this Party for those insults. The Inaugural was the worst because that was our celebration too, or I had always thought it was until Obama made it into an exclusionary religious event. His message to us that day was 'You don not count as Americans'. And most of DU and this Party were just fine with that. Cheers for Warren.

But of course it's 'different' when it is LGBT people denigrated. Right? It's acceptable to do that to us, just not to criticize a politician.

[Chitown Kev]

70. The comparison of West to McLurkin is interesting

I'm still think about this.

[kelliekat44]

72. McClurkin was not an Obama surrogate and because you say he was doesn't make it so. nt

[Chitown Kev]

75. True but McClurkin and West were deployed for the same

reason; to tap into and increase black voter support in South Carolina.

At least West has not, as of yet anyway, said all of that offending stuff; if West does it right, it is possible that he can get back into some good graces in the black community; Dr. West wuld have some access to necessary networks that Bernie would need.

Bernie just better hope that no Israel/Palestine stuff jumps off...West wanted to endorse Bernie before that and said that I/P was the reason that he couldn't give a formal endorsement.

[Bluenorthwest]

88. Kelliekat is now PPR'd for antisemitic posts, and McClurkin was surrogate and host of events

for Obama, both Michelle and Barack used the word surrogate as did Josh DuBois. Donnie called us vampires and child killers and he did that on 700 Club and all over the world.

The double standard is disgusting. Disgusting. It is definitive of those who employ it.

[HooptieWagon]

79. Yet you support Hillary and her ties to Kissinger?

If you're going to play the association game, it's going to be tossed back.

[artislife]

71. For someone so new

you are very skilled at getting your OPs to rise to the top and get a lot of comments. I must study the attention getting title line...for my business. I am sure I would have more open responses to my emails.


As for the em...OP itself, hogwash. But I opened and commented, didn't I.

[kelliekat44]

73. Colonel West certainly complicates some things for Bernie. Their relationship is complex.

I personally do not like Mr. West but he is affiliated with an organization that I have supported over the years..Tikkun. This might be the tie that binds them since the Tikkun community (Tikkun.org) has been and is one of the most socialist, inclusive, and humane organizations I have known. For years, Mr. West contributed to heir activism and to their written works. I believe Mr. West campaigning with and for Bernie is a double-edged sword given Mr. West's very vocal and contemptuous regard for the President.

[Chitown Kev]

76. Yes...

I mean, I've had other issues with Dr. West going back awhile up to and including his racialized criticisms of the president (and I had to tear a new asshole into Dr. West for his criticisms of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Toni Morrison) but there are things about West that I appreciate even now.

[kelliekat44]

77. I hear you. Fell much the same way. nt

[MisterP]

80. he's too close to West so he's too far from Black people, correct?

[appalachiablue]

83. Mark Twain's phrase is one of the greats. It can also be used for an omission, which is often a lie.

[magical thyme]

84. so it looks like the right wingers are turning their guns on Bernie...

I'll take that as a good sign.

[appalachiablue]

85. Optimist you deserve much credit for your remarks on this sewer of a thread.