African American
In reply to the discussion: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Bernie Sanders, and Reparations [View all]nyabingi
(1,145 posts)and yes, I am attacking Coates because his rationale for targeting Sanders for not supporting reparations doesn't really make sense to me at all.
Universal healthcare (or Medicare-for-all) is not on the same level of reparations by any measure. Obamacare, when looked at for what it is, is a mechanism designed by conservatives (the Heritage Foundation) to get everyone to but into the private healthcare industry, the same industry who's only motive is to make a profit, not make sure everyone's healthy. The ACA is a very small step, but it is by no means the best that can be done, and I think they are more than a few Democrats who'd be willing to admit that much. Sure, Sanders may have a snowball's chance in hell of getting universal coverage passed into law, but at least the idea is being put forth and being talked about. John Conyers presented a bill every year he was in Congress to simply open a discussion on reparations and it was never even talked about publicly or in the media.
"Unadulterated panic? There's no "panic" in what I'm saying at all. If Coates was really being honest about Sanders and his stances then he knows that there's a difference between his kind of "radical" and the radicalism of a Black nationalist - Bernie is a democratic socialist, not a far-left radical. Coates know that, so his focus on Bernie specifically is suspicious.