Sanders: voters uncomfortable with voting for AAs aren’t necessarily racist

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

That quote was obviously poorly worded. In this quote he clearly says that racism is a problem.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Bernie, like a lot of the left, confuses violent racism with racist prejudice.

A better way to phrase what I think he meant -- "you know, there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily Klan members who still felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American."

The American left has a particularly nasty problem with downplaying the importance of personal conviction in the conversation about racism. To many of these people, "being a racist" is essentially a point system -- one point for every time you've used the n-word, five points for every time you've voted against a black candidate because you're uncomfortable with their race, fifty points for every lynching you've participated in, and if you come in under a certain threshold, you're good.

That is absolutely not the way racism works. Racism is a set of values inspired by a worldview based on the assumption that individuals are different from one another in part due to inherent, non-biological (that is, stuff like earlobe length and eyelash curvature, things that don't really matter) qualities inborn via race. Refusing to vote for someone on the grounds that they're black is racism, plain and simple.

He said that racism played a part in these elections. Are you going to claim that he didn't think the segregation he fought against in Chicago was racism?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Bernie, like a lot of the left, confuses violent racism with racist prejudice.

A better way to phrase what I think he meant -- "you know, there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily Klan members who still felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American."

The American left has a particularly nasty problem with downplaying the importance of personal conviction in the conversation about racism. To many of these people, "being a racist" is essentially a point system -- one point for every time you've used the n-word, five points for every time you've voted against a black candidate because you're uncomfortable with their race, fifty points for every lynching you've participated in, and if you come in under a certain threshold, you're good.

That is absolutely not the way racism works. Racism is a set of values inspired by a worldview based on the assumption that individuals are different from one another in part due to inherent, non-biological (that is, stuff like earlobe length and eyelash curvature, things that don't really matter) qualities inborn via race. Refusing to vote for someone on the grounds that they're black is racism, plain and simple.

He said that racism played a part in these elections. Are you going to claim that he didn't think the segregation he fought against in Chicago was racism?

Are you saying segregation is not "violent racism?"

Well, it depends on whether you count this as violence.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

“I think you know there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American,” Sanders told The Daily Beast, referencing the close contests involving Andrew Gillum in Florida and Stacey Abrams in Georgia and ads run against the two. “I think next time around, by the way, it will be a lot easier for them to do that.”


The whole quote was more about celebrating Abrams & Gillum, their incredible run & how they should run again. Sanders supported both Gillum & Abrams in the primaries, especially Gillum who had little to no establishment support. Really sad to take a small part of a comment out of context & to twist it to mean something else !

Are people here arguing that Bernie himself is a racist? I don't think so.

But saying that being uncomfortable with voting for a black guy is not necessarily racist is just b*llocks. That is absolutely 100% racism, no ifs or buts about it. I guess Bernie was trying to pander a bit to some of the white working class, but really he should be beneath that. Racism needs to be called out.

He called out racism in a less poorly worded comment he said at the same time. But everyone just wants to be outraged about this one poorly worded comment.