An excerpt from VerySmartBrothas -
MAYBE BLACK PEOPLE AREN’T FEELING BERNIE SANDERS BECAUSE WE’RE TIRED OF PEOPLE SAYING WE SHOULD BE
This — Sanders’s standing with Black voters — has spawned myriad incredulous articles, segments, blogs, status messages, tweets, and annoyingly millennial emojis from Sanders supporters; all wondering aloud why Sanders struggles with Blacks when he should be the Black person’s BFF.
“Yes, Sanders might not be perfect on race” the piece will assert “but they should realize he’s a much better candidate for them than the others.”
“He’s progressive on crime” another piece might state “and he looks just like Larry David. And Larry David had Wanda Sykes and J.B. Smoove on his show, so you know he loves the Blacks!”
And while I get it — Sanders’s political views do seem like they’d be more favorable for Black Americans than the other candidate’s — these people are ultimately treating Black voters like we’re sick toddlers refusing to take our Bernietussin.
“This will be good for you, Little Jahiem. Trust me. A spoonful of Bernietussin will stop your sniffles.”
This bit of parental admonishment is even implied in many of the “Why don’t Black people support Sanders?” pieces that don’t outright condescend. Because just the act of crafting a piece around that premise implies that Black people should be supporting Sanders, but there’s some mysterious reason preventing us from doing so. And not only is this infantilizing, it has the potential to actively turn potential Black voters away. Because White people — and yes, liberal White people too — convincing Black people to do something with “Trust me. It’s for your own good” has never really worked out very well for us, historically.
http://verysmartbrothas.com/maybe-black-people-arent-feeling-bernie-sanders-because-were-tired-of-people-saying-we-should-be/
H/T Ben
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