I’m still feeling very strange and not quite over August 17th. This whole Bernie Sanders thing is hitting some very personal spots for me.
See, looking as I do, and having been treated as I have my entire life, both by strangers and family, I’ve always questioned the essence of my being. While, on paper, I am entitled to check the Caucasian box, I’ve never felt as white as any of my cousins, or as Jewish as my mom, as Arabic as my dad or any combination thereof.
As I left lives in North Africa, the Middle East, and resettled here, at home, in the place of my birth and decided to leave all the tribal nonsense behind, it all comes right back in the form of politics. No longer am I a progressive and a voice for racial, social, and economic justice. On August 17, I woke up a white supremacist because I accept Bernie Sanders and reject the Clintons as I would reject a former abuser.
I am not deaf to the silence of those who used to be cordial. I am not blind to the currents that are sweeping people away, apart from each other. But over what? What are we moving toward? A return to the familiar? Was it that good?
The funny part is that any real white supremacist, looking at me, would persecute, and not accept me.
I didn’t change on the night of August 16th. I woke up the same person on the 17th and I loved you then as I loved you the night before.
So, where do I belong and who do I belong to?
I felt a similar disconnect, but since then I understand that Clinton has also gotten the BLM treatment. I think they picked on the Democrats not because they perceived Bernie and Hillary as the most bigoted, but because they perceived them to be potentially the most responsive.
That is likely how it was intended, but not quite how it has turned out. I have the video of Hillary and BLM in a blog post. My new piece was published on Alternet today. See http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-bias-mainstream-media-undermines-sanders-every-turn
The Hillary/BLM piece https://www.rimaregas.com/2015/08/white-neoliberal-swagger-hillary-clinton-meets-blm-blacklivesmatter-on-blog42/
It most likely started with that intent but things have a way of morphing and sentiments are still running high.
I posted a piece on Hillary’s meeting with BLM and it includes the video: https://www.rimaregas.com/2015/08/white-neoliberal-swagger-hillary-clinton-meets-blm-blacklivesmatter-on-blog42/
My first piece for Alternet was published today: http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-bias-mainstream-media-undermines-sanders-every-turn
Congratulations on the Alternet piece!
I first “met” Bernie in the mid 90’s watching CSPAN during the 1 minute speeches that the House opens with. I was amazed at the truth to power voice he uses and still uses to this day.
I “met” him at about the same time when I worked in Congress, for a progressive member from Northern California.
Another member of congress I “met” at that time during the same 1 minute speech time that I still remember today was John Kasich. He scares me to death. He comes across as sane but would take away a woman’s right to choose in a second.
A lot of them are scary because of what they are willing to do for money. Look at Ted Cruz? He graduated from Harvard. Think he passed his exams and the Bar by writing the way he talks today?