The Problem With Partisanship & Racism isn’t Progressive, It’s Neoliberal  |  Blog#42

People talk about BernieBros but not Clinton supporters who show no hesitation in calling a young activist rude for asking a perfectly valid question about candidate Clinton’s long-standing behavior with African Americans.

I’ve received emails, have been called a traitor to my race and various other things. Some have gone so far as to leave me messages like this one:

No progressive I know ever would or has ever minimized the horrific history of this nation with respect to African Americans in order to defend Bernie Sanders. Not one.

Comments like the one above not only denote a passive form of racism, but a conscious willingness to express bias just to prop a candidate. This is morally wrong. This kind of immorality is unacceptable from Clinton or anyone else’s supporters, and what may well keep Black voters disengaged if she is nominated.

Hillary Clinton’s continued tack, claiming she would never repeat the same mistake today but not actually apologizing for calling Black teens “superpredators,” is specious. Not only that, but when confronted by Black Lives Matter activist Ashley Williams, she should have told her that and more!

Not only must Clinton take full responsibility for making that statement, but must demonstrate contrition over the added dehumanizing effect it has had on Black teens by police and middle class white voters, since the passage of the 1994 Crime Bill she promoted for Bill Clinton. Many pundits and activists love to bring up the fact that Senator Bernie Sanders voted for the 1994 crime bill, along with a majority of Black Congressional Caucus members and most Democrats. But, every time, they fail to mention Sanders’ impassioned speech on the House floor warning of what would happen as a result, or the rider he sponsored in that same piece of legislation, and whose benefit it was for.

Then, one must consider that Clinton’s platform for racial justice on her campaign website continues to filed under criminal justice, when racial justice should be the category and criminal justice one of its main sub-categories. Moreover, Senator Bernie Sanders’ “Plan for Racial Justice,” by far, remains the most comprehensive platform ever proposed, by any politician, thus far in our history as a nation.

Now, for contrast, listen to Killer Mike. Tell me your eyes didn’t well up with tears!

Black Lives Matter. So far, every time judgment was called for in impromptu situations, Hillary Clinton has not demonstrated that they truly matter to her on any kind of instinctual level. Black millenials and Gen-Xers have taken notice, even as their parents and grandparents overwhelmingly vote for Hillary. They too are an angry constituency. Clinton would be well-advised to repudiate, as Sanders has, that part of her electorate that is given to racial intolerance. If BernieBros are bad, so are HillaryBots.

UPDATE:  I have raised just over $700 on a GoFundMe campaign set up to deal with a family crisis that has taken on a new urgency. We only have enough funds to get through next week. One week is the amount of time we have to raise a significant enough amount of funds to find a permanent housing solution. Thanks for your support.