Bernie Sanders says white people who “aren’t necessarily racist” felt uncomfortable voting for Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams and Black Twitter is not pleased
Black Twitter had to school Bernie Sanders about defining racism and what racism looks like in action.
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During the 2016 primaries, Bernie Sanders got a lot of support from the Black community in his unsuccessful bid to beat Hillary Clinton and become the Democratic nominee for president, but he has yet again chipped away at that loyalty with his latest racially clueless statement.
In an interview with the Daily Beast, Sanders classified obviously racist behavior as not “necessarily racist.” Sanders made the comment in reference to the lack of white support for Andrew Gillum‘s effort to become Florida’s first Black governor and Stacey Abrams‘ still on-going attempt to become the first Black female governor in the U.S.
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“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,” said Sanders. “I think next time around, by the way, it will be a lot easier for them to do that.”
Actually Bernie, feeling “uncomfortable” about voting for someone because of race is racist and in these particular instances that “uncomfortable feeling” translated into the action of voting for the less melanated option. That is racism in action.
Sanders seemed rather clueless in that interview, but Black Twitter was more than happy to let “Uncle Bernie” know exactly where he went wrong.
Not necessarily racist?
Not wanting to vote for someone because they are black is kinda the very definition of racist.
Come on, Bernie Sanders.https://t.co/XGy2hpDHiY pic.twitter.com/cqmZDLt0nN
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) November 8, 2018
.@BernieSanders says some people aren’t “necessarily racist” but were “uncomfortable” voting for people because they were black. Many would define not supporting someone based solely on race as racist. https://t.co/lxbmIha8pF
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) November 8, 2018
Bernie Sanders is so basic. He’s just a basic white man and he fooled a lot of folks into thinking he was different. pic.twitter.com/rlr5Gn9i3G
— Imani Gandy’d Yams ?? (@AngryBlackLady) November 8, 2018
Bernie Sanders nor Elizabeth Warren have demonstrated a capacity to talk about race and racism honestly or thoughtfully. Might want to learn how to finally if you aim to run against an audacious white supremacist.
— Michael Arceneaux (@youngsinick) November 8, 2018
Can we get a formal request for Bernie Sanders to sit his ass down somewhere? https://t.co/5zMy7Nkl0S
— Emmitt Y. Riley, PhD (@DrRiles06) November 8, 2018
Let me be absolutely clear: Donald Trump, Brian Kemp and Ron DeSantis ran racist campaigns. pic.twitter.com/QwZtCe4xh3
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 8, 2018
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Sanders read the criticism and responded on Twitter. He reiterated that Gillum and Abrams’ opponents Ron DeSantis and Brian Kemp ran racist campaigns, but Sanders did not directly address the the issue of referring to racist behavior by voters as “not necessarily racist.” The only thing Sanders made clear is that he still doesn’t get it.
Let me be absolutely clear: Donald Trump, Brian Kemp and Ron DeSantis ran racist campaigns. pic.twitter.com/QwZtCe4xh3
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 8, 2018