Senator Bernie Sanders’ comments in Jackson, Mississippi commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have been roundly criticized chiefly for his dismissal of President Obama as a ‘’charismatic individual.’’
I tend to stay away from the Twitter threads on Mr. Sanders simply because they usually wind up being circular firing squads about the 2016 election debacle and, for the most part, the threads concerning this speech are no exception.
This morning I ran across a clip of that speech.
First of all, some Sanders supporters have pointed to the fact that some people were clapping during this portion of the speech with Sanders, again, criticizing the Democratic Party.
Looking at the clip, I have to wonder if Mr. Sanders or, to be more precise, any of his supporters understands the reasons that some Democrats in Mississippi might agree with his sentiments.
I suspect that some Democrats might agree with Mr. Sanders’ comments but for vastly different reasons; I don’t think that Bernie has a clue as far as those reasons.
Second of all, Barack Obama was far more than a ‘’charasmatic individual’’ or an ‘’extraordinary candidate’’
Barack Hussein Obama is the duly elected and reelected 44th President of the United States of America.
Say his fuc*ing name, Bernie— President Barack Obama!
President Obama earned that honorific for the remainder of his life.
And it sounds quite Jim Crow-ish when you don’t say it.
And I would think that an audience in Jackson, Mississippi would know more than a little bit about Jim Crow.
But what really pissed me off in these remarks was Mr. Sanders apparent embrace of a whitewashed American history of the sanitation workers strike in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968; the event that was the reason that Dr. King was in Memphis in the first place.
On Wednesday night, seated beside Lumumba, the 35-year-old mayor who came into office last year, Sanders talked about King's focus later in life on connecting the fight for integration and civil rights with issues of income inequality. “All of us know where he was when he was assassinated 50 years ago today,” the senator said. “He was in Memphis to stand with low-income sanitation workers who were being exploited ruthlessly, whose wages were abysmally low, and who were trying to create a union. That's where he was. Because as the mayor just indicated, what he believed — and where he was a real threat to the establishment — is that, of course we need civil rights in this country, but we also need economic justice.”
Any cursory readng of the history of the 1968 sanitation workers strike in Memphis can tell you that Dr. King was primarily standing with black sanitation workers.
In fact, the men who went on strike did not want the racial dimensions of their struggle to be erased.
You would expect a man who bases his credentials, in part, on his activities during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, to know such basic history and historical context of said movement.
This history will not be whitewashed...not on my watch.
Friday, Apr 6, 2018 · 3:23:52 PM +00:00
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Chitown Kev
Ok, I have a 13-hour workday that just started, so I won’t be and can’t be all that accessible but I am reading the comments.
I don’t give a shit about the 2016 primary, quite frankly...but that primary did reveal one glaring weakness of Sanders that he refuses to address to this day...that’s my point here.
Friday, Apr 6, 2018 · 5:52:54 PM +00:00
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Chitown Kev
Luckily, I do have a boss that understands my occasional need to do this blog thing!
in any event…
Minus the brief video, I would not have even blogged about this...the placement of the (slight) applause is pretty critical to the understanding of this event for me.
I understand why some (presumably) African Americans in the audience of this speech would applaud the line; there are African Americans who do have disagreements with what Sanders calls the “business model" of the Democratic Party.
Hell, I agree with him.
But does Sanders understand why I (and many other African Americans) would agree with that statement?
That line works towards an audience of...white college students OR an audience of African Americans but he doesn’t get that it works for different reasons, for the most part.
This is such a wasted opportunity for someone who has failed to get a significant amount of traction in the black community. He has a message but he also has his ideological blinders on...and an unwillingness to know and understand his audience.
It’s a frustrating thing to see.
OK, back to work...but I’m watching...
Saturday, Apr 7, 2018 · 4:30:52 AM +00:00
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Chitown Kev
13 hour workday is over...and ~1400 comments to go through...I have a longer closing statement in mind...but I am tired...I will say this…
Yes, I am here to disrupt whatever narrative spun toward me; that is my job...some people say that I have trust issues and they would be right.
Time and again, people at this blog and oher places have attempted to spin a Sanders narrative to me...nothing wrong with that, it’s what a politician does.
Bernie is not racist and I’ve never said that he was, even in moments where I was angry.
He is racially tone-deaf...at least when it comes to politics...and now it appears that he is willingly so.
Don’t blame me or other African Americans...who, as a group, have actualy had a favorable opinion of Sanders since midway through the 2016...for saying that’s the way Sanders comes off...it just is...Terrell Starr pretty much nails this and so I leave you with Mr. Starr’s piece to contemplate.
splinternews.com/…
Have a good night.