Barbara Smith has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
As an article in The Root describes:
DES MOINES, IOWA—Barbara Smith, founding member of the black feminist Combahee River Collective that coined the term “identity politics,” has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders for president, The Root has learned.
Smith detailed her reasons for endorsing Sanders in an exclusive interview with The Root.
“Of all of the people who are running, Bernie Sanders is the person whose political commitment most closely reflects and align with political commitments that I’ve had throughout my life,” she said. “He has a much deeper understanding of what the situation is, why we have injustice and inequality and oppression and discrimination or whatever words you use to describe a society that isn’t functioning the way that it should be functioning. He [has] the most incisive, sharpest understanding of where all that comes from.”
Smith goes on to directly challenge some hoary anti-Sanders narratives.
Sanders has long been criticized for not having a race analysis. But Smith strongly pushes back on that narrative, adding that he fits within the framework of identity politics and cautions against misusing the term from its intended purpose.
“The way it’s been used in the last couple of decades is very different than what we intended,” she said. “The Combahee River Collective has a race, class, gender, and sexuality platform and analysis. We wrote in our statement that all of the systems of oppression are interlocking, she said.
There’s more. Read the whole thing.
Or hear what she has to say for yourself.
Or both!