Sanders "ghetto" remark making its way through Black media today

[UMTerp01]

Black twitter, Black morning radio talk shows, and on cable news shows with Black commentators this is really making the rounds today showing again the struggle with Sanders connecting with Black voters. I figured his numbers could only get better with Black voters, but that remark may actually make them worse. And not its not us being "too sensitive" about it. Call it inarticulate or whatever you want to call it, that was a bad moment for him and anyone trying to spin it as anything other than that has a racial blindspot themselves.

[emulatorloo]

2. -D for poor attempt at deflection

[JustAnotherGen]

3. What does this mean?

Human101948

1. The Secret Service should be more vigilant than usual...

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The Superpredators may try to get Bernie for that remark

.

Who are the super predators within the black community that you feel are most likely to target Senator Sanders?


Why would you imply there would be an assasination attempt against Senator Sanders from within the black community?

[underpants]

4. What did he say?

And, what's "black twitter"?

[OneGrassRoot]

5. Here's a wee bit...

http://www.vox.com/2016/3/6/11171092/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-ghetto


Couldn't quickly find other links or video clips.

As someone who likes Sanders -- likes both candidates but has issues with both yet will gladly vote for either -- this did sadden me, to say the least.

http://www.vox.com/2016/3/6/11171092/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-ghetto


EDIT TO ADD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Twitter

[Number23]

14. Sweet Jesus, what the EVER LOVING fuck??

Sanders suggested that white people "don't know what it's like to be living in a ghetto and to be poor" — a response that also seemed to characterize all minority Americans as impoverished.

[OneGrassRoot]

17. I know...

I said in another thread here that his response (which I merely read, didn't see it) made me nauseated. He's not going to "get it." I had hoped he would, but that pretty much sealed it. I know others realized this much sooner than I did. I'm slow.

EDIT TO ADD: I still like Bernie, but in the realm of race relations, I don't feel he's as adept as I personally would prefer. It's not a policy thing...it's something I don't have the word for right now.

[FrenchieCat]

24. It's worse than that!

In trying to clean it up, he made it way worse....

"What I meant to say," Sanders said, according to an NBC News reporter, "is when you talk about ghettos, traditionally what you're talking about is African-American communities."
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/272072-sanders-responds-to-questions-on-ghetto-comment

[Number23]

25. I saw that. And I also saw the denizens of GDP twisting into pretzels trying to downplay his initial

comments and the even more tone deaf and clueless follow ups.

[FrenchieCat]

30. It really does damage on the one hand...

To us as a people, even if it was unintentional or not well thought out, And won't help him in gaining votes...

But that being said, maybe it's not the worse conversation to be having, even if it ends up being unfortunate to Sanders' campaign. Just based on all that is going on in the news, with the Trumps rallies, and all, and these Sanders supporters calling certain voters uneducated and stupid....might as well have it.

[emulatorloo]

6. Good summary here

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/03/07/daily-202-five-reasons-bernie-sanders-lost-last-night-s-democratic-debate/56dcf1e6981b92a22d730a5d/?postshare=7531457366511895&tid=ss_tw-bottom

See reason 3

[riversedge]

29. Thanks. I had not seen this.

[CoffeeCat]

7. This is nothing but spin from the Clinton camp

Bernie gave a very heartfelt speech about black people telling him about their experiences.

The question was about white privilege and how white people might not be able to understand what black people endure and go through on a daily basis. He illustrated his point by discussing a black friend in DC who never tried to hail cabs because he was embarrassed that they wouldn't stop for him.

Salon reported about Sanders comments and said this, "But overall, the heavily African-American audience that turned out for the Flint debate appeared supportive of Sanders’s message."

Sanders also added that a white person couldn't possibly know what it was like to be pulled from their car and interrogated by the police or to live in a ghetto.

However, Sanders was incredibly crestfallen about this reality and he wants to help.

People are cherry picking, in an attempt to smear Sanders. Same playbook. Different day.

Here's the entire transcript of the exchange:
DON LEMON: Senator Sanders, on a personal front, what racial blind spots do you have?

SANDERS: Well, let me just very briefly tell you a story. When I was in one of my first years in Congress, I went to a meeting downtown in Washington, D.C. And I went there with another Congressman, an African-American Congressman. And then we kind of separated during the meeting. And then I saw him out later on. And he was sitting there waiting and I said, well, let's go out and get a cab. How come you didn't go out and get a cab?

He said, no, I don't get cabs in Washington, D.C. This was 20 years ago. Because he was humiliated by the fact that cabdrivers would go past him because he was black. I couldn't believe, you know, you just sit there and you say, this man did not take a cab 20 years ago in Washington, D.C. Tell you another story, I was with young people active in the Black Lives Matter movement. A young lady comes up to me and she says, you don't understand what police do in certain black communities. You don't understand the degree to which we are terrorized, and I'm not just talking about the horrible shootings that we have seen, which have got to end and we've got to hold police officers accountable, I'm just talking about every day activities where police officers are bullying people.

So to answer your question, I would say, and I think it's similar to what the secretary said, when you're white, you don't know what it's like to be living in a ghetto. You don't know what it's like to be poor. You don't know what it's like to be hassled when you walk down the street or you get dragged out of a car.

And I believe that as a nation in the year 2016, we must be firm in making it clear. We will end institutional racism and reform a broken criminal justice system.

[underpants]

8. Thanks

[emulatorloo]

10. IMHO it came off pretty tone-deaf.

The implication seemed to be there aren't poor whites and all blacks are poor.

You know, a person can support Bernie and still be able to acknowledge his framing was off.

I think it is a huge mistake to pretend every criticism is "Nothing But Clinton Spin." There is no doubt that Bernie is committed to racial equality. But IMHO He has to get better at talking about these issues.

Of course, ymmv

[Number23]

15. So the comments from black journalists and pundits is just "spin" is it?

The ones calling out these incredibly tone deaf comments, they're just "spin from the Clinton camp" is it?

Well it's no wonder that Sanders can barely make a dent in minority communities. According to his fervent supporters, every single black and brown person in America that disagrees with him is with the "Clinton camp." That's a shit load of people.

when you're white, you don't know what it's like to be living in a ghetto. You don't know what it's like to be poor.

This comment is not only completely untrue it implies that the only people that DO know what these things are like are non-whites. You can back flip and try to spin this any way that you like but that is an incredibly ignorant comment to make and in fact, shoots with both barrels the claim made endlessly by white people that they don't know what "white privilege" is because they too have experienced poverty.

[yardwork]

19. You're in the African American group, by the way.

So, this is the problem I'm seeing, illustrated here. Instead of listening to what people of color have to say, you jump in and tell them that their point of view is "just spin." Worse, you accuse them of being controlled by Hillary, as if they have no agency of their own.

Why do you do that?

This is a genuine question.

[CoffeeCat]

23. I didn't realize that I was in the African American group

I do believe what I said. I do believe that one can "spin" Sanders debate words in various directions.

However, with that being said--I didn't realize that I was in the AA group. I would never suggest that a specific group of people "has no agency of their own."

I worked in public relations/media relations for many, many years. So I see spin differently than many. We are all affected by and moved to action by spin (myself included). Whether we're buying a certain brand of toothpaste or listening to the media tell us who won the last debate.

So, when I discussed spin--I was discussing it's general impact on all people. Not specifically on people of color. Again, I wasn't paying attention and I didn't realize that I had posted in your group. I don't see black people as an aggregate that thinks or votes as a unit. But it sure sounded like that is what I was saying--because I posted in your group.

Everyone is entitled to support and vote for the candidate of their choice.

I genuinely apologize for the disruption. I will try not to do it again, but this is the second time I've done this!

[Cha]

34. No, it's not "spin from the Clinton camp"... Black twitter is reacting to sanders' own words.

"Black twitter, Black morning radio talk shows, and on cable news shows with Black commentators this is really making the rounds today showing again the struggle with Sanders connecting with Black voters"

[MADem]

20. Here is some background.

https://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/msnbcs-joy-reid-sets-bernie-straight-lots-of-americans-know-what-its-like-to-live-in-ghettos/

Black twitter is where you go for some good convo.

[islandmkl]

9. two things....there are probably more than one 'take' on his comments reception-wise...

and your opinion, which you are warranted to have, does not extend to your generalization about anyone else's 'blindspot' as you call it...

do any members of the AA community, not limited to DU, have the same racial 'blindspot' because they don't agree with your opinion?

[VulgarPoet]

11. ...Holy fucking shit.

There had to be a better way to phrase that, holy shit... That'll probably cause his numbers to sink like a rock.

[Digital Puppy]

12. This right here:

Call it inarticulate or whatever you want to call it, that was a bad moment for him and anyone trying to spin it as anything other than that has a racial blindspot themselves.

Agreed, UMT...instead of looking like you are doing everything to deflect the comment or attitude, just own it and move on.

BTW, I heard mention of it on radio this morning as well and was actually surprised to see the comment gain that much energy and momentum. Of course the top news was the Lakers beating Golden State, Nancy Reagan, and then the Senator's comment.

[awoke_in_2003]

13. A Howard Dean scream moment...

To quote Colonel Troutman in Rambo- It's over, Johnnie

[JI7]

16. for all the focus on those large rallies he would have

Done better doing more small gatherings and actually talking with people to get a better idea of different communities.

[SusanCalvin]

18. I think you're right.

And I think the phraseology under discussion was very unfortunate.

[rbrnmw]

22. I cringed

[cannabis_flower]

33. I'm a Sander's supporter

I'm white and I cringed also. His choice of words was poor but personally, I think Sanders means well even if he doesn't quite get it. I don't think anyone who is white can possibly know how POC are affected and if they can't possibly know it is hard to talk about it without making mistakes in wording.

[The Traveler]

26. Yeah, it was

I know what he was trying to say ... but he blew it.

I think what he was trying to say is basically is like this: Me (long haired white dude that I am) cannot really imagine what people of color experience without the shield of white privilege. I try, but I doubt that my effort really yields an accurate or complete picture. So (being a long haired white dude who, thanks to a LOOOOONG exchange with 1SB finally got the idea through my thick skull) I get what he was trying to wrap his arms around and express.

I also get why people of color have issue with how he did it.

Now, yeah, I'm a Sanders supporter but I'm not trying to cover his ass here. America is an amalgam of subcultures ... cultures that are not subordinate to the overall culture but subsystems of that system. And we don't always translate someone else's cultural cues well. Especially when subject to the microscopic scrutiny experienced by Presidential candidates. Still, it is important that we try, even if we don't always succeed. I think he was just trying to find a politically acceptable way of expressing "white privilege". I just wish he had gone ahead and said it.

Me, I think (as a long haired white biker dude) we need to call it what it is. And while I used to object to the term (because most white people actually have damn little privilege they can point to) this thing is real, and it is lethal, it is toxic to everybody regardless of skin color, and there is no better term to describe it than "white privilege". (Seriously, if you got a better one I'd love to hear it because those two words make sphincters tighten and ears close. I just can't think of anything else to call it anymore.)

I don't know if my man Bernie ever had a real shot at the nomination, given the rigging of the game and the opposition of the oligarchs ... but he has made some pretty big differences by dragging issues onto the table. He missed an opportunity here. He could have named it, so maybe we could claim it and dump it. Or at least get that process really going.

Anyway, that's my take on it all, for what it's worth.

Trav

[mikehiggins]

28. When my son was picked up by the cops I had to go to court the next day to get him out.

I didn't have to worry about going to the morgue instead.

Then again, I'm white.

Maybe I'm insensitive to the feelings of AA's who are rich and successful and professionals and all of that by not including some considerate language about how different they are from their less fortunate brothers and sisters but it seems to me that when anyone can be killed simply because of the color of their skin THAT becomes the main issue, whether its lynch mobs or trigger happy cops doing the killing.

But, again, I'm white so what do I know?

[yardwork]

35. But that's not what Bernie said.

I'm also white, and when Trayvon Martin was killed I kept thinking about my son who always wore a black hoodie, but was far less likely to be targeted because he's white. It made me angry and sad. So let's talk about racism.

But Trayvon didn't live in "the ghetto." He and his racist killer lived in the same neighborhood.

In fact, Trayvon seems to have been murdered precisely because his professional-income dad could afford to live in the neighborhood, making Trayvon a target for the killer.

Bernie may have misspoken, but he doubled down the next day. He seemed to say that the experience of African Americans is the ghetto. Not only is that insulting to the 75% of blacks who don't live in poverty, it totally misses the point that racism is a huge problem everywhere, in and out of the ghetto.

[bluestateguy]

27. Bernie is a good man who's just clumsy and inexperiened in courting black voters

As a Vermont politician he has no experience courting black voters, and he has never run a national campaign. Marching for civil rights 50 years ago is noble, but not the same as asking for votes.

Hillary has run or been a part of campaigns in Arkansas, New York and nationally, so she has that experience.

[Spacedog1973]

36. This is the thing..

I agree that Bernie is 'clumsy' - but why?

If it was a general member of the public, then his clumsiness could be excused as no harm was meant by it and they are not expected to understand the nuances regarding these matters.

But this is Bernie Sanders!

He is a member of a historically well recorded marginalised group,
who has an apparent good record in regard to civil rights,
who is running for the democratic nomination,
with the backdrop of 'racial tension' over the course of the past few years,
with a further backdrop of being made aware of POC issues via BLM at one of his rallies...
with the notable contrast of a republican front runner castigating POC at every opportunity

This takes it for me, from 'clumsy' to something else. Perhaps its age.

Either way, he appears to lack a finger 'on the pulse' regarding this issue and is unlikely to get better on it any time soon. This is the best that he can do, and very simply, its not good enough.