Bernie Sanders Does Not Deserve The Black Vote In 2020
When I first heard about Bernie Sanders in 2016, I viewed him as politician that stood for true equality. I also believed he was the one white politician, that could help fight against racial injustice. I was naive. Pretty soon I would hear he did not support reparations for black people. Reparations are the belief that African Americans should be compensated for the 400 years of racial terrorism that has killed millions of blacks and oppressed us economically and politically.
This oppression still goes on to this day. Reparations is not a radical idea. Right before Dr. King was murdered, he advocated for reparations. Yep, white America’s go to guy, when they need to quote somebody to get black people to shut up and quit complaining ,was indeed, a supporter of reparations. Not just a supporter, but that was what he was working towards, before he was gunned down by the American government.
In a 1968 speech, he said this about compensation for black people:
“At the very same time that America refused to give the Negro any land through an act of Congress our government was giving away millions of acres of land in the West and the Midwest, which meant it was willing to undergird its white peasants from Europe with an economic floor.
“But not only did they give them land,” “they built land grant colleges with government money to teach them how to farm. Not only that, they provided county agents to further their expertise in farming. Not only that, they provided low interest rates in order that they could mechanize their farms.”
“Not only that….today many of these people are receiving millions of dollars in federal subsidies not to farm, and they are the very people telling the black man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps. And this is what we are faced with, and this is the reality.”
“Now, when we come to Washington in this campaign, we are coming to get our check.”
Defenders of Bernie Sanders will say, “ Bernie Sanders marched with Dr. King.” Lyndon B Johnson did too and yet helped ordered the assassination of Dr. King. One could have marched with Dr. King, yet still be on the wrong side of history.
If people think reparations are divisive, then they should look into the history of government hand outs. Many whites received “government hand outs” for over 100 years in America. These government hand outs are responsible for the family wealth of many white Americans to this day. The government handed out 120 billions dollars during the new deal, in which 98 percent of these loans went to white people. This helped create the white middle class.
For a list and timeline of all the government hand outs given to whites can be viewed below.
When asked if black people should receive reparations, Bernie Sanders said this :
“No, I don’t think so. First of all, its likelihood of getting through Congress is nil. Second of all, I think it would be very divisive. The real issue is when we look at the poverty rate among the African American community, when we look at the high unemployment rate within the African American community, we have a lot of work to do.”
So I think what we should be talking about is making massive investments in rebuilding our cities, in creating millions of decent paying jobs, in making public colleges and universities tuition-free, basically targeting our federal resources to the areas where it is needed the most and where it is needed the most is in impoverished communities, often African American and Latino.”
The second paragraph about massive investments are hard to believe, especially since he has been in congress for decades. Interestingly enough Bernie sanders’s ethnic-group, Jewish people, received reparations. America gives them reparations to this day. Billions of dollars are given to Israel, a foreign country,every year. Bernie sanders has supported this flow of billions of dollars to Israel. He portrays himself as an ally or “revolutionary”, yet believes what Dr. King advocated for, was “divisive.” In his famous “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King stated that white liberals are more harmful to blacks than the KKK.
“First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action;” who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.”
“Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
Not only is Bernie Sanders views on reparations for blacks disappointing, he supports reparations for his own people, which truly exposes how Bernie Sanders is not an ally. As Ta-Nehisi Coates put it ,“ if this is the candidate of the radical left — then expect white supremacy in America to endure well beyond our lifetimes and lifetimes of our children. Reparations is not one possible tool against white supremacy. It is the indispensable tool against white supremacy. One cannot propose to plunder a people, incur a moral and monetary debt, propose to never pay it back, and then claim to be seriously engaging in the fight against white supremacy.”
He has a point. If Bernie Sanders, the ultimate radical, thinks the most basic way to fix an injustice is divisive, then we are screwed. Most importantly, he doesn’t deserve our vote. If somebody doesn’t agree that black people should have reparations, then maybe they just are oblivious to the conditions which black people face today in 2018. Many black people live in conditions that even Syrian Refugees do not want to live in.
“We left death and came to another death”
“If we knew it was going to be like this we would have stayed in Jordan”
Click the link below for more information.
To learn more about the systemic oppression that blacks face today in 2018, please click and read the article below, “Life For Many Black Women in DC: Similar to Life During Nazi Germany.” You do not need to read it now to understand the rest of the article, but it could put things into perspective on why reparations are needed.
There have been a few steps towards the fight for reparations. A few years before the legendary black lawyer, Johnny Cochran passed away, he was working on a lawsuit for reparations.
In 2016 a U.N. affiliated group put out a report arguing that Black Americans should receive reparations.
Within the two years , a black congressman named Bobby Scott, proposed a bill that would celebrate the fact that black people have been in America for 400 years. This bill is called H.R. 1242 or the “400 years of African American History Commission Act”. This bill plans to give out grants to black communities and study the effects that slavery and Jim crow had on black people. Surprisingly, Donald Trump signed this bill.
Bernie Sanders, who once said he wanted to start a “political revolution”, yet believes equality is divisive, is not a revolutionary, he is a coward. Reparations is the solution for equality.
The Case for Reparations(below) is a great and informative read.