Color Blind = Tone Deaf. A Message to Bernie Sanders from Jane DeNeefe
I am on the ground in Alabama, an author of two books about the civil rights movement and co-director of an African American history project-- and I can attest, Bernie is losing black support that was already flimsy--I'd give him a C for Netroots Nation, which is generous, and better than O'Malley's F but still not good enough--he sounds like an old white man who was current on race fifty years ago but who is now "colorblind" which equals tone deaf on the state of race relations in this historical moment. This letter is a follow-up to one I wrote the campaign in early June about Bernie’s approach to race relations.
There are things he can do to improve his thinking about race that will also improve his responses. If no one is stepping up to educate him on this, I can do it, but I would need his attention--I've had enough of pissing in the wind. I want to know the message will land before I go to the trouble to craft it. I could publish about this but I would rather educate Bernie directly than call him out in public.
I can't believe he isn't getting better advice about race. The answer to "say her name" this week is “Sandra Bland." http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/07/18/sandra-bland-die-police-custody/30342377/
Bernie needs to catch up and stay current, because he is sounding too much like the *recipients* of MLK's letter from the Birmingham Jail--out of touch with the fact that black people in this country are in a With A Brooklyn Accent: Color Blind = Tone Deaf. A Message to Bernie Sanders from Jane DeNeefe:
Some Unsolicited Advice to Sen Sanders Regarding Black Lives Matter Protests
When you have been a justice fighter all your life, it is sometimes very hard to be confronted and challenged by people much younger than you are as if your experience and history means little. This has happened to me on numerous occasions when commenting on race issues. And the temptation is to respond in anger. But I have learned, through experience, that sometimes these critics are right, that I have said or written something which is insensitive or arrogant or takes the discussion to a place which smothers voices which need to be heard. And so I force myself to listen to the attacks, try not to take them personally, and change my approach to the issues when such a change is called for.
Do I always do this smoothly and tactfully? Hell no! Sometimes I have administered a smack down to the people calling me out, only to then do, over time, exactly what they suggest.
But insofar as I have remained relevant in discussions of race
