This time readers talked about overcoming ingrained racism and the possibilities of a Bernie Sanders presidency. We share letters for “The Origins of White Supremacy” and “Barack Obama and the Ruling Class Target the Black Vote to Smother Sanders.”
In “The Origins of White Supremacy” Chelli Stanley examines the historical, economic, and personal underpinnings of white supremacy.
Carol Schick writes:
“I am in complete agreement that it is essential for people like me to recognize these horrors of our (white) performance if we are to cease this history we have learned too well. These are horrors that we must recognize from the past that we learned as either perpetrators or victims. The ‘reason’ I think white violence continues without pause is that we do not know who we are without it. This is the reason people fall silent. It is otherwise impossible to think of ourselves at all.”
“Barack Obama and the Ruling Class Target the Black Vote to Smother Sanders” by Danny Haiphong discusses recent comments by the former president against Democrats moving too far left.
D. Sarah Antilles writes:
“Of course. The same person who ran on the foundation of change doesn't want change. Why?
He is now part of the black elite class. A group of upper-level black people who now blame struggles on individuals and are ignorant to the economic divisions between races. Imagine the irony of all that. Obama made us believe that he was for grassroots efforts. No!”
Dave Costello writes:
“These were no secrets. Obama warned everyone in his book. He told Wall Street they weren’t bad, just misunderstood. These were no secrets. He gave a good speech. Other than that, he was a shill.”
Aumonte Payne writes:
“Obama always was a centrist. He was never a radical. People just saw a Biracial guy named Barack Hussein Obama and assumed he was a radical.”
Cathy Vaughn writes:
“Do you truly believe that Sanders, if elected, would try to implement any of the things he professes to stand for, any more than Obama did? Please. It’s time to stop believing in any of them and wasting all of this energy pretending votes matter or who is in office matters. If we see all of them for the actors they are and disengage from this entire waste of energy maybe we can make the world a better place. Let’s have an election where no one shows up to vote. Let’s boycott all of the evil multinationals who own all of the politicians. Let’s get ourselves and our children healthy.
“And this ridiculous belief in single payer is beyond me. Do you truly believe that big pharma and the ever growing medical industrial complex, that now rules over all ‘elected’ (ha!) officials is going to let its profits go down under a single payer system? They own them all and are increasing vaccine mandates and eliminating all vaccine exemptions state by state to grow their profits and further destroy the health of our population. And we have the sickest and most chronically ill kids ever, not to mention the skyrocketing mental illness, suicide, early onset dementia and Alzheimer’s rates.
“Want to make a difference? Call out the true rulers...and it’s not the actors Obama, Sanders and Warren or the other bought and paid for alleged progressive lefties. It’s Bayer-Monsanto and Merck.”
Jim Hoff replies to Cathy:
“I truly believe that Sanders, in the unlikely event that he'd ever be allowed to be elected, would try to implement the things he has been discussing for decades. I don't understand your immense cynicism about his intentions.
“You're very right, though, that any attempt to bring about single-payer healthcare would entail all-out war with the health insurance companies, with Big Pharma, and with others who currently skim off the extra trillions we spend on healthcare in this country. Sanders has been fairly clear about this, too. He has said over and over that to get single-payer healthcare will require a mass movement, not merely a legislative effort by a U.S. president.
“Whether the people listening to him really understand how difficult this fight would be is another matter. I suspect most of them don't. But I have no reason to think that Sanders doesn't understand.”
Clarifying the forces at play in this presidential election will be crucial for radical forces in this period. We will continue being a platform for debating this question.
Jahan Choudhry is Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report. He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA.
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