“Bernie or Bust” is a Function of White Privilege by Lawrence Ware

“Bernie or Bust” is a Function of White Privilegeby Lawrence Ware | @Law_Ware | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
It is time for Sanders supporters to emotionally prepare themselves for the fact that he will not get the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. It’s just not going to happen.  It’s been a good run. He accomplished much…but you cannot beat the math.
Sanders pushed Clinton so far to the left that she began calling herself a progressive. He showed the American people that Democratic Socialism is not a scary monster hiding in the proverbial closet. He energized countless numbers of young voters in a way we thought we would never see post-Obama. He pushed the conversation about economic inequality into the forefront. He showed that the contemporary American political system is essentially a plutocracy. Bernie was far more successful than, I’m sure, even he thought possible—but he also made, and continues to make, many mistakes.
He completely dropped the ball when #BlackLivesMatter protestors interrupted his speech at NetRoots Nation. He reacted like a grumpy old man when he was interrupted again in Seattle. His staff was too white very late into the campaign, and while he eventually hired Symone Sanders as his Press Secretary, he should have had people of color as top staffers from the beginning.
Sanders published an impressive plan to address Criminal Justice reform and racism, but the campaign still seemed surprised by the need to address issues important to black voters. This is baffling since the black vote is crucial to winning in the Democratic Party, and Sanders continues to pivot to a discussion about class when asked directly about race. For example, on February 24, 2016, at an early morning press conference right after losing to Clinton in Nevada, Sanders was asked about race. His response? To discuss his participation in the march on Washington in 1964 and note that the march was for “Jobs and Justice.” And then to emphasize “that the word jobs is before the word justice.”
What Sanders fails to realize is that it is difficult for a person to get a job if they suffer discrimination in the educational system, if they are imprisoned because of over-policing, or if they are shot dead in the street for walking, talking, and chewing gum while black. This constant pivoting to class shows a lack of appreciation for the complexity of race in America.
Sanders made mistakes, but many of his supporters were not much help. In June I said that Sanders had a ‘race problem.’ That is, he was polling horribly among black voters. Both his name recognition and his favorability ratings were low. While both of these metrics have improved among this constituency, he continues to lag well behind Clinton.
In response to this, many of his white supporters—Sandernistas I called them—took it upon themselves to lecture black voters from a position of supposed intellectual superiority. Sanders supporters failed to realize that mostly white people telling black people who to vote for is still white supremacy. Black folks have the ability to look at a candidate’s record and make decisions for themselves. I am still amazed by how the lingering stereotype of black intellectual inferiority continues to rear its ugly head—even among white progressives.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump is now the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for President of the United States. Trump’s brand of nationalism, xenophobia, and racism, once held in the periphery of the Republican Party, is now officially in the mainstream of American political discourse. Trump, and what he represents, is an existential threat to black and brown people in this country.
I understand that each candidate, Democratic or not, is part of a system that was never designed to respect the humanity of marginalized people. Sanders, while ideologically refreshing, is still a part of that problematic system.
In 1956, W.E.B. Du Bois was so grieved by his political options that he decided not to vote. He said, “I shall not go to the polls. I have not registered. I believe that democracy has so far disappeared in the United States that no ‘two evils’ exist. There is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say.”
I do not share the despair of Du Bois, but I understand the sentiment. For Black Folks today, there is, indeed, ‘one evil’ that must be fought—the unapologetic white supremacy that Donald Trump represents.  Ideological purity is only granted by political and physical safety. I, as a black man, have neither. I must be pragmatic.
Black Americans, please understand that these candidates will not liberate us; we must liberate ourselves. The best we can do is vote for the candidate that will do the least harm to marginalized people. To that end, I will vote for Hillary Clinton in November. The notion of ‘Bernie or bust’ is a function of White privilege. Political abstinence is a luxury that I cannot afford.
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Lawrence Ware is an Oklahoma State University Division of Institutional Diversity Fellow. He teaches in OSU's philosophy department and is the Diversity Coordinator for its Ethics Center. A frequent contributor to the publication The Democratic Left and contributing editor of the progressive publication RS: The Religious Left, he has also been a commentator on race and politics for the Huffington Post Live, NPR's Talk of the Nation, and PRI’s Flashpoint. Follow him on Twitter: @law_ware