Bernie Sanders and the Peter Principle

[Number23]

216. Agree on all counts 100%

One of the reasons alot of black people just smile and nod when white people start hollering "we are the 99%!" is exactly for the reasons that you've noted.

Because black people know that alot of white people are happy to have us as allies until the second their position at the top of the pile is threatened in any way. This has been shown in every single, solitary "intersectional" social movement in this country.

The women's movement. The labor movement. The gay rights movement. Even the disability movement. People of color have ALWAYS had their own sub-sets within these movements because what always irrevocably winds up happening is that the needs and desires of white people always become perceived as the needs and wants of the movements themselves. And when people of color or other minorities try to stand up and say "wait a minute. I understand that this is important to you, but we have other concerns as well" they've always been branded as "being divisive" and told to "lets take care of the more PRESSING issues (read: the issues that affect white males/people the most) first."

So I have no doubt that this is what's being reflected in Bernie's campaign. We get told all the time by Sanders supporters that "economic issues are the most important" and when black people, when women, when gay people try to tell these people that gender/race/sexual orientation discrimination affects our economics probably more than anything else, we get told "lets take care of the more PRESSING issues (read: the ones that affect white males) first." Same old, same old.