The reason Bernie's dismissal of reparations matters.

[Empowerer]

108. Lots of people can't get into college for various reasons, including structural discrimination

Free college doesn't do much good for people who are barely making ends meet or who were trapped into segregated schools so inferior that they can't qualify for college or others who face other challenges beyond just not having enough money for tuition.

Many people can't get or keep jobs, even minimum wage jobs, for many reasons, including discrimination, so while an increase in the minimum wage is great, everyone cannot take advantage of it.

Don't assume that everyone will benefit from the things that some people benefit from. Our country continues to be plagued with numerous structural and, for some people, debilitating, discrimination that places barriers between them and opportunity and those barriers won't be removed just by raising the minimum wage or making some things free. Much of this discrimination has been institutionalized - i.e., it has been ingrained into our systems so integrally that it no longer requires individual bad behavior by "racists" to be perpetuated. An increase in the minimum wage and free college are great and I support them wholeheartedly. But they don't go far enough by themselves to help people who are caught in this web or to help them escape it.

This is a very complicated problem and will require very complex, multi-faceted solutions. It's not easy to even articulate the problem, much less deal with, which is why it does not lend itself to quick soundbites and simple policies.