Question for Bernie Supporters ...

[femmedem]

164. What are the social justice issues you most want to hear a candidate address?

I'm still trying to understand, genuinely, what you are looking for. I agree that income inequality is just one part of it. The wealth divide is greater than the income divide, and the wealth divide is a direct result of 20th century institutional racism, especially redlining, but also who was and was not able to make use of their GI bills, who was and was not excluded from social security, etc.

And, I get that the playing field is in no way level. The redlining of the past still colors educational opportunities. I live in a city where our property values are low compared to the suburbs, and our mill rate is high. It hits low income renters hard on their car taxes. Services have been cut--our schools were flat-funded five years in a row, cops are working 16 hour shifts--and now, just as we are about to get some more funding from the State, the Republicans put in some language that municipalities can only get the additional state revenue if we don't increase our annual spending more than 2 1/2% . So that is going to perpetuate the existing inequity.

Add to that the biases in law enforcement, the fact that it's easier for me to get a job because of people I know than it is for most POC, and the fact that my parents were able to accrue some wealth because their houses, in white neighborhoods, appreciated in value. In my city, where whole neighborhoods were redlined, POC couldn't get credit to maintain their homes, which led to blighted neighborhoods, and sometimes great swaths of eminent domain.

So I will never experience what it is like to be a POC, but at least I recognize that I experience white privilege. I think about social justice issues a lot, their history and how to rectify inequities.

But I don't know what a presidential candidate can do or should do. You mention coalition-building in the OP, and I think you are looking for a recognition that everyone deserves more than a token place at the campaign table. But what policies are you looking for?