I am an African-American who supports Bernie Sanders but would support Hillary Clinton should she become the Democratic nominee. I support Bernie Sanders because I think he is positioned to forge an actual American consensus on the economic progressive issues that I deeply believe in. The reason why I’m so optimistic that Bernie can do this is because of what’s happening on the Republican side with Donald Trump, where people are defecting in mass against issues like, free trade, entitlement cuts, Wall street and it’s influence in our politics, to support him. The problem with Donald Trump is that he is also trying to scapegoat and delegitimize people of color as citizens. To me, this calls into question my very existence in this country and I’m sure for many African Americans, Muslims, Hispanics, Asians and even some Jewish people this issue, excuse the pun, trumps everything else.
I believe this issue more than anything is why people of Color support Hillary Clinton. They know her, and they trust her on this one issue. They also probably think she has the best chance of beating Trump. This is why what Susan Sarandon said last night frustrates me so much. To many people of color, when Susan Sarandon says she’s not sure she’ll support Hillary Clinton it tells them that she doesn’t care about the plight of people of color. It tells them that she is a privileged white person who will never have to deal with the repercussions of a Trump presidency, like being deported, losing health care, being profiled by the police and worse. Not to mention the ramifications of what’s happening in the Supreme Court where all sorts of civil rights are being rolled back. I know she cares about these issues but that’s how it comes off.
That, unfortunately, is why Bernie Sanders doesn’t get more support from people of color. They think he’ll go down for the cause without regard or understanding of the consequences.
