Sainato writes: "The African American community is lashing out at Ta-Nehisi
Coates' scathing criticism of Bernie Sanders in a recent article for The
Atlantic. In what seemed to be a means to strengthen the polarity between
Dr. Cornel West, a Sanders supporter who made headlines last year for
criticizing Mr. Coates, the article's bias was clear."
Killer Mike (r.) takes pictures of Senator Bernie Sanders with supporters
after the candidate and rapper had lunch at Busy Bee in Atlanta. (photo:
David Goldman/AP)
Black Americans Defend Sanders Against Ta-Nehisi Coates' Biased and Baseless
Attacks
By Michael Sainato, Observer
23 January 16
Readers aren't falling for hypocritical 'Atlantic' puff-piece
The African American community is lashing out at Ta-Nehisi Coates' scathing
criticism of Bernie Sanders in a recent article for The Atlantic. In what
seemed to be a means to strengthen the polarity between Dr. Cornel West, a
Sanders supporter who made headlines last year for criticizing Mr. Coates,
the article's bias was clear. Mr. Coates attacked Mr. Sanders for something
no presidential candidate-including Hillary Clinton or even President Barack
Obama-has supported.
During Fusion's Iowa Black & Brown Forum, Mr. Sanders was asked if he
favored reparations. "No, I don't think so. First of all, its likelihood of
getting through Congress is nil," he responded. "Second of all, I think it
would be very divisive. The real issue is when we look at the poverty rate
among the African-American community, when we look at the high unemployment
rate within the African-American community, we have a lot of work to do. So
I think what we should be talking about is making massive investments in
rebuilding our cities, in creating millions of decent paying jobs, in making
public colleges and universities tuition-free, basically targeting our
federal resources to the areas where it is needed the most and where it is
needed the most is in impoverished communities, often African-American and
Latino."
Mr. Sanders' response wasn't a firm "no" to reparations-he believes
investments should be allocated to African-American communities to
redistribute wealth and resources, helping mitigate the inequalities incited
by slavery and the subsequent decades of prejudicial government and social
policies. Mr. Sanders' response may have insufficiently addressed race
issues today, but that isn't an excuse for Mr. Coates to alienate Mr.
Sanders in order to unleash his own rhetoric on reparations.
Ms. Clinton is mentioned only once in Mr. Coates' article. "The calls for
community policing, body cameras, and a voting-rights bill with
pre-clearance restored-all are things that Hillary Clinton agrees with," he
writes. "And those positions with which she might not agree address black
people not so much as a class specifically injured by white supremacy, but
rather, as a group which magically suffers from disproportionate poverty."
Mr. Coates' bias is evident. To suggest Mr. Sanders sees African-Americans
as "magically suffering from disproportionate poverty" is erroneous. At the
same forum, Ms. Clinton fumbled a question on white privilege. And, once she
finally addressed the issue, she made clear a distinction based on economic
disparity between herself and Latino migrant workers. If Mr. Coates is
serious about his beliefs on reparations and the misunderstanding Mr.
Sanders allegedly has on white supremacy, instead of undermining the article
with favoritism for Ms. Clinton (as all of his arguments do), he would have
held her to the same expectations.
"To me, it became automatically disingenuous, and became a hit piece-a
powder puff piece to support Hillary Clinton-because you are trying to make
Bernie Sanders go through hoops you would not dare ask of Hillary Clinton,"
said Benjamin Dixon, host of the Benjamin Dixon Show on YouTube. "Who has
asked Hillary Clinton about reparations and wrote an intellectual thought
piece from the pen of someone with such political influence in the black
community? Nobody."
It is hypocritical for Mr. Coates and the black community to push
expectations on Mr. Sanders while none are imposed on Ms. Clinton, Mr. Dixon
notes, citing that when 'Black Lives Matter' activists began disrupting Mr.
Sanders' campaign events, he took their criticism into consideration,
bringing on National Press Secretary Symone Sanders and releasing a
comprehensive campaign platform on racial justice. Ms. Clinton has yet to
issue one on hers, and had Black Lives Matter activists removed from a
campaign event.
In 1989, Congressman John Conyers began pushing for legislative measures to
establish a national commission for studying reparations. Mr. Conyers gained
support from the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, Coretta Scott King,
Rev. Jesse Jackson, but was opposed by Bill Clinton. Recently, the National
African-American Reparations Commission called upon President Obama to use
executive action to establish a slavery reparations task force, to no avail.
Rapper Killer Mike took to Twitter in defense of Mr. Sanders, making similar
arguments that he is being targeted while Ms. Clinton receives unwarranted
immunity.
Mr. Coates denigrates Mr. Sanders as a socialist, a term that has been used
pejoratively against the Democratic presidential candidate since he
announced his campaign. Mr. Sanders is a Democratic Socialist. Socialism is
defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "a way of organizing a society
in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather
than by individual people and companies." Bernie Sanders doesn't advocate
for the confiscation of private corporations by the government.
In a speech to Georgetown University in November 2015, Mr. Sanders provided
his own explanation of Democratic Socialism. "So let me define for you,
simply and straightforwardly, what democratic socialism means to me. It
builds on what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said when he fought for guaranteed
economic rights for all Americans. And it builds on what Martin Luther King,
Jr. said in 1968 when he stated that 'This country has socialism for the
rich, and rugged individualism for the poor.' It builds on the success of
many other countries around the world that have done a far better job than
we have in protecting the needs of their working families, the elderly, the
children, the sick and the poor."
Mr. Coates concludes by noting that he tried to contact Mr. Sanders, but
received no response. I don't blame him.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Killer Mike (r.) takes pictures of Senator Bernie Sanders with supporters
after the candidate and rapper had lunch at Busy Bee in Atlanta. (photo:
David Goldman/AP)
http://observer.com/2016/01/black-americans-defend-sanders-against-ta-nehisi
-coates-biased-and-baseless-attacks/http://observer.com/2016/01/black-americ
ans-defend-sanders-against-ta-nehisi-coates-biased-and-baseless-attacks/
Black Americans Defend Sanders Against Ta-Nehisi Coates' Biased and Baseless
Attacks
By Michael Sainato, Observer
23 January 16
Readers aren't falling for hypocritical 'Atlantic' puff-piece
he African American community is lashing out at Ta-Nehisi Coates' scathing
criticism of Bernie Sanders in a recent article for The Atlantic. In what
seemed to be a means to strengthen the polarity between Dr. Cornel West, a
Sanders supporter who made headlines last year for criticizing Mr. Coates,
the article's bias was clear. Mr. Coates attacked Mr. Sanders for something
no presidential candidate-including Hillary Clinton or even President Barack
Obama-has supported.
During Fusion's Iowa Black & Brown Forum, Mr. Sanders was asked if he
favored reparations. "No, I don't think so. First of all, its likelihood of
getting through Congress is nil," he responded. "Second of all, I think it
would be very divisive. The real issue is when we look at the poverty rate
among the African-American community, when we look at the high unemployment
rate within the African-American community, we have a lot of work to do. So
I think what we should be talking about is making massive investments in
rebuilding our cities, in creating millions of decent paying jobs, in making
public colleges and universities tuition-free, basically targeting our
federal resources to the areas where it is needed the most and where it is
needed the most is in impoverished communities, often African-American and
Latino."
Mr. Sanders' response wasn't a firm "no" to reparations-he believes
investments should be allocated to African-American communities to
redistribute wealth and resources, helping mitigate the inequalities incited
by slavery and the subsequent decades of prejudicial government and social
policies. Mr. Sanders' response may have insufficiently addressed race
issues today, but that isn't an excuse for Mr. Coates to alienate Mr.
Sanders in order to unleash his own rhetoric on reparations.
Ms. Clinton is mentioned only once in Mr. Coates' article. "The calls for
community policing, body cameras, and a voting-rights bill with
pre-clearance restored-all are things that Hillary Clinton agrees with," he
writes. "And those positions with which she might not agree address black
people not so much as a class specifically injured by white supremacy, but
rather, as a group which magically suffers from disproportionate poverty."
Mr. Coates' bias is evident. To suggest Mr. Sanders sees African-Americans
as "magically suffering from disproportionate poverty" is erroneous. At the
same forum, Ms. Clinton fumbled a question on white privilege. And, once she
finally addressed the issue, she made clear a distinction based on economic
disparity between herself and Latino migrant workers. If Mr. Coates is
serious about his beliefs on reparations and the misunderstanding Mr.
Sanders allegedly has on white supremacy, instead of undermining the article
with favoritism for Ms. Clinton (as all of his arguments do), he would have
held her to the same expectations.
"To me, it became automatically disingenuous, and became a hit piece-a
powder puff piece to support Hillary Clinton-because you are trying to make
Bernie Sanders go through hoops you would not dare ask of Hillary Clinton,"
said Benjamin Dixon, host of the Benjamin Dixon Show on YouTube. "Who has
asked Hillary Clinton about reparations and wrote an intellectual thought
piece from the pen of someone with such political influence in the black
community? Nobody."
It is hypocritical for Mr. Coates and the black community to push
expectations on Mr. Sanders while none are imposed on Ms. Clinton, Mr. Dixon
notes, citing that when 'Black Lives Matter' activists began disrupting Mr.
Sanders' campaign events, he took their criticism into consideration,
bringing on National Press Secretary Symone Sanders and releasing a
comprehensive campaign platform on racial justice. Ms. Clinton has yet to
issue one on hers, and had Black Lives Matter activists removed from a
campaign event.
In 1989, Congressman John Conyers began pushing for legislative measures to
establish a national commission for studying reparations. Mr. Conyers gained
support from the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, Coretta Scott King,
Rev. Jesse Jackson, but was opposed by Bill Clinton. Recently, the National
African-American Reparations Commission called upon President Obama to use
executive action to establish a slavery reparations task force, to no avail.
Rapper Killer Mike took to Twitter in defense of Mr. Sanders, making similar
arguments that he is being targeted while Ms. Clinton receives unwarranted
immunity.
Mr. Coates denigrates Mr. Sanders as a socialist, a term that has been used
pejoratively against the Democratic presidential candidate since he
announced his campaign. Mr. Sanders is a Democratic Socialist. Socialism is
defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "a way of organizing a society
in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather
than by individual people and companies." Bernie Sanders doesn't advocate
for the confiscation of private corporations by the government.
In a speech to Georgetown University in November 2015, Mr. Sanders provided
his own explanation of Democratic Socialism. "So let me define for you,
simply and straightforwardly, what democratic socialism means to me. It
builds on what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said when he fought for guaranteed
economic rights for all Americans. And it builds on what Martin Luther King,
Jr. said in 1968 when he stated that 'This country has socialism for the
rich, and rugged individualism for the poor.' It builds on the success of
many other countries around the world that have done a far better job than
we have in protecting the needs of their working families, the elderly, the
children, the sick and the poor."
Mr. Coates concludes by noting that he tried to contact Mr. Sanders, but
received no response. I don't blame him.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
