mahiwaga

I'm not really all that mysterious

John Lewis Clarifies His Response to Bernie Sanders' Civil Rights Record

I am getting the sense that Sanders supporters are grasping at straws to explain the fact that the Sanders camp can’t seem to get significant numbers of people of color to vote for him. There is no Clinton machine conspiracy. The message that economic inequality is the root cause of racism just isn’t resonating.

I was responding to a reporter’s question who asked me to assess Sen. Sanders’ civil rights record. I said that when I was leading and was at the center of pivotal actions within the Civil Rights Movement, I did not meet Sen. Bernie Sanders at any time. The fact that I did not meet him in the movement does not mean I doubted that Sen. Sanders participated in the Civil Rights Movement, neither was I attempting to disparage his activism. Thousands sacrificed in the 1960s whose names we will never know, and I have always given honor to their contribution. …when I was doing the work of civil rights, led the Voter Education Project and organized voter registration in the South in the 1970s, I did cross paths with Hillary and Bill Clinton in the field. They were working in politics, and Bill Clinton became attorney general of Arkansas in the 1970s as well. That began a relationship with them that has lasted until today.

John Lewis clarifies comments on Bernie Sanders • 2016 Feb 13 • Alex Seitz-Wald • MSNBC

Do you think this will be enough to satisfy the Sanderistas? Or will they demand nothing less than John Lewis abjectly kissing Bernie Sanders’ ass?

Because, honestly, I am more and more convinced that anyone who keeps pushing this attack against John Lewis does not have the best interest of progressives at heart.

(crossposted on Facebook)

initially published online on:
page regenerated on: