who had made a comment (under the new title, neither of us knowing it had been switched, I think) was that he should read the article, that it was more balanced than the title would suggest.
Yes, it does have people giving some of the same old memes, most notably Joy Reid, who chimes in to 'debunk' the notion that Sanders has received unfair media treatment by pointing out that Obama got attacked a lot more. Of course, as they say, when you're an unknown, any press is good press. Getting attacked actually increases your name recognition, and a lot of people see the attacks for what they are, and actually gain sympathy for you. Getting ignored doesn't win any votes.
Going to the title, and a question other posters are suddenly throwing around, even linking to that article, as if no one has an answer, there's one right in the article AS SOON AS THE QUESTION IS ASKED.
But if Sanders has been fighting for the civil rights of black people for decades, how come so few of them know about him?
“Think about it: How many people do you really know in Congress that’s not your own congressperson, unless they run for president?” asked Bonita Yarboro, the District 3 coordinator in Connecticut for Bernie Sanders Connecticut, which is not authorized by the campaign. “He’s never run for president before, so it’s not like there is any reason for everybody in the world to know about him.”
More specifically, it's asked 'If he's such a champion for black people, why have they never heard of him?' Could it be because they've gone through the public school systems, which don't actually give much time to the Civil Rights movement, and when they do, focus on a small set of names of black leaders, and he's not black? That most history books that focus on the Civil Rights movement likewise focus on a very limited subset of people who took part? The much mocked marching with MLK, for instance, was a LARGE march, but how many people can anyone name who marched with him? A dozen? Two or three dozen if they themselves were part of it?
About the only white names I ever hear tossed around in re Civil Rights are the ones who got murdered and Lyndon Johnson. I'm sure that people who spend a lot of time studying the era hear more, but probably not a lot more. We know they exist, but only those close to them know much about most of the white people who were allies.
And I don't see most people trolling the lists of Senate and House proposals, bills, amendments day in and day out. The last time I saw anyone even reference a(n amendment) vote by Sanders it was an attack on him, and ignored the fact that the very next vote by him on the list was the reverse of the prior vote, suggesting that Sanders didn't like the way either was written specifically, not that he had an opposition to two mutually exclusive positions.
Sanders does the work of the people. He does it quietly and diligently, and doesn't seek out the media spotlight to pound his chest and declare how wonderful he is. Hell, look at how much trouble he gets in for not bothering to issue a press release about his support of gay rights, while at the same time supporting gay rights decades ago. People are casting the fact that he's not constantly boasting about his positions as a problem, saying it means his support is 'weak'.
So I'm not in the least bit surprised that black people don't know about the ways he's supported them, that poor people don't know about the ways he's supported them, that gay people don't know about the ways he's supported them, etc, etc, etc - that EVERY AMERICAN doesn't know about the ways he's supported them, championed the injustices aimed at them.
He doesn't spend all his time telling people how wonderful he is, unlike certain other politicians.
And he's running to be your President, not your friend. He respects your intelligence, and feels that if he tells you his stances, and the things he wants to do, you're intelligent enough to figure out for yourself whether or not you should vote for him. He's not going to smooze you and adopt your accent, and 'have a beer' with you. He's not running to be your drinking buddy or your bro, dude. He's looking to be the guy who gets more power to work for you to solve at least some of your problems.
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