Bernie says Franken should resign

[Ken Burch]

118. I did not agree with the claim that he cared only about economic justice

The voters wanted a strong antiracist position, agreed. All Democratic candidates(with the possible exception of Webb)had that, and had it equally. And I've agreed about a million times that Bernie should have said more about institutional bigotry, and agree that he shouldn't run again, so why are you still not letting this go with me? I don't have to apologize for supporting him to prove I'm antioppression, for Goddess' sakes.

We needed economic justice ALONG with social justice. Not instead of it, but along with it.. There was no other Dem primary campaign even discussing economic justice issues. The other candidates were progressive, but only on issues not involving things like income inequality, the effects of post-1981 economic savagery on working-class people of all races, and the need to take corporations out of politics.

What we needed, and STILL need, is a fusion of the best of Sanders, Clinton, and O'Malley ideas, combined with the best ideas new candidates will come up with. That's what I care about, justice for the MANY-I don't have a candidate and don't actually care at this time who we nominate. What matters is what we stand for and what we propose.

Why is it STILL important to you to pretend Bernie doesn't care about social justice? Or that his present or former supporters don't care about it? At this stage, why still keep picking at that scab?

I agree with you on everything you consider social justice, and go further than you do in wanting more social services and a real battle against poverty. I've never once at all said economic justice matters more than everything else.

It's not true that economic justice is the ONLY issue I care about, or even that I center it. If that was true, I wouldn't be an active member of SURJ, for one thing and I wouldn't have campaigned for Jesse Jackson twice. People who don't care about fighting racism don't do things like that.

What I center is BOTH justice struggles and the intersectionality between them.

Is there a reason you can't accept that as a legitimate position?

And I've called for a recalibration of the Sanders ideas to account for historic injustice, which should resolve any tension between the two justice struggles, so why are you still trying to call my commitment to antiracist, antioppression politics into question?

I don't want Bernie to run again. You KNOW that.

The reason I'll always challenge the "Bernie doesn't care about social justice" slur when it's repeated like you just did, is that

A) it's smear and demonstrably untrue;

B) It serves no good purpose to perpetuate the smear;

C) It ends up being an argument that his SUPPORTERS don't care about social justice(in truth, virtually EVERYONE on the left is equally anti-oppression) that is used to drive his supporters away when we HAVE to have an alliance with them to beat the Right.