Bernie Sanders once compared poor white Vermonters to black South Africans suffering and, in some cases, dying under Apartheid. At other times the Democratic socialist likened certain blue-collar workers to slaves.
Per Politico:
Now that Sanders is rising in the polls and expected by many to win Iowa, rival Democrats are bringing to light his decades-old comments in an effort to question the senator’s stances on race and to underscore the challenges he has had with black voters.
At a 1986 public forum, Sanders said poor Vermonters “are the equivalent of blacks in South Africa. They don’t vote, they aren’t involved, they don’t care about the issues,” according to the Bennington Banner in Vermont. Sanders amended his statement after one observer on stage commented about his “pretty fiery oratory.”
“Obviously the analogy is not true,” Sanders then responded, “because in South Africa the blacks are not invisible — they are beginning to stand up.”
At the time of his remarks, Vermont’s population was about 99 percent white and about 0.2 percent black.
Sanders’ campaign surrogates are calling the sudden reexamination of the senator’s comments “desperate last-minute attacks.” Still, the fact remains that Bernie’s appeal to black voters is relatively low compared to other prominent Democrats.
AAN Staff
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