Race: Bernie’s Achilles Heel

Bernie Sanders can talk your ear off about the corruption of capitalism, but he can’t and won’t give you a coherent response on issues of racial inequality.

In December’s Democratic debate, Senator Sanders was given multiple chances to talk about his policies to target the racial inequality that has resulted from decades of overtly racist government policies. However, he chose to pivot on each of these questions and instead deliver his stump speech on wealth inequality.

Senator Sanders was first asked about the lack of racial diversity on the debate stage given an initially diverse pool of Democratic hopefuls at the beginning of the race. Instead of directly answering the question, he attempted to pivot and talk about climate change. While his competitors were eager to talk about their intentions to ease the burden of racial injustice, Senator Sanders showed that racial equity was not a priority issue.

Then, Senator Sanders was asked about the disproportionate violence against transgender people of color. Though the senator addressed the inaccessibility of health care in the transgender community in his answer, he failed to address the question on the issue of violence towards transgender people. Instead, he spent his time advocating for an overhaul of the healthcare system through Medicare-for-All, failing to discuss the disproportionate effects of violence on transgender people of color.

But the icing on the cake was when Senator Sanders was asked to respond to Former President Barack Obama’s claim that old white men often stand in the way of progress. After admitting that he aptly fits the stereotype, Senator Sanders asserted, “The issue is where power resides in America, and it’s not white or black or male or female.” He then went on to talk about the dangers of wealth inequality caused by free-market ideals.

So what’s the problem? Isn’t wealth inequality tied to racial inequality? Well, yes, but Senator Sanders misses the point that racial inequality is a completely separate issue with completely different causes. Wealth inequality is caused by unfettered capitalism, stagnant wages for working class Americans, and incomprehensive social welfare programs. Modern-day racial inequality, on the other hand, can be attributed to the lasting legacies of overtly racist government policies, such as housing discrimination, exclusion in the labor market, and discriminatory lending practices.

In a capitalist society, some degree of wealth inequality is to be expected. In our allegedly merit-based system, those that work the hardest are supposed to reap the rewards. Theoretically, capitalism does not explicitly target any racial group in particular; rather it exacerbates existing inequalities. In contrast, racial inequality isn’t a natural result of capitalism; rather, it’s a result of past policies that explicitly targeted black individuals and hindered their ability to accumulate wealth. Capitalism may exacerbate racial inequality, but we can’t fix racial inequality through reforming capitalism. Instead, Senator Sanders and his competitors should pay specific attention to rectifying the effects of historic racial injustices.

Power has been and will continue to be an issue of race unless we address the legacies of past injustices, and we cannot make progress by conflating racial disparity and wealth disparity.

Senator Sanders focuses on eradicating poverty; however, combating poverty does not rectify historic racial injustice. The median household wealth for white families is more than ten times that of black families. Clearly, there is a racial component to wealth inequality because of past-institutionalized racism and current practices that reinforce existing inequalities. However, the vast majority of black Americans—78% to be exact—do not live in poverty. According to Forbes, 41% of black Americans are homeowners, which signifies a middle-class lifestyle. Additionally, the Washington Post estimates that one in fifty black Americans are millionaires. The policy proposals of Senator Sanders may disproportionately help black Americans, but they fail to rectify racial injustices for middle-class and wealthy black Americans.

So why should we care about rectifying past injustice for middle-class and affluent black people? For starters, they also experienced the effects of historic discrimination. Wealthy black people were also lynched from trees. Middle-class black families were also attacked by white mobs when they tried to challenge the status quo. Their ancestors were in no way exempt from the practices of redlining, educational segregation, or discriminatory loaning practices.

So when Senator Sanders says that power isn’t white or black, he is mistaken.

Affluent black individuals may have overcome these barriers in climbing the ladder of economic success, but they were still the victims of injustice as they had to work harder to achieve their success than their white counterparts. At the top of the socioeconomic spectrum there are still racial wealth gaps between the richest black and white people. Hence, affluent black individuals likely would be even wealthier if not for historic racial discrimination. Thus, we cannot solve racial disparity through focusing only on economic disparity. We must also consider different forms of reparations.

So when Senator Sanders says that power isn’t white or black, he is mistaken. For decades, elected officials only paid attention to the interests of their white constituents. They used eminent domain to bulldoze black communities, refused to allow black families to live in suburban developments, and purposefully excluded disproportionately black professions from government programs and protections. The effects of these policies live with us today and explain racial disparities in education, wealth, and health outcomes.

Power has been and will continue to be an issue of race unless we address the legacies of past injustices, and we cannot make progress by conflating racial disparity and wealth disparity. If Bernie Sanders really wants to take on powerful interests, he should start by acknowledging America’s dark history of racism and developing solutions specific to these past injustices—a form of reparations. His plans for Medicare-for-All and free college tuition may help to lessen racial gaps, but they neither symbolically nor substantively rectify decades of overtly racist government policies that have threatened the viability of the American Dream for people of color.