In the past four years, Sanders’s words and actions have shown me time and time again that he is more concerned with boosting his image as a white savior figure of social justice than actually uplifting the voices of the communities he so direly pretends to represent. In fact, a New York Times article recently described how his campaign — the one I volunteered to support — initially focused on predominantly white states and failed to gain momentum with black voters in southern states, while black staff members told the Times they faced a plethora of microaggressions from white campaign leaders.

…Sanders implied that he has faced discrimination as a white man in the U.S. while suggesting we shouldn’t consider a candidate’s identity when choosing who to vote for. This, to me, feels like the equivalent of him telling everyone who is not a straight, white, cisgender male that we shouldn’t care about seeing ourselves represented in our government.

And despite his “progressive” statements on everything from bodily autonomy to a history of imperialist U.S. intervention abroad, Sanders has not always followed through on actions that actually align with those values, which is why my diminishing support for the senator has been a long time coming. 

…From failing to denounce some of his supporters’ racist and sexist language to saying that white people who “felt uncomfortable” voting for black candidates Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum in the 2018 midterms are not “necessarily racist,” Sanders has continually flexed his privilege as a white man in politics — oftentimes, directly at the expense of people of color, especially women. In 2016 he refused to outwardly address allegations of gendered pay disparities and sexual harassment within his campaign. As someone who poured much of my energy and money into Sanders’s election bid, not to mention trusted a male candidate when he spoke of gender equality, I couldn’t believe how easily he downplayed the serious claims from his female staffers. He apologized to those women this year as he geared up to relaunch his election bid, but I see the damage as done.

….Earlier this month, he also delivered his own response to President Trump’s State of the Union address despite the fact that the Democratic Party asked Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, to officially fill that role. …Sanders’s blatant dismissal of a black woman by giving his own speech anyway. …Sanders’s deliberate decision to make his voice heard rather than fully support and listen to one of the most prominent emerging politicians of 2018 reinforced his need to take the spotlight away from someone who might ultimately be more qualified to represent today’s America.

…Sanders’s call for color-sex-orientation blindness in voting for president is not much different from potential candidate Howard Schultz’s claims that he doesn’t see color. Acknowledging race is an essential part of fighting racism and standing in solidarity with movements that support POC across the board.

…His platform never actually involved stepping aside to let the people most affected by discriminatory policies take the reigns.

Why Senator Bernie Sanders Lost My Support – Teen Vogue

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