Why leftists don't trust Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Deval Patrick

[prehnite]

The contest for control of the Democratic Party between left and center is continuing apace. The latest battleground is over a handful of minority Democrats being groomed by the centrist establishment to run for office: Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

If the center wants to win

Comments

[lightframes]

Calling saying the right thing but not following through isn't "Hillary Clinton-esque", that's just a politician thing generally

But if they just want to have a retread of the 2015-16 primary, the center could just try to win dirty. The left, they might say (working hand-in-glove with sympathetic columnists), just doesn't like minority or female candidates because they are racist and sexist.

This leaves such a bad taste in my mouth, like... pointing out racism and sexism isn't a strategy, this is how we have to live life. I thought we all agreed accusing POC of "playing the race card" is just a way to silence us. (I went to the source and it looks like this was written by a white guy? Bad move, bro. Not your call to make.)

I wouldn't put Harris in the same category as Booker and Patrick, either.

[natyanayaki]

i think it's a silencing tactic used in both directions. people who point out racism are silence, but it's unfair to dismiss the fact that supporters will use racism, and sexism as a silencing tactic against critical individuals despite the fact that many of these critical individuals are minorities, women, and/or minority women (and much of the earliest criticisms of booker and harris came poc/communities of color).

hrc has been using this tactic go male-wash her opponent's supporters since 2008, and malewashed and whitewashed her opponent's supporters in 2012 (despite some surveys indicating otherwise) and i see so much of that when it comes to the defense of these three that it's disheartening. you're not going to win over poc when you call them racist for questioning deval patrick's ties to bain.

[lightframes]

Within communities of women or people of color, of course we can talk about criticism that comes from the heart and how the person being a woman or minority doesn't invalidate that. But the author of this article isn't going to tell me that's a "tactic" used to avoid criticism. The amount of times it's used as a "tactic" is probably about 10% compared to the 90% someone is actually being subjected to racism or sexism, so I just find it hard to spend that much time worrying about it. I think something people (not you) tend to forget is that a woman's criticism of a woman can still be sexist and a black person's criticism of a black person can still be racist, so that's not a total defense, either

[natyanayaki]

i don't think that being called a racist inaccurately is as bad as being accused of playing the race card, and i agree that one can be a woman/minority and still say sexist/racist things (and in terms of racial minorities it's super complicated -- indians can be super anti-black for example

[natyanayaki]

this thread (the original and the responses) illustrate how i and many other non-white, non-male leftists feel. being blocked/ignored after we mention that we're not white/male isn't atypical. i know people who have gotten responses similar to "why do you hate your own race so much," so it's not just about if it's worse to be called a racist/sexist or to deal with racism/sexism (the latter is worse) because some people deal with both (all three). https://twitter.com/sirjamesa12/status/869329413430792192... )

[lightframes]

I agree that the party itself is guilty of "you can't be mad at me, I have a black friend" - like having a lot of black and female supporters doesn't mean the party itself can't do racist things (like the attacks on Ellison). Definitely guilty of using us as tokens and then acting like that means there is no racism in the party. We know there's racism there. If black women could only interact with completely non-racist institutions we couldn't leave the house (not sure whether to insert crying or laughing here)

I didn't mean to imply black and women leftist feelings aren't important, so sorry for that. I guess I might be projecting, because during the primary when people said women who supported Sanders were just doing it to impress guys or implied we were self-hating I kind of shrugged it off even though I should have been insulted because it was nonsense. But not everyone can do that or should have to do that, and no one was trying to block me or shut me down really.

[natyanayaki]

ohh, no need to apologize, i didn't mean to imply you were implying that! :)

it is nonsense, i don't know if i really get insulted by comments like that so much as i get frustrated because it makes conversations so much harder to have and it turns people away and i don't enjoy being in the position placating people when it comes to the questionable aspects of politicians i don't like because i'm afraid of what'll happen if they lose? it also makes a difference depending on who is saying that kind of stuff, the handmaiden tweet is frustrating but *shrugs* but gloria steinen saying it has more of an impact (and people will use it as "steinem one of THE feminists said that so how can you disagree)...and that's just tedious ah.

" If black women could only interact with completely non-racist institutions we couldn't leave the house (not sure whether to insert crying or laughing here"

:/