WASHINGTON D.C.––Vermont senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Bernard Sanders gave his first major address since Trump’s election on November 16, 2016 at Georgetown University.
Sanders began his speech, “This country…since our inception, has struggled to overcome discrimination of all forms. And that is racism and sexism and xenophobia and homophobia. For hundreds of years, extraordinarily brave people have stood up, and some of them have died in the struggle, to end discrimination in America.
Sander’s description of the colonial terrors and horrors experienced by African and Indigenous people at the hands of the State in this country as simply “discrimination” is an insult.
Also, his conflation of the struggle of Africans and Indigenous people to be free from colonial domination with the founding of the U.S. discredits us and give credence to the State for any concessions made to us by the U.S.
It has always been the oppressed people of this country that has struggled to overcome our oppression, not the government.
This is exactly the kind of manipulation that Sanders’ campaign for president represented––that somehow the system can be reformed and tweaked to free Africans.
Sanders continued by criticizing Trump for appointing Steve Bannon as his chief strategist. Sanders stated, “I call upon Mr. Trump to rescind the appointment that he made of Mr. Bannon. A president of the United States should not have a racist at his side. Unacceptable.”
In reference to the Dakota Access Pipeline, Sanders stated during another speech outside the White House on November 15th, “For hundreds of years, the Native American people in our country, the first Americans, have been lied to, have been cheated, and their sovereign rights have been denied them. And today we are saying it is time for a new approach to the Native American people, not to run a pipeline through their land.
Sanders refused to give a truthful depiction of the crimes committed by white power against the Indigenous people.
Ever since Europeans set foot on this land, they murdered and slaughtered the Indigenous people, purposefully infected them with diseases, committed mass genocide against them and stole their land at gunpoint.
It is incorrect to simply state that they were lied to and cheated. This was and is genocide being committed against our Indigenous brothers and sisters by the hands of the State. As a representative of the white ruling class, however, Sanders of course, is not interested in outlining the depth of the atrocities committed against Indigenous people.
Sanders went on to call on U.S. president Barack Obama to stop the pipeline. He also suggested that Obama declared Standing Rock a federal monument.
This entire land––not just Standing Rock––belongs to the Indigenous people, most of whom are relegated to prison camps called reservations. The only acceptable suggestion for Sanders to make is for this land to be returned to its rightful owners––the Indigenous people.
Sander’s is not for Indigenous people
We must not forget that Bernard Sanders stood firmly against reparations for Africans. One cannot truly be for self-determination of Indigenous people yet be against reparations to African people. And if he is against African reparations, one can assume that he is against Indigenous reparations as well.
Instead of being in support of reparations, Sanders proposed to work with Trump to create jobs paying $15 per hour. Instead of fighting for reparations to Africans, he wants to reform Wall Street.
Sanders would rather complain about who he thinks is racist instead of fighting for Africans to be self-determined and therefore unaffected by what any white person thinks about Africans.
He makes speeches about the rights of Indigenous people in this country but makes no mention of returning all of their lands to them.
Bernard Sanders is just another white power representative who is as much on the wrong side of the question now as he was during his campaign trail.
He now enjoys a position of leadership among the democrats in the senate.
Revolutionaries don’t compromise forwarding their agenda in the interest of keeping political ties to the parties of the white ruling class.
That’s what Sanders did when he endorsed Hillary Clinton after viscously opposing her before the Democratic primary elections. This is what he is doing now when he offers to work with president-elect Donald Trump.
Sanders agenda consisted of keeping voters loyal to the Democratic party. Now his purpose is to uphold the myth of U.S. democracy and preserve the crisis of imperialism.
Down with imperialism!
Uhuru in our lifetime!
