A lot of what we hear is very, very, ugly. We hear the surrogates.

x Michael Moore says that people of color, women and young people are going to decide the next election in the same breath that he says South Carolina isnÃ¢ÂÂt representative of the United States. https://t.co/5ynWFeVpOo Ã¢ÂÂ Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) March 3, 2020

Here is a more blunt response.

x Why not just call us n*ggers and go, Michael Moore? pic.twitter.com/qFQiyVfDOU Ã¢ÂÂ Ã¢ÂÂÃ¯Â¸Â Bernie. Please Go Home. It's Over. Ã¢ÂÂÃ¯Â¸Â (@KHiveQueenB) March 3, 2020

We have not forgotten that we’ve been called “low info” before. We have not forgotten the attacks on Hillary, who we voted for. We know that Bernie Sanders is uncomfortable with us. His analysis which avoids directly addressing racism, his “working class” (unspoken: “white”) excludes us.

x Sanders says of his SC result: "When we talk about South Carolina, and when we talk about other places, we are winning working-class people by big numbers."



Exits showed Sanders lost black voters to Biden by 44-points in SC. I assume many of them were working-class people? https://t.co/BpxzlutuG2 Ã¢ÂÂ Josh Jamerson (@joshjame) March 2, 2020

The endless attempts to convince us that “he marched with King” and was there for the struggle are laughable and insulting. You really want to tell us our own history?

Here’s a response to that.

x Can somebody explain to me why I have white children in my mentions telling me Black voters don't understand racism and they need to be "educated" by Bernie Sanders supporters. I'm too old and too Black for that level of bullshit this morning. pic.twitter.com/qeYhpfYiP5 Ã¢ÂÂ Daryl SturgisÃ¢ÂÂÃ°ÂÂÂ½ (@darylsturgis) March 2, 2020

This also points to something that I don’t think many folks here are ready to think about: Perhaps a reassessment of the label or term “progressive” is called for.

x Waiting for the inevitable screeds about how counterrevolutionary black people in the South are. Ã¢ÂÂ jelani cobb (@jelani9) March 4, 2020

Diary after diary here point to Sanders and Warren as “the progressives.”

Have you ever thought about the fact that what is “progressive” to you may not be to someone else? If I look at two white people asking for my vote, and they have been nowhere around my whole life and then they parachute in to “events” and leave, why should I listen to them? If I’ve never seen them fighting alongside me—attacking the things that are most dangerous for me and mine, what makes them “Progressive?” We label civil rights—progressive. We see going after the Klan—progressive. We see addressing police shootings as progressive.

We know we are still segregated and have failing schools in our communities. So when you show up having lived most of your lives in all white spaces—we smile politely and you miss the side-eye. You offer free college. We are more interested in K-12 and daycare.

We are not impressed when you say you will help us sell legal weed (see Cynthia Nixon’s loss in NY).

I remember warning people here that holding events at HBCUs and in Black churches, filled with white supporters was not a good look for Warren and Sanders. A huge rally in front of black housing projects, with almost all white attendees was not a good look for Sanders.

Dissing, and booing John Lewis—we filed that away, with anger.

Endless attacking of Obama—major ugly.

Those nasty attacks on the Congressional Black Caucus, from your candidates’ surrogates and supporters get passed on to mom and auntie who don’t do twitter. Labeling the hard decades long fight to get the vote and get some of our folks elected, to then be dubbed “Establishment” and dismissed as “corporate whores”—y’all so-called “progressives” have built up a deep well of dislike.

x People who keep referring to Black voters as Ã¢ÂÂthe establishmentÃ¢ÂÂ are tone deaf and have obviously learned nothing. Ã¢ÂÂ Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) March 3, 2020

We watch TV too. We see the “acceptable” black people selected to be pundits to interpret our behavior to white folks. We often laugh about the crap they sell you. Almost all of them spent their time helping torpedo Kamala Harris. Duly noted, even if we weren’t voting for her.

Van Jones does not speak for black people. Nina Turner does not speak for black people. Joy Reid does not speak for black people. Cornel West does not speak for black people. Shaun King got disinvited to the BBQ a few years ago.

As hard as this may be for you to accept, Jim Clyburn does not have some magical hoodoo power and control over black peoples votes that sent us like zombies to vote for Biden.

See Virginia. See North Carolina. See Tennessee. See Alabama.

I am listening to the TV while I type. “Shocking” they are saying. “What a turnaround” for Biden. “The Biden comeback.”

What frigging turnaround, what comeback? The contest hadn’t even been started yet. The first real primary was SC.

We see Sanders supporters now blaming Elizabeth Warren for this blowout. Duly noted. Though we didn’t warm to her, it had nothing to do with sexism. That’s a topic for a different diary.

I have read resentful comment after comment here about conservative old black people.

x For all those pundits who were pontificating about and predicting "the black vote" in SC for Sanders and Warren because (insert reasons) - bye Felicia. You should have listened to us. We knew. #VoteLikeBlackWomen https://t.co/Hp5xCvVzyp Ã¢ÂÂ Denise Oliver-Velez (@Deoliver47) March 1, 2020

Not all those voters for Biden were old.

May I remind you all that the communities that birthed many of our most radical freedom fighters were not in the North? Just because many black people (like many white people) read the Bible does that make us conservatives? You forget that the church was one of the only legal places we could gather. We have had ministers and atheists, straight folks and gay folks as radical, and revolutionary leaders who have deep roots in blackness, and struggle.

“We” chose Joe Biden. Me personally—I chose Kamala Harris. However, I also choose to listen to collective wisdom. I was raised that way. I vowed I would “vote like black women.” So when it comes time for me to vote in NY, my ballot goes to Biden.

One of the most valued attributes in the black community is empathy. One of our strongest motivators is survival. We see Donald Trump as a heinous enemy. That’s not paranoia. For us it is a fact of daily life.

So we chose to vote for a man, a white man, who has exhibited empathy over decades, who went to Selma on Sunday, who showed up at Mother Emanuel, who attended Elijah Cummings’ funeral, and who had Obama’s back for eight years.

We decided Biden has the best shot at assuring our survival.

If you keep trashing him, we’ll just dig in and become more obdurate.

‘Cause we know: “God don’t like ugly.”

It might be a good idea, if you say you are Democrats, to stop trashing us, who are also Democrats, and help us get rid of Trump, who white folks elected.