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“You Haven’t Done Nothin’”: Bernie Sanders’s Disingenuous Transformation into a Civil Rights Champion
“But we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Telling how you were gonna change right from wrong
’Cause if you really want to hear our views,
You haven’t done nothin.’”
- Stevie Wonder, “You Haven’t Done Nothin’”
Senator Bernie Sanders officially launched his campaign for president in Brooklyn last Saturday, where he and his surrogates, most notably campaign chairwoman Nina Turner and journalist/activist Shaun King (who both supported him in 2016), highlighted his legacy of civil rights activism as a reason why he should lead the country.
King cited Sanders’s experience as a student activist at University of Chicago in the 1960s, telling the audience that he is “the last activist from the Civil Rights Movement with a chance to become President.” Turner, who spoke of his endorsement for Reverend Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign, said of Sanders that “He has shown throughout his life his measure.”
Dogged by criticism that he did not focus enough on racial issues during his last campaign, it appears that Sanders, aided by his surrogates, is rebranding himself as a champion of civil rights to win over voters of…
