Member-only story
When You Call Bernie Sanders a White Man, You Erase His Jewishness
And you erase mine too.
“This primary is down to two old white men.” Every time I hear those words, a piece of myself — my Jewish identity— shrinks away from the light just a little bit more.
When you brush away Bernie’s Jewishness, you tell me mine is unimportant as well. You tell me I can’t trust you with all the parts of me.
Look, I get it. A lot of people are mourning Elizabeth Warren’s candidacy. We’ve waited so long for a woman president, and it hurts to know it won’t happen this election. We started out with such a diverse group, but now the candidates of color are gone, as well as the gay candidate. Tulsi Gabbard’s still technically running, but excluded from the next debate.
But here’s the thing: With our support, Bernie Sanders could still win this. He could be our most progressive president yet. And for the first time in American history, we could have a Jewish president.
If Bernie Sanders becomes president, it will be no small thing. My Jewish child and all the other non-Christians would get to see you don’t need to be a Christian to lead our country.
How do people not see how huge this is? To me, the possibility feels momentous, hardly believable. It defies every exclusionary…
