Tuesday night saw yet another presidential primary. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both took one state a piece. The party still hasn’t come together yet, with some Democrats suggesting that Bernie should drop out to help Clinton’s cause to defeat Donald Trump, while Bernie supporters believe that he is still in the race.
White supporters of Bernie Sanders, commonly known as “Bernie Bros”, have been often criticized by Black Twitter for trying to convince black voters reasons why voting for Bernie is for their own good. This saga reached new heights last night when author Marianne Williamson directly compared the Vermont senator to Martin Luther King Jr.
Bernie Sanders is telling truth to power in a way that has not been seen in our country since Martin Luther King Jr.
— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) May 18, 2016
Twitter chose to respond appropriately.
To many, comparing Bernie to MLK just doesn’t logically make sense.
here’s the thing about an mlk comparison for bernie: if he was speaking “truth” like king, i doubt he’d have lived to be 74.
— El Flaco (@bomani_jones) May 18, 2016
So not only was he MLK’s bestie, now he’s the NEW MLK?? Ya’ll are something else. https://t.co/gJPOt71syW
— Reagan Gomez (@ReaganGomez) May 18, 2016
Don’t ever in your life disrespect MLK by putting him in the same sentence w/ Bernie pic.twitter.com/h45ZTTAkCx
— Dwight Shrute (@LadyOnTheMuna) May 18, 2016
Others chose to pull the receipts out.
MLK had a disdain for white progressives & their performance of “radicalism” https://t.co/YbUaL6oSxN
— Nessa. (@curlyheadRED) May 18, 2016
So Bernie is the first civil rights leader since MLK?
White people kill me when they skip a whole generation of freedom fighters to claim a wealthy powerful White person has taken MLK’s mantle
— Read Army Faction (@Hurrikane_IKE) May 18, 2016
Was MLK taken from us in a #RaceDraft we didn’t know about?
#BlackTwitter I move that we take MLK back. All in favor?
— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) May 18, 2016
For others, statements like this from Sanders supporters are pushing them more toward the Clinton side.
I’m going to start donating a dollar to Hillary every time I see someone compare Bernie Sanders to MLK. Two dollars if they’re white.
— KB (@KaraRBrown) May 18, 2016
Maybe we could just stick to the real issues and not referencing MLK in the 2016 election?
Maybe you can get excited invoking MLK to support one of three white candidates to carry the racial torch. I cannot.
— Vann R. Newkirk II (@fivefifths) May 18, 2016
No matter which side of the current election you’re on, I think it’s safe to say we can all agree that no MLK comparisons shall prosper.
