I don’t understand how Bernie Sanders, of all people, can be so tone deaf about this kinda thing. In fact, his one big stumble so far was when he infuriated Black LIves Matter by never going off message even for a tweet or two to comment on the police shootings and beatings of African Americans. I’m not so sure how many Bernie supporters are aware there was even an issue with that, but in the Black community it did him in. That more than any other factor is why so few people of color show up at his rallies.

So when I saw Hillary comment on the racially profiled arrest of fourteen year old Ahmed Muhamed in Texas for designing a clock, I expected a hollow up from Bernie Sanders. But there was nothing. He refused to go off his message even one iota to make a statement about this and give even a hint that he is concerned with issues of police abuse and racial profiling. Of course he’s concerned…but he keeps missing out on opportunities to show it. Today was a perfect opportunity. Apparently Bernie and his whole staff was busy. It would have taken only thirty seconds but been worth a million dollars in television advertising in southern primary states next March. And I simply cannot fathom how neither he nor anyone on his staff had figured that out. And as a result, there are a hundred stories on the web right now that quote in their entirety the tweets from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

What is it that makes Bernie Sanders ignore the value of the symbolism in tweeting in anger about the police abuse of a person of color. I know it’s not a problem in Vermont, but it’s a huge problem elsewhere, and he needs to address it when it come up, even if all that means is a simple little message on Twitter.

His campaign needs to stop ignoring people of color, because those people make up a huge proportion of the Democratic Party. This party has been based on poor people and immigrants for its entire existence, and you can’t bend over backwards appealing to hip white progressives, a goof chunk of them members of the top fifth of Americans in income, and pretend the rest of the party doesn’t exist.