Dear Pete, Sorry for the “Nostalgia.”
I shared this post on the Daily Kos, 2/26/2020.
image credit: carnegiehall.org
The Democratic Debate stage in South Carolina last night displayed desperation from establishment candidates reluctant to accept that Bernie Sanders is the front runner in the primaries. I didn’t hear policy from most candidates, just a frenzied poking-away at Bernie as if his popularity could be chipped away with every jab. In the online Bernie groups, supporters shared their post-debate contributions to his campaign. “I give what I can,” one person wrote after posting a screenshot of their $2.70 debate rage contribution.
The cost for a guaranteed audience seat at the South Carolina debate? A whopping $1,750+. (The prices were taken down from the website 24 hours before the debate following local news coverage on the steep price tag.) Bloomberg ads during the debate offering people books of matches and cowboy bandannas in exchange for their home addresses aside— it was Pete Buttigieg talking over and talking down to Bernie Sanders that was most telling. And his proclamation that Bernie’s vision for the American people is nothing but “nostalgia for the revolutionary politics of the 1960s” was the most damning to his career.
Pete was born in 1982, long after the rise of civil rights activists who risked their lives and livelihoods to speak out for justice and equality and to put an end to human suffering. America is in a class war today more than ever, making a grass roots revolution the single most crucial force left for the American every person to have a voice. Rhodes scholarship resumes obviously do not erase youthful arrogance and white privilege.
Pete’s desperate jab at “revolutionary politics” takes a sledge hammer to social literacy and learning from the past; building upon the social and political evolution in our history; and respecting the struggles of earlier generations that have given women the right to vote, African Americans a voice in protest of their own oppression, and marriage equality.
Pete is married to his husband today, thanks to the revolutionary movements of the past that he flippantly casts off as “nostalgic.”
The 1960s brought us female marine biologist, Rachel Carson whose works and book Silent Spring sparked the global environmental movement. (Sorry for the nostalgia, Pete.)
The 1960s brought us student protests and civil rights groups such as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Free Speech Movement that stood against the military industrial complex during the Vietnam War that saw nearly 60,000 American casualties alone. (Sorry for the nostalgia, Pete.)
The 1960s brought social progress thanks to the women’s rights movement (which gave us the pill), civil rights movement, workers rights, LGBTQ rights and progress in technology and education. (Sorry for the nostalgia, Pete.)
The 1960s brought us children’s educational programs through Public Broadcast Service television. (Sorry for the nostalgia, Pete.)
The 1960s didn’t bring us Pete Buttigieg. He wasn’t born yet.
Pete was never relegated to the back of the bus. Pete didn’t get the chance to be clubbed in the street fighting for his civil rights. Pete didn’t get to be shunned by society as a draftee returning from Vietnam after watching his buddies get their brains blown out. Pete didn’t get to contribute to the formation of student campus protest that served as the foundation of youth activist movements of today. Others took care of that so that Pete could stand on the debate stage last night and talk over Bernie Sanders and mock the sacrifices of Americans of the 1960s.
You’re welcome, Pete. Sorry for the nostalgia.
About the Author
About the Author: I'm a Writer, Speaker and Muslim Activist. I'm a former Board Member of the #MyJihad Public Education Campaign.
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