Here's something Bernie Sanders appears not to understand. [View all]

I'm an old white man, just like he is. I have a white man's experience, and a white man's privilege.

I have been poor. I have been without means a number of times in my life, typically on a voluntarily basis. When I chose to become a freelance writer, I knew that I would earn less than my peers. And yet, I also knew that the choice was mine to make. At any time, I could change course and use my education and skills to earn more money. I knew that I would not be discriminated against, and that I could find work doing other things relatively easily. Why? Because I was an educated, well-spoken white man. Also, I had done other things and always found the path to more lucrative employment an easy one.

So, I was free to set out on a difficult career path, because I knew that there were alternatives for me if I failed. That was my privilege at work.

If I had been something other than an educated white man, however, I would not have had that fallback. My poor years were something I chose for myself, because I was privileged enough to make that choice. I knew I had other options I could choose.

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I grew up in a small town in California, with a population that was 50/50 white and Hispanic. My Hispanic neighbors and fellow high school students did not have the same privilege I did. They were not steered into the college-bound educational paths. Very few of my Hispanic classmates continued their education beyond high school. They did not have the opportunity to do so. They were not encouraged to do so, like I and many of my fellow white male high school students were. Frankly, neither were the white female fellow students at my high school. Another group without the same privileges. This was in the 1960s.

That was my experience. There were no African-American students at my high school, so I did not meet any people in that group until later, when I learned that they had similar and even worse treatment and an even more severe lack of opportunities. There were few Hispanic, AA, or Asian students at the state university I attended. Why? Because of white privilege and social prejudices.

Bernie Sanders thinks, and holds it as a principle, that the solution for all of those things is economic in nature. He is incorrect. He does not know, because he has spent his entire life in a world of white privilege, just as I have. I know better, because I have learned better. Race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, and many other factors weigh heavily into the amount of unearned privilege people have. If you are a white, straight, educated male in our society, it's easy not to recognize that it is not just economic justice that is needed to break the pattern of privilege you enjoy.

Bernie is just like me, as a white, educated, privileged male. He does not recognize just how important that privilege is in his life. He is wrong. Economic Justice cannot undo Social Injustice. It is the reverse that is true, actually. Senator Sanders believes he is right, because his privilege has taught him that he is right.

Social Justice must come first. Economic Justice derives from that, and always has.