
whites live in "ghettos" too
"When you’re white, you don’t know what it’s like to be living in a ghetto. You don’t know what it’s like to be poor. You don’t know what it’s like to be hassled when you walk down the street or you get dragged out of a car," Sanders said.
Several readers asked us to take a closer look at Sanders’ comment that "when you're white ... you don't know what it's like to be poor."
Sanders' point was that white people haven’t had to contend with racism based on skin color. But when he moves into the subject of whites’ experience with poverty, he’s on weak ground. Sanders’ suggestion that white Americans haven’t experienced poverty is undercut by statistics calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Since the 1960s, the Census Bureau has tracked the numbers and percentages of Americans by race who have an income level that puts them at the poverty line. Here’s the most recent data, for 2014:
Bernie Sanders wrong to say, 'When you're white ... you don't know what it's like to be poor'
...
Sanders was certainly wrong to suggest that whites haven’t experienced poverty. In 2014, there were actually more white Americans in poverty -- 19.7 million -- than members of any other group.