Teacher Says Bernie Sanders' Mittens Are 'White Privilege' | 22 Words

A teacher has recently come out and to say that Sen. Bernie Sanders' inauguration outfit was a "lesson in white privilege."

The controversial statement comes after the teacher had a discussion with her class...

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Keep scrolling to see how they managed to come to that conclusion.

Now, Biden's inauguration last month gave us some iconic moments...

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Since his election victory on November 7th, our country has experienced political tensions like never before.

Most people have been arguing that Biden's win was a fair one and after 4 long days of vote counting - and plenty of recounting - the Democrat was projected as the forty-sixth president of the United States.

And the moment that his supporters had been waiting for finally came.

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Joe Biden is officially the president of the United States and Kamala Harris is now our first-ever female vice president.

It was a historical moment to witness Biden be inaugurated as the forty-sixth president of the United States...

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And thankfully, the entire event ran smoothly without any disruption or feared security breaches.

Alongside our country, the world watched the big event.

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With many praising it for being held with dignity, class, and grace.

The ceremony was jam-packed...

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And was filled with star-studded guests such as Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, the Obamas, and Amanda Gorman.

But one person stole the limelight for a whole other reason...

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Sen. Bernie Sanders was also in attendance and he's become the main talking point all over social media.

And it was all because of his outfit...

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The former leader of the Democratic Party stole the show with his rather peculiar outfit choice.

A pair of thick mittens and a waterproof coat.

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And paired with his nonchalant attitude throughout the entire event, he quickly became a meme online.

And after doing some digging... We all found out the origin of the adorable mittens.

And believe it or not, they were actually made by a teacher from Vermont.

That's right, it turns out there is a heartwarming story behind his accessories.

And it all started with the second-grade teacher Jen Ellis.

"There's some debate about whether mittens are better than gloves, and I'm obviously in the camp that thinks mittens are better," she said.

"Your fingers need to work together to keep your hands warm, and in mittens, they can be together. In gloves, they can't."

Ellis and her partner began making mittens years ago as a side hustle...

But after having kids, it was difficult to keep up.

Ellis has admired Sanders for a long time...

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Saying: "As a public school teacher, I can see how what he says about school debt forgiveness and free education and a lot of things he talks about in his policies make sense for people."

She made a connection through the senator's daughter-in-law Liza Driscoll, who was the director of the preschool where Ellis' daughter went.

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"When he lost the bid for the Democratic nominations in 2016, I was really heartbroken for him because I felt like he probably wouldn't run again.

"I thought, 'I'd like to make him a pair of mittens.' And I did," she said. "I totally remember the night I did it. I was thinking to myself, 'Is this crazy? I don't even know this guy.' But I wanted to make them for him, so I did."

"I'm really honored he wore them today. The fact that he's still wearing them is delightful and flattering," Ellis said.

"There were people at the inauguration wearing clothing from world-famous designers. Then there was Bernie, wearing my mittens.

"All my friends and family have the same mittens as Bernie, too, so I think they all feel just a touch of fame — which is fun," she added.

Mostly, Ellis just feels appreciated...

"When you are a maker of things, when you create things — art or clothes or whatever you make — you never know where they're going to go. And the fact that these mittens were made with the sewing machine my mother gave me when I was twelve-years-old and with wool that somebody else had thrown away, and they made it all the way to one of the most historic inaugurations of my lifetime," she said. "It just delights me."

But even with the heartwarming story behind the fashion trend...

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Not everyone was happy with the recognition Sanders was getting.

A teacher from a San Francisco high school recently gave her opinion on what she believes was a display of "white privilege" by the senator.

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Ingrid Seyer-Ochi, a former UC Berkeley professor, wrote a piece for the San Francisco Chronicle in which she revealed that the topic came up during a class discussion about the inauguration.

But rather than discussing surface-level topics, they turned their focus to underlying elements such as diversity and discrimination in the States.

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But Bernie Sanders' name did not even crop up until he became a viral sensation.

That's when Seyer-Ochi (fourth from the left) started investigating the possible reasons behind it.

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"I puzzled and fumed as an individual as I strove to be my best possible teacher. What did I see? What did I think my students should see?" Seyer-Ochi wrote in her piece.

She continued:

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"A wealthy, incredibly well-educated and -privileged white man, showing up for perhaps the most important ritual of the decade, in a puffy jacket and huge mittens."

She also added this:

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"[That the outfit] manifests privilege, white privilege, male privilege, and class privilege, in ways that my students could see and feel."

​She then started discussing what would happen if someone with less privilege tried to pull a stunt like that...

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"I don't know many poor, or working-class, or female, or struggling-to-be-taken-seriously folk who would show up at the inauguration of our 46th president dressed like Bernie."

Of course, many people were shocked at the reach, stating that it's a very confusing way of looking at things...

On Twitter, one user wrote: "So Bernie represents the terrible privilege of the white & rich because he *reads article* didn't wear expensive clothes."

Definitely, a controversial, borderline performative opinion... Let's direct our focus to actual solutions that can help racial/gender equality, please.

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