Bernie Sanders, who was criticized by liberal activists in 2016 for not focusing more on racial injustice
That's pretty ridiculous.
Seems that all anyone can think about is race. Everyone's been whipped up into a frenzy to think that race is the biggest issue in the country. Sanders focused on actual, tangible changes to the quality of life of the populace (though I disagree with his methods), and there is a massive looming issue ahead with the increase in foreign power (Chinese economic and Russian military). But race. That's what we're all squabbling about. And it's so easy to get us riled up about it too. There's no way that isn't being exploited by foreign adversaries, directly or indirectly.
Race is pretty goddamn important in American life and history. It's something that we've fought a war over, we have at least 3 constitutional amendments about it, it helps determine where people live, where they go to school, who they vote for, what church they go to, etc. This idea that it's a side issue or that it's separate from economics and other "real issues" is simply inaccurate and you're gonna be left scratching your head when you can't solve a lot of those issues because you ignored the huge, glaring racial component.
Almost all of the issues of race come down to economics, which Sanders' plans would have addressed.
But most people see race as a huge voting issue not because of some higher educational insight, but because of tribalism and social media. Minority races see themselves as being beholden to a single party who "at least isn't against me" and there's a prominent miasma of white guilt amongst young people who simply don't have the willpower to reconcile the past actions of white people without turning completely self-defeatist. It's all one massive pile of nothing but moral posturing.