most of the reaction is people seeing the headlines without the complete context.

some of the reaction is people being super-sensitive around the issue and the language used to address it (im not saying theyre right/wrong).

and some of the reaction is people just weaponizing his reply in bad faith.

even while being well-intentioned...bernie has shown some blind spots on race ('ghetto' debate answer, 'identity politics', etc). but this isnt even close to that imo.

he wasnt saying black people get shot because they arent respectful. he was saying you gotta play by their rules to get out of there alive. basically what black parents tell our children.

the question was framed around him hypothetically having a black son so i think he tried to humanize/familiarize the language at the start as if he was talking to his kid.