He reminded me of a fascinating college professor that was incredibly smart, but loud, less personable, and told you what to think and not how to think. Then, over time, I learned more about Sanders' positions, his history of fighting for civil rights, and I began to realize that Bernie's less "shaking of hands and kissing babies" routine was not a reflection of incompetence, but of his authenticity.

So, I have been wondering something along the lines of what you said here, and I would love to have feedback from someone who is African American on it, as I am not.

Years ago I took an African American language class in which I learned that the area in communication where there is most likely to be a misunderstanding between cultures is in non-verbal communication - posture, expression, vocal inflection, and other communication-related behaviors. It is the non-verbal aspects of communication that we are noticing, usually subconsciously or semi-consciously, to determine if we can relate to someone, like them and trust them.

As example of where misunderstanding could occur between Americans of African descent and those of European descent is this: When two people are approaching each other, say walking down a street, so that they are going to walk past each other, when they are about six feet apart - for whites it is friendly to look up and make eye contact, but for blacks it is intrusive or disrespectful to make eye contact, and more respectful to avert one's gaze. (At least that's what I was told.)

So my point is, subtle behaviors such as this can lead one person to have a totally different feeling about another person, based on the "rules" of non-verbal communication that they learned, most likely subconsciously, from their parents and formative community.

And then secondly, just based on my own experience, and please correct me if you think I'm wrong, it seems to me that manners and congeniality are more important to African Americans, especially older African Americans, than to European Americans. And Bernie Sanders is NOT Miss Congeniality. He is a little unkempt, socially abrupt, and prone to yelling.

So, while I'm not suggesting African Americans can't look past these things once they get to know him and his policies, I am wondering if Bernie Sanders' mannerisms are more off-putting at first glance to African Americans than to European Americans. What do you think?