Why Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote - Michelle Alexander/TheNation

[WillyT]

Why Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote
From the crime bill to welfare reform, policies Bill Clinton enacted—and Hillary Clinton supported—decimated black America.
By Michelle Alexander - TheNation
Yesterday 6:00 am


Hillary and Bill Clinton in 1992. (Reuters Pictures)

<snip>

Hillary Clinton loves black people. And black people love Hillary—or so it seems. Black politicians have lined up in droves to endorse her, eager to prove their loyalty to the Clintons in the hopes that their faithfulness will be remembered and rewarded. Black pastors are opening their church doors, and the Clintons are making themselves comfortably at home once again, engaging effortlessly in all the usual rituals associated with “courting the black vote,” a pursuit that typically begins and ends with Democratic politicians making black people feel liked and taken seriously. Doing something concrete to improve the conditions under which most black people live is generally not required.

Hillary is looking to gain momentum on the campaign trail as the primaries move out of Iowa and New Hampshire and into states like South Carolina, where large pockets of black voters can be found. According to some polls, she leads Bernie Sanders by as much as 60 percent among African Americans. It seems that we—black people—are her winning card, one that Hillary is eager to play.

And it seems we’re eager to get played. Again.

The love affair between black folks and the Clintons has been going on for a long time. It began back in 1992, when Bill Clinton was running for president. He threw on some shades and played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show. It seems silly in retrospect, but many of us fell for that. At a time when a popular slogan was “It’s a black thing, you wouldn’t understand,” Bill Clinton seemed to get us. When Toni Morrison dubbed him our first black president, we nodded our heads. We had our boy in the White House. Or at least we thought we did.

Black voters have been remarkably loyal to the Clintons for more than 25 years. It’s true that we eventually lined up behind Barack Obama in 2008, but it’s a measure of the Clinton allure that Hillary led Obama among black voters until he started winning caucuses and primaries. Now Hillary is running again. This time she’s facing a democratic socialist who promises a political revolution that will bring universal healthcare, a living wage, an end to rampant Wall Street greed, and the dismantling of the vast prison state—many of the same goals that Martin Luther King Jr. championed at the end of his life. Even so, black folks are sticking with the Clinton brand.

What have the Clintons done to earn such devotion? Did they take extreme political risks to defend the rights of African Americans? Did they courageously stand up to right-wing demagoguery about black communities? Did they help usher in a new era of hope and prosperity for neighborhoods devastated by deindustrialization, globalization, and the disappearance of work?

No. Quite the opposite.

When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992...

<snip>

More: http://www.thenation.com/article/hillary-clinton-does-not-deserve-black-peoples-votes/

[99th_Monkey]

1. K&R One fantastic & compelling article. n/t

[RufusTFirefly]

2. K & R! n/t

[amborin]

3. Hillary championed the era of mass incarceration of POC, draconian & discriminatory drug laws & sent

sentencing, the "three strikes" bill, etc.

Her votes have immeasurably harmed POC above all, and her racist statements and behavior reveal her true sentiments.

[tokenlib]

12. And the for profit prison companies loved it...n/t

[cascadiance]

4. This article has a lot of insightful reflection on the two candidates...

... and tries to take a pragmatic look at what needs to be done without playing one side's drums too much.

I'm not sure I quite go along with the writers' desire for Bernie to run outside the Democratic Party. Bernie is doing this as a pragmatic solution, so that he just doesn't get written off as an evil spoiler the way Nader was from the 2000 election. Our system was set up so that it is just about impossible with its current setup for a third party candidate to win. I think if we were to put in place instant runoff voting and make that apply to presidential election too, then she might have a point there. Neither of the two major parties will do this unless we put heavy grass roots pressure on them to do so. Bernie, if elected, perhaps would be the only president in recent memory that might sign such an election reform bill in to law, that could pave the way for more meaningful third party participation in our political process in the future. It's also why the Tea Party is working within the Republican Party and not running as a separate third party as well. They know the game too.

Reparations the way they've been looked at over the years have had differing opinions on them, but perhaps the history that has peopel wanting them should be discussed in coming congresses to see if a reasonable solution from everyone's point of view can be found.

There will be a lot of people looking for "corrective" changes in our economy, not just from a racial perspective, but economically we are due for a reversal of the long term wealth redistribution that has fattened the wallets of the uber wealthy at all of our expense.

[WillyT]

5. Kick !!!

[John Poet]

6. Kicking it.

And R.

[Logical]

7. This will leave a mark! Nt

[Octafish]

8. Kick for Democracy.

And Just Us.

 It is difficult to overstate the damage that’s been done. Generations have been lost to the prison system; countless families have been torn apart or rendered homeless; and a school-to-prison pipeline has been born that shuttles young people from their decrepit, underfunded schools to brand-new high-tech prisons.

SOURCE: http://www.thenation.com/article/hillary-clinton-does-not-deserve-black-peoples-votes/

ALL Americans deserve better.

[WillyT]

9. Funny How This One Didn't Get Much Response, Eh ???

[cali]

10. k&r

[JonLeibowitz]

11. K&R !! HUGE THANKS, WillyT!

[uponit7771]

13. A Sanders surrogate Cornell West called Obama "n-word-izzed" why in the world would Sanders be

... better?

[Electric Monk]

14. Does it make me racist to want this artilcle to be cross-posted in the AA group?

Last time I posted there, that was the inference of some of the regulars about my intent...

[SidDithers]

15. Kick...nt

Sid