Hillary Clinton’s “white humility” (op-ed)
Recently, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton spoke at Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. Sharpton’s organization represents the older civil rights establishment or “The Black vote.”
Earlier in Clinton’s campaign, she insulted the younger “Black Lives Matter” generation at a black church when she innocently said, “All lives matter.”
This inclusive remark was condemned because it “white washed” the specific ill-treatment blacks endured in a country founded on the principle of inalienable rights bestowed to all, some even said “All Lives matter” was a new racial slur.
Clinton’s remark was politically careless. It deviated from a party strategy that treated minorities as interest groups with unique problems that required special attention from the federal government. Under that plan inclusive phrases (like we’re all Americans) are divisive. They diminished the group and uplifted the individual.
Since Clinton’s display of “inclusive racism” her campaign rallies have been disrupted by protesters demanding apologies. (Not for the “all lives matter” comment, but for past policies that disproportionately harmed blacks.)
Now she was in a black setting without the threat of disruption, she needed to be clear not careless.
Clinton said, “It’s time we face up to the reality of systemic racism.”
And she announced a $125 billion “Breaking Every Barrier” agenda. Clinton said, “It has to start with a strategy to create more good jobs. So my plan devotes $20 billion specifically to help young people find work and $5 billion to help people who have paid their debt to society find jobs and support when they get out of prison.”
She stuck to the old party strategy.
She acknowledged a specific grievance of the group -- systemic racism, stressed “breaking barriers”, which are embedded in hiring practices, but plans to appropriate funds for a massive employment search.
Great, but how is that a strategy to create jobs?
Either Clinton believes systemic racism is so discouraging that it has handicapped the proper search for employment and this psychological damage is the first barrier that needs to be broken in poor black communities, or her agenda is job creation for Sharpton’s audience, who are what E. Franklin Frazier labeled: The Black Bourgeoisie, and they’ll be able to give back to their community by assisting in the search for job’s that haven’t been created, especially for those that paid their debt to society.
Then she said, “White Americans need to do a much better job of listening when African-Americans talk about … Seen and unseen barriers,” and whites, “need to recognize privilege and practice humility rather than assume our experiences are everyone else’s experiences. We need to try … To imagine what it would be like … If people followed us around stores or locked their car doors when we passed.”
Apparently “white humility” was the new strategy developed after the black church controversy.
The strategist figured the “Black Lives Matter” generation doesn’t distinguish between privilege and “white pride”. “White pride” doesn’t honor European ancestry, it promotes the superiority of “whiteness”, “white privilege” is a term used to address racism, but it’s rooted in class envy, and practicing “white humility” allows black lives to matter (a false sense of significance ) while pacifying the protesters.
Clinton concluded, “I believe that Democrats have a special obligation. If we’re going to ask African-Americans to vote for us, we can’t take your vote for granted.”
This wasn’t the apology the “Black Lives Matter” generation sought.
It was an admission of guilt for decades of neglect by a recognizer of privilege but instead of feeling humiliated the “Black vote” applauded her “white humility”.
First published in the New Pittsburgh courier 4/20/16
Earlier in Clinton’s campaign, she insulted the younger “Black Lives Matter” generation at a black church when she innocently said, “All lives matter.”
This inclusive remark was condemned because it “white washed” the specific ill-treatment blacks endured in a country founded on the principle of inalienable rights bestowed to all, some even said “All Lives matter” was a new racial slur.
Clinton’s remark was politically careless. It deviated from a party strategy that treated minorities as interest groups with unique problems that required special attention from the federal government. Under that plan inclusive phrases (like we’re all Americans) are divisive. They diminished the group and uplifted the individual.
Since Clinton’s display of “inclusive racism” her campaign rallies have been disrupted by protesters demanding apologies. (Not for the “all lives matter” comment, but for past policies that disproportionately harmed blacks.)
Now she was in a black setting without the threat of disruption, she needed to be clear not careless.
Clinton said, “It’s time we face up to the reality of systemic racism.”
And she announced a $125 billion “Breaking Every Barrier” agenda. Clinton said, “It has to start with a strategy to create more good jobs. So my plan devotes $20 billion specifically to help young people find work and $5 billion to help people who have paid their debt to society find jobs and support when they get out of prison.”
She stuck to the old party strategy.
She acknowledged a specific grievance of the group -- systemic racism, stressed “breaking barriers”, which are embedded in hiring practices, but plans to appropriate funds for a massive employment search.
Great, but how is that a strategy to create jobs?
Either Clinton believes systemic racism is so discouraging that it has handicapped the proper search for employment and this psychological damage is the first barrier that needs to be broken in poor black communities, or her agenda is job creation for Sharpton’s audience, who are what E. Franklin Frazier labeled: The Black Bourgeoisie, and they’ll be able to give back to their community by assisting in the search for job’s that haven’t been created, especially for those that paid their debt to society.
Then she said, “White Americans need to do a much better job of listening when African-Americans talk about … Seen and unseen barriers,” and whites, “need to recognize privilege and practice humility rather than assume our experiences are everyone else’s experiences. We need to try … To imagine what it would be like … If people followed us around stores or locked their car doors when we passed.”
Apparently “white humility” was the new strategy developed after the black church controversy.
The strategist figured the “Black Lives Matter” generation doesn’t distinguish between privilege and “white pride”. “White pride” doesn’t honor European ancestry, it promotes the superiority of “whiteness”, “white privilege” is a term used to address racism, but it’s rooted in class envy, and practicing “white humility” allows black lives to matter (a false sense of significance ) while pacifying the protesters.
Clinton concluded, “I believe that Democrats have a special obligation. If we’re going to ask African-Americans to vote for us, we can’t take your vote for granted.”
This wasn’t the apology the “Black Lives Matter” generation sought.
It was an admission of guilt for decades of neglect by a recognizer of privilege but instead of feeling humiliated the “Black vote” applauded her “white humility”.
First published in the New Pittsburgh courier 4/20/16
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