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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsC. Pierce : "This Is Mighty White of You" (re: Hillary on Ferguson)
"Hillary Clinton finally said something about recent events in Ferguson, Missouri. What she said appears to have been written by nine consultants, eight people from marketing, seven lawyers, six ESL valedictorians, and Mark Penn. She feels very bad about the stuff that happened, as stuff sometimes will happen, because it is stuff, and it happens. Or something.
This summer, the eyes of our country and indeed the world have been focused on one community in the middle of the American heartland, Ferguson, Missouri. Watching the recent funeral for Michael Brown, as a mother, as a human being, my heart just broke for his family, because losing a child is every parent's greatest fear and an unimaginable loss. But I also grieve for that community and for many like it across our country. Behind the dramatic, terrible pictures on television, are deep challenges that will be with them and with us long after the cameras move on. This is what happens when the bonds of trust and respect that hold any community together fray. Nobody wants to see our streets look like a war zone, not in America. We are better than that. We saw our country's true character in the community leaders that came out to protest peacefully and worked to restrain violence. The young people who insisted on having their voices heard and in the many decent and respectful law enforcement officers who showed what quality law enforcement looks like. Men and women who serve and protect their communities with courage and professionalism, who inspire trust, rather than fear. We need more of that, because we can do better.
What is our country's "true character," at least as it is defined by the people in authority, is a heavily militarized police force made up of trigger-happy yahoos who consider any black person a threat? Why isn't that just as plausible an interpretation of recent events? Because America, fk yeah!? Try again.
We can't ignore the inequities that persist in our justice system that undermine our most deeply held values of fairness and equality. Imagine what he with would feel and what we would do if white drivers were three times as likely to be searched by police during a traffic stop as black drivers. Instead of the other way around; if white offenders received prison sentences 10 percent longer than black offenders for the same crimes; if a third of all white men, just look at this room and take one-third, went to prison during their lifetime. Imagine that. That is the reality in the lives of so many of our fellow Americans and so many of the communities in which they live.
I applaud President Obama for sending the attorney general to Ferguson and demanding a thorough and speedy investigation, to find out what happened, to see that justice is done, to help this community begin healing itself. We should all add our voices to those that have come together in recent days to work for peace, justice and reconciliation in Ferguson, and beyond, to stand against violence and for the values that we cherish. We can do better.
I don't have to imagine it. I know it, because it is actually happening. Thank you for noticing."
(Needs to be read completely for full impact)
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/A_Day_Late_And_A_Couple_Of_Million_Short
Faux pas
(14,681 posts)and blah hillary.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)She is so experienced and so giving of herself to so many causes and all she gets is grief. Where is O'Mally's press release? She is in a cometely unfair situation.
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)eridani
(51,907 posts)Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)starroute
(12,977 posts)That's the whole problem with taking three weeks and then issuing a focus-group-worthy statement rather than speaking from the heart.
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)She wrote a good statement, so it couldn't possibly be her own beliefs. Because she's just not smart enough without those focus groups? Because she's female? Because . . . .
rock
(13,218 posts)They're hypocrites you know! What do we call Democrats that do it?
Wella
(1,827 posts)And when politicians speak off the cuff, they get hammered for anything that goes slightly outside of the lines. I don't blame someone of her political ambitions for getting a well crafted statement.
starroute
(12,977 posts)It's taking three weeks and then coming up with something that could almost be an Onion satire on how to say absolutely nothing while seeming to be making a heartfelt statement.
Wella
(1,827 posts)I haven't heard Biden make a statement either, and he has been making noises about running in 2016.
rock
(13,218 posts)on Ferguson. So settle down.
I'm on record seeking a non-Hillary nominee for 2016, but I don't see any need to bash her when she issues a statement I agree with.
el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)reflected America's True Character? What would be the results of her making that speech?
I'm not a politician but it seems like that might go poorly.
Bryant
loyalsister
(13,390 posts)She didn't say imagine if that is the numbers and experiences of injustice are what you have in the forefront of your mind as you raise your children in a world that is not friendly to their skin tone.
Making sure people feel comfortable with not knowing the whole story is a way of not alienating people who would rather not know all the facts.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)get stopped, harassed, and arrested by police--maybe accosted or killed--is the point!
Is it cognitive dissonance or willful denial?
loyalsister
(13,390 posts)And, maybe self-preservation\defensiveness. I know people who say they don't pay attention to politics because they don't want to know that anything bad happens in the world because they will get too upset. Maybe there's something similar going on. I find it offensive that they don't seem to be concerned that there are people who have no choice.
I have been especially frustrated with a friend whose adopted son is black. After Trayvon Martin was murdered, I asked her if she was able to have black friends talk with him or anything. She basically said that because her church and family welcome him she's not worried about it. I wanted to tell her that privilege may transfer in some ways, but at the end of the day, he shares many of the experiences of Trayvon Martin and all other young black men in this country but I knew it would fall on deaf ears. It really pissed me off!
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)tblue37
(65,408 posts)The adopted black son of a white mother who never thought she needed to have that talk with him was almost killed by the cops during a traffic stop after the cops found pot on his *white* passenger, NOT even on him!
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)for Charlie Pierce. Always.
Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)Really, Hillary? I must have missed that somehow.
malthaussen
(17,204 posts)Has an odd ring to me. Is law enforcement a product? Well, I guess to some, everything is a product. But it could be just me. I'm finding a lot of expressions ring oddly to me lately.
-- Mal
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)in the oxymoron department.
conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)Politics 101. Big deal.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)She's the clear front runner for the WH in 2016 and won't do anything to upset anyone (except liberals of course). The only reason she said anything was so she could say she said something.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)it or not.
This entire article is a silly forced attack on Hillary.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)this gutless dribble!
Egnever
(21,506 posts)stevenleser
(32,886 posts)Corey_Baker08
(2,157 posts)The Clinton bashing is getting out of control, this dont feel like DU anymore....
NYC Liberal
(20,136 posts)She can do no right by some people.
If she says the "wrong" thing, she's evil and soulless.
If she says the "right" thing, she's just a conniving politician only saying what needs to be said to get elected.
And if all else fails, she said it too soon. Or too late. Or used one wrong word. Or enunciated incorrectly. Or wore the wrong thing while saying it. Or said it in the wrong place. Or said it to the wrong audience.
CDS was old in the '90s.
tblue37
(65,408 posts)I do think that a lot of the criticism directed at her is similar to the squawking about Obama's tan suit. Nothing she does or doesn't do will ever be considered acceptable.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)"This is mighty white of you"? No offense, Mr. Pierce, but your article could use a title change there.....
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Not a word about the need to end the militarization itself, the role of corporate government in creating that militarization, or the stomping on the Constitutional right to protest that this garbage reveals.
LittleBlue
(10,362 posts)There is a big difference between being attacked by liberals and the Teahadists. If you're attacked by Sean Hannity, the Koch brothers, Fox Noise, Breitbart, that is a badge of honor. She shouldn't be afraid of being attacked by racist lunatics.
She's being attacked by liberals because it appears she is too afraid to stand up for what is right. Yet come election time, she'll be asking for the black vote when she didn't support them in their hour of need.
Hillary is not a leader.
justiceischeap
(14,040 posts)Just not the kind of leader you want.
There are always going to be people who see HRC as the devil incarnate and nothing she says or does will be right. IMO, it's no different than people attacking President Obama for not wearing a tie or wearing a tan suit. Republicans aren't the only ones who can be petty with their criticism.
Don't want HRC as the Democratic candidate? Then don't vote for her in the primaries should she actually run. But don't be like the friggin Republicans and tear her down cause you got nothing better to do. Talk about a viable candidate instead because sure as shit, if a Republican wins the White House next time around, we're going to wish it was Hillary instead.
LittleBlue
(10,362 posts)she failed. 29 of her Democratic colleagues found their courage. Ted Kennedy found his courage. Barbara Boxer and Paul Wellstone found theirs. One Republican even found his courage, Lincoln Chafee.
She is incapable of leadership because she has no courage. Words and assurances mean nothing.
dsc
(52,162 posts)and people here would whine it didn't taste any good. She could walk on water and they would say it was because she can't swim. She could turn water into wine and they would complain about the vintage.