Bill Clinton's Black Lives Matter Comments Were Revealingly Honest

[Jefferson23]

For once we got to see a white person who's done real harm to our community say what he truly believes

By Lincoln Blades April 8, 2016


Bill Clinton tussled with Black Lives Matter protesters while campaigning for his wife Thursday. Ricky Fitchett/Zuma

When I was 9 years old, my sister and I snuck downstairs to watch TV after my parents fell asleep and, unbeknownst to us, witnessed an event that fundamentally changed American culture: Bill Clinton playing the saxophone on Arsenio Hall.

To the I-don't-remember-a-time-before-wifi generation, this event means little. But for those of us who are a bit older, we understand the significance of that night: It was the moment the black community fell in love with William Jefferson Clinton — a love that's lasted almost 25 years, despite the excessive harm he's inflicted on our community.

When I saw Bill Clinton this week lose his cool with Black Lives Matter protesters, get emotional and throw caution (and his notes) to the wind, I thought it was the most awesome thing I'd seen all week. Don't get me wrong: What he said was a load of BS, at best mirroring a MADtv sketch ("I'll tell you another story about a place where black lives matter: Africa!&quot and at worst resembling a Trump supporter hopped up on hate, peer pressure and mob mentality. When Clinton said, "You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter. Tell the truth. You are defending the people who cause young people to go out and take guns," he sounded less like the man we once lovingly referred to as the "first black president" and more like someone vying for a Fox News show.

But what was so awesome about his rant was the fact that, for once, we got to see under the veneer of white, liberal political correctness — we got to see a white person with power who's done real harm to our community say what he truly believes. And as a black person, there's nothing I appreciate more than white people being upfront and honest about their problematic beliefs.

While conservatives often make no bones about being openly xenophobic and racist, there's something unsettling about the way many white liberals interact with people of color. Often, liberals are so well-versed on the polite conventions of respectable and appropriate speech that they can become talking-point robots rather than individuals who have their own set of beliefs. This applies to how straight liberals often address the LGBTQ community, how upper- and upper-middle-class people address the poor, and how white people address people of color. There's nothing scarier for a minority than not really knowing what the person across from them actually thinks about their intrinsic worth and their fight against oppression. Bill Clinton, a man we in the black community have faithfully supported for decades while being actively ignored by presidential candidates or used as fodder to advance racist stereotypes for political gain (e.g., Ronald Reagan's "welfare queens&quot , has finally revealed himself in all his glory — and it was an absolutely amazing sight to behold.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bill-clintons-black-lives-matter-comments-were-revealingly-honest-20160408#ixzz45I99evPU

[nichomachus]

1. When the masks slip, the Clintons are ugly. nt

[Jefferson23]

3. Yes, definitely..but they're "real" Democrats or some such bullshit. lol

[SoLeftIAmRight]

13. here he is - happy as can be

[noiretextatique]

2. I left the D party because of him

And his cynical race manipulations. I am not one of those black people who faithfully supported him. Or his wife.

[Jefferson23]

4. Hillary Clinton is the most cynical politician in the Democratic Party, imo...no doubt in

my mind. To think they could both be back in the WH is unreal to me.

[TM99]

5. I refused to join the Democratic Party because of him.

I got to see enough of him and his wife in Arkansas while stationed there in the 1980's to know all I needed to know about the Clintons, saxophone playing be damned.

[noiretextatique]

6. +1000

Everybody did not drink Clinton's koolaid.

[TM99]

8. Sadly, far too many did so.

[noiretextatique]

15. It is sad

If they were Republicans...

[daleanime]

11. He failed to drive me out....

but I'm worried that his wife will.

[noiretextatique]

14. Joined the Green Party

But, I have voted for Democrats, but Hillary will be a tough one for me. I hope I can vote for Bernie.

[daleanime]

16. Amen....

[Chicago1980]

21. The Green Party... Woo Hoo...

They've gotten a lot done and have made hell of an impact... NOT!

[noiretextatique]

23. And your point?

Independents are the majority of US voters.

[Chan790]

7. I think so.

Bil Clinton outed himself as just another bigot from Dixie.

[Chicago1980]

18. How was he wrong?

[Chan790]

29. I don't even fundimentally know how to respond to that...

that what he said was so patently offensive that I cannot discern how anybody here could not be offended by it unless they were themselves a racist, willfully-blind to its racism because it was said by Bill Clinton, mentally-defective, or trolling.

I'm going to assume that you're in some 5th category that I have missed. It is however not my job to hold your hand through contemplation of racist acts by individuals asserting privilege or paternal standing over minority communities or telling them how to be appropriately integrated into Caucasian-normative society.

What Bill Clinton said wasn't just racist and assertion of white privilege...it was possibly the most racist and privileged thing a prominent Democrat in presidential politics has said since the Civil Rights era. I expect Bill Clinton's racism from Donald Trump, not Bill Clinton.

[Chicago1980]

32. Your bedroom diagnosis is hilarious.

I wasn't really offended by what he said. It may have come out harsh and with him being white, it had a flavor of being condescending, but he wasn't all wrong.

Assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups. I'm quite aware of white privilege and with me not being white, I have none.

But I'll also say that Black Lives Matter could also potentially make an impact by addressing the issues within the black community too. Maybe they have in some aspects as I don't really follow them, but I know that the shootings are up and the killing are up in this city, and it's not not being done by the melanin challenged folk.

[Nyan]

9. I have to say, the way he was talking about "black on black crime"

reminded me of a certain conservative commentator who also goes by the name Bill. It was very revealing indeed.

[Chicago1980]

20. As a black person who remembers the 1990's,

the killings and shootings in the inner cities were awful. Kids were being gunned down on their way to school from the tops of high-rises (Dantrell Davis).

You had gang members killing younger gang members (Yummie Sandifer).

The way he was talking wasn't totally off the mark.

[noiretextatique]

25. As a black person who remembers the 90's

I think playing into white hysteria about crime was bullshit then, and now.

[Chicago1980]

31. There were over 900 murders in the City of Chicago one year.

It's not hysteria when it's your kid being shot (I don't have any, I'm just saying).

I was young, but I remember it.

There were gang snipers, at least here.

[noiretextatique]

33. Yeah...I'm from Compton

And that superpredator theory was racist bullshit then and now. How many non-violent felons got caught up in three strikes?

[Chicago1980]

34. Was three strikes federal or state?

I honestly don't know.

I'm sure a lot of non-violent felons got caught up.

[noiretextatique]

35. Mass incarceration, federal or state?

3 strikes probably is state. The point is: they set the tone.

[billhicks76]

10. Truth Shines Through His Senility

[Chicago1980]

19. Senility?

TV diagnosis like the republicans did with Terri Schiavo.

[draa]

12. Have two people ever been more wrong about shit than the Clintons?

Welfare Reform
Free Trade
Bank Deregulation
Iraq War
Patriot Act
Fracking

The list goes on and on. And on every single issue they've been on the wrong side of history and morality. It's astounding that people can't see how terrible these people would be for this country. Again.

[Volaris]

17. They were not wrong...sort of

They needed (legitimately, I'll admit) democratic party funding parity with Republicans after the peak of the conservative counter-revolution reached its peak with the election of Saint Ronnie of RayGun...and they found it by doing the bidding of the profit-driven greedmongers on Wall Street.

I will never fault bill OR Hillary for mastering the political environment of bills day.

I WILL fault the System that required their mastery, and its why I voted for Sanders in the Primary. I want that system CHANGED.

[passiveporcupine]

22. When I saw that, my first thought was

What the hell is he doing? Is this supposed to be GOOD for Hillary?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw it.

[elljay]

24. Good post

Thanks for the perspective!

[PatrynXX]

26. never quite understood why whoever owns Any Day Now

has not released the series to dvd or streaming. it tackles white on black black on white issues head on. and I still haven't seen a tv show do that since.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0161233/combined

[gabeana]

27. Only disagreement with article

I never considered Bill a liberal and neither did he

[Major Hogwash]

28. It was as if Bubba thought he was back on the golf course . . .

. . . talking to George H.W. Bush about the "Negro problem" in Amerika.



I can't stand listening to either one of them.

[Chan790]

30. Pretty sure GHWB refers to them as "coloreds"

Although, the paternalist bullshit is spot-on.