2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWill Hillary be Good for African-Americans?
I saw this article and it looked at my concerns and showed Clinton's record on the issues that affect African-Americans. It doesn't look good.
I don't have a lot of other choices, but I don't think Hillary Clinton has my best interests at heart.
http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2015/04/12/hillary-clinton-good-for-white-feminism/
Heres a very incomplete, yet still telling, run-down on Clintons résumé to date:
Despite trumpeting her work on behalf of mothers and children, she and her husband worked to reduce federal assistance to women and children living in poverty. In her book, Living History, Clinton touts her role: By the time Bill and I left the White House, welfare rolls had dropped 60 percent. This 60% drop was not due to a 60% decrease in poverty. Instead, it was a reduction in federal benefits to those living in poverty, many of them working poor, like those employed at Wal-Mart.
Clinton sat on the board of Wal-Mart between 1986 and 1992, where she says she learned a lot from Sam Walton, and she remained silent while the corporation fought the unionization of its workers.
In Michelle Alexanders book, The New Jim Crow, she notes that it was Hillary Clinton who lobbied Congress to expand the drug war and mass incarceration in ways that we continue to live with today, and that have a significantly more harmful impact on black and brown people than white people. According to The Drug Policy Alliance, people of color are much more likely to be stopped, searched, arrested, convicted, harshly sentenced and saddled with a lifelong criminal record due to being unfairly targeted for drug law violations. Even though white people and people of color use drugs at about the same rates, it is black and brown peoples bodies that continue to fuel the machine of mass incarceration.
As Secretary of State, Clinton left a legacy that included both a hawkish inclination to recommend the use of military force coupled with turning the state department into a machine for promoting U.S. business. This does not bode well for black and brown people in other parts of the world, since the US is not likely to attack Western Europe under a (second) Clinton presidency, but some region of the world with people who do not have light-colored skin tones.
peacebird
(14,195 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)qwlauren35
(6,150 posts)It would help if you could discuss your question within the context of the article. There are several things that she has done which have hurt our community.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Yes, there have been welfare reform, giving training to those in need so as to develop skills to be able to have jobs of the able bodied. I don't think Hillary wants to see someone have to rely on welfare but to better themselves and have an opportunity to provide for themselves and their families. Do you have a problem with getting training so as to be able to provide for yourself?
qwlauren35
(6,150 posts)African-Americans need a lot more than just "civil rights".
As for "Welfare", notice that Obama has constantly extended the FoodStamp program. Very much the opposite of the Clinton effort to take people off of welfare.
The policy positions and legislative moves Hillary has made have hurt us. Maybe she will have a paradigm shift and reverse her positions on some of these things. At this point, it's early. And I am waiting to see what she will do to reach out to the black community. It would not be in her best interest if we stay at home.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)counter and eat, was for rights of blacks to go to what was all white universities, was the removal of a water fountain which said colored only or white only, for the right for blacks to get jobs where there was white only hired before and yes voting rights was a part of it. I am surprised this is not a known fact.
peacebird
(14,195 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)qwlauren35
(6,150 posts)I'm not sure why you keep bring up her marching instead of discussing the points in the article.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)For promotion of women. This is an example of her advocating for women yet left out, is this intentional?
qwlauren35
(6,150 posts)No one denies that Hillary will be good for women.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)Darb
(2,807 posts)Or a unicorn? Which do you prefer? Or a leprechaun, that's it.
craigmatic
(4,510 posts)Obama has done much for us either come to think of it. If anything things have gotten worse for blacks as a result of whites being pissed off that he's in office.
qwlauren35
(6,150 posts)It troubles me. I didn't see it coming until the Tea Party formed. I knew they would go after him. I think we're all surprised that he's still alive, especially with all of the mess that the Secret Service has done. However, they aren't releasing stats on how many attempts have been thwarted. Maybe one of them will write a book when it's over.
So, we need to regain our ground, some how recover from the results of the Tea Party. Maybe it will crash and burn once he's out of office. I'm not sure. Trayvon Martin really reflected the polarization of our nation. Yes, we have a black president, but some of those who didn't vote for him, REALLY hate him, and hating black people has become remarkably acceptable.
Thanks for writing.
BKH70041
(961 posts)The AA community has already consistently demonstrated they'll vote Democratic 90%+ of the time. There's no threat of abandonment. There's nothing there that says if the party doesn't tend to their needs they're going to bolt to the Republicans, or that they won't show up at the polls. That Obama will be campaigning for whoever the Democratic nominee is virtually assures the party will receive 90%+ of the AA vote again.
There's no incentive to act differently or to make anything but the standard promises (wink, wink). These voters start flocking to the Republicans, then that's a different story. But to borrow the cliché, the chances of that are slim and none, and slim just left town.
qwlauren35
(6,150 posts)Right now, it's "Hillary" vs. "Someone who will better serve our interests".
I think I'm waiting to see what Hillary offers us vs. somebody else.
BKH70041
(961 posts)There's no incentive to follow-thru for any candidate because there's no threat of abandonment. Hillary or any candidate can promise the world, and then ignore it after the election. There's no punishment for non-delivery.
Al Sharpton said in a presidential debate once he was tired of AA's being asked and taken to the prom by the D party only for the D party to go home with someone else. Why the AA community has allowed that to go on year after year after year is a mystery to me.
Someone answers that question with something other than the lie of But that's not the case and I'll gladly listen.
qwlauren35
(6,150 posts)Having Maya Angelou and Magic Johnson on the bandwagon is not the same as having an agenda for the African American community. A friend of mine on Facebook suggested the following:
African Americans [need] equal access to constitutional rights, jobs that pay well, access to higher education, clean and safe communities as well as affordable housing, an opportunity to acquire a K-12 education in a clean and safe learning community.
I paraphrased somewhat.
In my opinion, Hillary lost South Carolina in 2008 because she didn't reach out enough to our community. She could make the same mistake this time and lose the Southern States to a candidate who is more appealing to African-American voters.
Your post reminds me how much Democrats take the African-American vote for granted, AND how much power we therefore have in the primaries, if we use it consistently.
Splinter Cell
(703 posts)"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on." "Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again."
"There's a pattern emerging here."
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)Andrew Cuomo: Obama shucking and jiving
Sid Blumenthal: Racist emails.
Billy Shaheen: Obama drug dealer.
Geraldine Ferraro: If Obama was white he wouldn't be in this position
Bob Kerrey: Obama Muslim
Hillary struggles against sexism but regularly plays the race card.
http://www.alternet.org/story/84150/hillary_struggles_against_sexism_but_regularly_plays_race_card
Gee, I can't think of a single reason why the AA community might not flock to Hillary.