So Bill Clinton declared that he’s not a racist this week. He said this in response to criticism over comments he made during the Democratic Primary, particularly after his wife, Hillary, lost to Barack Obama in South Carolina and he accused voters there of voting for Obama simply because he was black.
During the primary, Bill Clinton also claimed that the media used unfair practices while covering his wife. Picture that. Bill Clinton, who had perhaps the most favorable media handling of any president caught in a lie about s*x with an intern in the Oval Office and who was actually impeached said that “a different standard was applied to the finest candidate I ever supported.”
There was a double standard applied to Hillary Clinton by the media?
Was it the same kind of double standard that African Americans face in corporate America? Is it the same kind of double standard applied to African Americans when purchasing a home? Is it the same kind of double standard we find in newsrooms throughout the country in which African Americans are disproportionately underrepresented? Or perhaps, Clinton was referring to the double standard that until now has failed to see any person of color reside in the White House unless they worked in the kitchen.
It’s almost humorous to see a man who has benefited perhaps more than anyone from a positive double standard applied to him during his presidency, now cry foul.
Clinton, dost thou protest too much.
Is Bill Clinton a racist? I don’t know. But I do know his statements on the campaign tour unveiled him. It exposed his true self. It caused Toni Morrison, who labeled him America’s first black president to take it all back.
Is Bill Clinton a racist? I don’t know. I do know that his foundation, which is based in Harlem, has spent a lot of energy and money fighting the spread of AIDS in Rwanda. But it was on Clinton’s watch that between a half million and a million Rwandans lost their lives in an event that at the time America not only refused to acknowledge as genocide, but also refused to step in to stop it.
So it’s nice that he’s fighting AIDS now. It would have been more magnanimous for Clinton to send in peacekeepers to save the 500,000-plus innocent lives in Rwanda in 1994.
Is he racist? I don’t know. I do know that he enjoys the music of Aretha Franklin, the poetry of Maya Angelou. He can play the saxophone and considers Jesse Jackson and Vernon Jordan to be close friends and confidantes. But I know many a racist who claim, “Some of my best friends are black.”
And with friends like Clinton…
Let’s look at his history with being loyal to his so-called black friends:
Remember Lani Guinier? He appointed her to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division. But as soon as opposition arose, he dumped his “good friend.” He dumped good friend Mike Espy, former agriculture secretary when he got into legal trouble. And Jocelyn Elders, his selection for surgeon general, got replaced quickly for talking about masturbation. And I’m still not sure what really happened to Ron Brown.
Is Clinton a racist? I don’t know. Perhaps his condescending attitude toward Obama and black voters during the primary was an anomaly. Perhaps he just got caught with his pants down when Obama whipped Hillary. Perhaps Clinton said some admittedly unfortunate things out of frustration and bewilderment.
But I was taught that adversity defines a person’s character. How a person responds during a crisis or while under duress is how they truly are. Anyone can behave well during good times.
What we saw of Bill Clinton in South Carolina and throughout the campaign was the real Bill Clinton. So is he a racist?
Posted By: Karen Hunter
Wednesday, August 6th 2008 at 2:59PM
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