"We got to see a white person who's done real harm to our community say what he truly believes."

[Miles Archer]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by etherealtruth (a host of the General Discussion forum).

Bill Clinton's Black Lives Matter Comments Were Revealingly Honest
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

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



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.

[Fairgo]

1. Once you understand the con

You see the true man.

[SoapBox]

13. Exactly.

No...More...Clintons...EVER!

[Betty Karlson]

35. I wouldn't want to exclude Clinton's grandchild from consideration.

Young Mezvinsky has not made any public statements as yet. There is no character to judge. But Daddy and Mommy and Chelsea: out of touch and a threat to various standards I hold dear, like gay rights, world peace, suppressing economic volatility and income disparity, and racial justice (in no particular order).

[jwirr]

16. I have not liked either of them for a long time but the thing

that really opened my eyes was that picture of him and his southern cronies standing with their backs turned to the black prisoners signifying that he would take care of the "black problem". It absolutely made me sick that I could have been so misled so many years ago.

This moment in his speech is like that moment. I apologize to the black community for having helped him do so much to hurt all of you. I voted for him twice.

[grasswire]

25. I have visited many prisons as an activist and advocate for reform.

I have seen first hand the misery and the disproportionate incarceration. I have read 12,000 + letters from prisoners. This episode with WJC is re-traumatizing me. How dare he? HOW DARE HE?

[jwirr]

46. Exactly.

[Thespian2]

2. What the Clintons have done

to people may have been legal...but it is certainly immoral...I forgot, the Clintons don't care much about morality...

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. I wouldn't change my vote due to the candidate's spouse, but the notion of 4 years of Big Dog drama

in the White House again, fills me with trepidation, to say the least.

[Chakab]

6. Why not? Wasn't she co-president?

Funny how she can only claim credit for his actions when it's convenient.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

4. he learned from some monsters

[zentrum]

8. Wow. That's quite

….a photo. Is that Bush Senior sitting next to Wallace? What year is it from?

Bill sure looks comfortable and at home at the Segregationist's table.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

10. i have seen different info - seems to be dated by the woman - she is the third wife married 81

date also from the style of cans

the gathering is in kennebunkport 83?

governors gathering ?

yes he looks happy

[greiner3]

14. "He looks happy"

Ha I'd call it drunk and in love

[rhett o rick]

40. Maybe he accidentally inhaled. nm

[zentrum]

17. I looked

...it up. Yes, 1983.

It's Bill's second term as Governor. So I'm letting this sink in: A Southern Democratic governor doesn't mind being all relaxed and chummy with a notorious bigot. Way past the point where there could be any doubt about what Wallace stood for.

Speaks volumes that Bush would even invite him to the family home, let alone make a point of having the handshake photographed. There are no words.

This ought to go viral.

[redruddyred]

32. i think you're reading too much into this

in addition to being a brilliant politician, monsieur clinton is also a brilliant actor

fdr, a truly great politcian, openly bragged abt borrowing from hollywood. hell, the Rs have made a habit of borrowing an entire actor...

i agree that bill has a disturbing moral ambivalence which is very much wrapped up in being a white man from the south. but these pictures of him shaking hands with trump and other revolting creatures aren't necessarily a signal of acceptance. it just means he knows how to meet people on their level.

but carry on with the necessary political assassinations and highhorsed moral outrage...

[Divernan]

20. Photo credited to Birmingham Post - July 30, 1983

http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/george-wallace/13/


Wallace and his third wife, the former Lisa Taylor, meet with Vice President George Bush and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton at a lobster bake at Bush's residence at Kennebunkport, Maine, July 30, 1983. The third Mrs. Wallace, whom the governor married in 1981, was 30 years his junior and half of a country-western singing duo, Mona and Lisa, who had performed during his campaign in 1968.

Credit: AP/Birmingham Post

The 3rd Mrs. Wallace is looking pretty hot - Wallace wisely kept her seated at a safe distance from Bill. And did Bill leave Hillary at home?

[GliderGuider]

21. Jes' pickin' up some pointers at the monsters' table

Groovin' on the juice with that vacuous, fatuous fucking grin...

I wonder if Poppy told him, "Son, just so long as you don't EVER try to bust up the CIA, you'll be all right. Know what I mean?" With Wallace sitting right there paralyzed in his wheelchair to drive the point home. A real teaching moment.

That photo gives me the cold creeping Willies...

[Betty Karlson]

36. I see Clinton's shmoozing with King George at Nancy's funeral was not a one-off... eom

[GliderGuider]

44. The're both pretty good at schmoozing with the Devil.

[clg311]

5. His actions speak for themselves.

Racist drug war.
Increase in incarceration.
Sanctions against Iraq
Kosovo
NAFTA
Lax regulation of financial sector.
Increase in child poverty due to welfare "reform"
Haiti

Worst president of my life until Bush.

[TimeToGo]

7. Worst till Bush?

You must be no older than 23.

[gollygee]

33. +1000

Either that or a VERY short memory.

[zentrum]

12. Don't forget

…..increasing media conglomeration. Losing media diversity had a huge impact on the functioning of our democracy.

And one more thing—the creation of the Democratic Leadership Council, for what they called "The New Democrat". They'd figured out how to use corporate funding to run their elections—and mostly this involved being Republican with a "D" after their name. The DLC took lots of money from David Koch for its founding. It was a silent coup on the Democratic Party.

[clg311]

23. Exactly.

We have two Republican War parties. The only difference is democrats are liberal on social issues, and even then it's often just identity liberalism. I don't know who is dumber. Democrats who support conservatives like the Clintons and Obama or Republicans who hate them when they support conservative policies.

And I left out Clintons betrayal of Reagan's promise to Gorbachev not to expand NATO.

[greiner3]

15. Rwanda

[jwirr]

19. Rwanda

[GeorgeGist]

9. It's a fascinating time to be alive.

[Miles Archer]

18. Isn't it?

During his first term, Bill Clinton...AND Al Gore...came to the community center on my street in California for a talk. I found this out because I was coming home with groceries in the car and the cops had the street blocked, no through traffic. I showed them my license and told them I had food in the car that was going to spoil if they didn't let me through, so they did.

But these were the Bill Clinton rock star days. That's all people were seeing at the time, the rock star.

Events that followed saddened me, like a lot of people, but I never saw it coming back then. Never.

[Hiraeth]

39. ain't it just!

[Divernan]

11. "a love that's lasted 25 years" - w/ a whole lotta 1-sided cheating goin' on.

He's been as faithful to the black community as he has been to his lawfully wedded wife.

You can just hear that Arkansas drawl: "Who you gonna believe, darlin', me or your lying eyes?"

So who you gonna believe, African Americans, Bill Clinton or the welfare and prison poulation statistics?

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. By their votes for Hillary, I'd say they believe Bill, up to this point.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

34. Even AA's on DU, with all this informtion available. Boggles the mind.

[Kalidurga]

22. He is a disgraced person that some people still defend.

And I will not forget who those people are that defend him.

[Marrah_G]

24. I have to wonder if Pres Clinton is trying to derail his wife's campaign.

Again....

[rhett o rick]

41. No, it's just the hubris speaking. They have contempt for the little people

and think they are entitled to wealth and power.

[HassleCat]

26. We have been conditioned to think that way.

By "we," I mean white Americans. We think we can solve the drug problem in general by figuring out how to stop black people from selling crack cocaine on the street corners. We think we can stop murders by executing more black murderers. We live in fear of walking the streets because some black guy in a hoodie might pull out his boom box and play rap music at us. I don't know why we think this way. I don't know why we are not afraid of dying because we have no health insurance. I don't know why we're not more concerned about the police breaking into our houses and gunning us down because they got the wrong address. I guess we can't worry about such things because you (black people) are scaring us out of our wits. So Bill Clinton was right. It's all your fault.

[fasttense]

29. And the sad part of all this is that there are super predators

But they are mostly on Wall Street and in banks. The super predators are funding most of the candidates' campaigns. The super predators took away most people's homes in the crash.

[Katashi_itto]

27. k&R!!!

[Helen Borg]

30. He used to be good at conning people with smooth talk.

But aging has caught up with his cognitive abilities. And now he just sounds like an asshole.

[underahedgerow]

31. Better put some horns and a spiked tail on the two of them.

They're from Helllllllllll apparently.

Gah, let me help you get back up on your chair.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

37. No they are humans. I think. I've never seen their long form birth certificate.

[TBF]

38. Well well well - the truth comes out

and let's take it a step further and talk about private prisons & profit.

[heaven05]

42. sooner or later

the real person under that polished veneer shows us who they truly are. Him smoozing with daddy shrub and wallace prove, "birds of a feather..........." Always been this way, always will be.

[Democat]

43. The alternative to Clinton was not perfection, it was president George H Bush

Many on DU who bash Clinton non stop, would have preferred president Bush then and president Trump now.

[randr]

45. The hidden wink and a nod

thrown to Clintons' blue dog friends is the image that I have always found repulsive. I could never understand the love our black community bestowed upon Bill. Now I understand a bit more and I hope my black friends will begin to acknowledge the hidden agenda we progressive white folk were warning about from the beginning.
The Clintons are Republican friendly and a danger to working class Americans.

[ryan_cats]

47. I lived

I lived through the horror (and voted for him twice) that was his presidency. It was a time of rampant employment and horrible optimism about the future.

What do Shawn King or Rachel Dolezal have to say on this important subject?

[etherealtruth]

48. I am sorry, LOCKING. Please refer to the Sop for GD

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