No, Bill Clinton, we’re not ‘all mixed race’ – and you of all people should know that |
No, Bill Clinton, we’re not ‘all mixed race’ – and you of all people should know that
The Independent
London, United Kingdom
2016-02-15
If you’re claiming you’re ‘colour-blind’, you’re not being progressive. You’re part of the problem
In a seemingly fear-fuelled attempt to halt the rapidly growing popularity of Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton has once more turned to her husband – her “secret weapon” – to move along the discussion. Except it’s all gone terribly wrong.
At a rally in Memphis on Friday, Bill Clinton demonstrated his ineptitude in offering any meaningful contribution to political debates about racial equality when he argued that “we are all mixed-race people”.
This comment – an attempt to downplay the significance of race – represents a lack of respect towards, and disregard for, the lives of people of colour living in the United States.
Bill Clinton has had a lot of opportunities to think about race. He might have thought about the centrality of race to prejudice in US society when his “tough on crime” stance saw him introduce the 1994 crime bill. When this bill supported a burgeoning prison-industrial complex that disproportionately incarcerates African Americans, often for non-violent and petty crimes, he might have stopped to think about race…
Read the entire article here.
Tags: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Hillary R. Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Remi Joseph-Salisbury, Remi Salisbury, The Independent