Clinton Speaks to Issues, Press follows Shiny Objects

Since corporate media is fascinated with every little tweet from the Trump Menagerie and every bit of its minutiae which can be hyper-analyzed, it’s left to other platforms to highlight Clinton speeches and their content.  Why am I posting this? Because on the day Clinton outlined major policy proposals on mental health services the national media was all tangled up in an NFL player’s protest and Trump’s publicity stunt trip to Mexico.

So, here’s what we’ve missed in just one subject matter  area – minority outreach.

Minority outreach speeches: July 8, 2016 Clinton Speech to the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia PA.  A bit of it:

“As we know, there is clear evidence that African-Americans are much more likely to be killed in police incidents than any other group of Americans. And we know there is too little trust in too many places between police and the communities they are sworn to protect.” Clinton said that good law enforcement officers far outnumber those who are bad and a violent response to violence is not the answer. The protest in Dallas yesterday was peaceful and police were there to monitor the crowds and ensure the protesters’ safety when they were fired upon by a sniper. Clinton spoke about her proposal to invest $1 billion in police training across the county to ensure the safety of law enforcement officers as well as the general public.”

July 14, 2016, League of United Latin American Citizens, Washington DC.

“The choice we make will say a lot about who we are and whether we understand and celebrate the diversity of our country, which makes us all the stronger.”

July 18, 2016, address to the NAACP.

“There is, as you know so well, another hard truth at the heart of this complex matter: Many African-Americans fear the police.” Clinton vowed to work toward bridging the gap between the African American community and local police forces.”

June 4, 2016: Santa Barbara, CA community event focusing on women and families.

“The round table discussion consisted of local officials and representatives. Clinton spoke about a number of her platform points aimed at improving the lives of women and helping families. She spoke about increasing the minimum wage, ensuring that women receive equal pay for equal work, ensuring families have access to affordable childcare, and guaranteeing workers paid family leave.”

June 10, 2016: Planned Parenthood event, Washington DC.

“We know that restricting access doesn’t make women less likely to end a pregnancy. It just makes abortion less safe.  And that then threatens women’s lives.”

June 27, 2016: Rainbow PUSH Coalition event, Chicago, IL.

“Clinton’s primary focus was gun violence and introducing legislation to require background checks for the purchase of a firearm. She spoke about the importance of reducing gun violence saying, “I think saving our children and other people from gun violence is a civil rights issue right now in America.”

May 1, 2016:  Clinton is keynote speaker at the Detroit NAACP dinner.

“During her speech, she spoke about a number of platform topics including criminal justice reform, prison reform, gun control, and the refinancing of student loan debt. Clinton said that she wanted to continue to the progress of the last eight years.”

May 9, 2016: Stone Ridge, VA on women and work/life balance issues.

“She said that raising a family and having a career is harder today than it was when Chelsea was a kid. “Costs are greater, everything from commuting time to feeling like if you take that vacation day, you are going to be viewed as slacking off,” she said. Clinton went on to say that she knew that her proposals would change the current system, but it is important to realize that times have changed. She said, “We need to really start looking at these programs from the lens of what life is like today and not what it was like 50 years ago.”

May 10, 2016:  Lexington and Louisville, KY events on the economy and the family.  Follow this link to the bullet point outline of Clinton’s proposals.

May 22, 2016: Keynote address to the Circle of Mothers Restoration weekend, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

“Something is wrong when so many young people just starting their lives are dying. Something is very wrong, my friends, and this election gives us a chance to keep trying to make it right.”

Mr. Trump seems to have “discovered” minorities very recently?

And then, of course, there was the August 29, 2016 speech on mental health care issues – covered by Politico, the BBC, and PBS.  Those who missed what this was all about please follow this link to the briefing points and policy proposals from the Clinton campaign.

For those not content with beltway media blathering and who want a bit more good old fashioned CONTENT and context in their political discussions, there’s the Briefing Section/Fact Sheets portion of the Clinton Campaign.   As I’ve said before, I’ve given up on the corporate media doing much more than giving Trump free publicity and chasing after twitter streams.  Fortunately in this day and age we can do some of the heavy lifting ourselves without waiting for them to catch up.

>Williams, Angle, The Tea Party Express, And The Politics of Race

>Anyone who believed that the American public moved entirely beyond racial politics in November 2008 was sadly and naively delusional; or, perhaps, willfully rationalizing the situation. We hadn’t moved all that far 18 months ago and we haven’t now. Nor can we reasonably expect that racial divisiveness will disappear from an American social landscape in which it’s taken root since 1608.

We still harbor those who opine that they’d tell us what they really think, but it wouldn’t be “politically correct,” (read: polite.) And, we still have those who make their racism blatant, blunt, and public. For example, we have Glenn Beck, who obviously doesn’t understand either liberation theology or Biblical history, telling his audience that Jesus couldn’t have been a supporter of liberation theology or social justice because had he been so he would have come back and make the Jews pay. [HuffPo] First, liberation theology is essentially non-violent, and the criticisms of it from the Catholic Church from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1984 stemmed from the philosophy’s emphasis on freedom from temporal bondage, as opposed to an emphasis on freedom from sin; and further, the Congregation advised that “This warning should in no way be interpreted as a disavowal of all those who want to respond generously and with an authentic evangelical spirit to the “preferential option for the poor.” It should not at all serve as an excuse for those who maintain the attitude of neutrality and indifference in the face of the tragic and pressing problems of human misery and injustice.” (emphasis added)

Secondly, someone might want to remind Mr. Beck, who professes as interest in history, that it was the Roman government that executed Jesus of Nazareth. A 1985 statement from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops is rather clear in its pastoral direction: “As the council statement requires, the presentation of the Crucifixion story should be made in such a way as not to implicate all Jews of Jesus’ time or of today in a collective guilt for the crime. This is important for catechesis and homilies, especially during Lent and Holy Week, as well as for any dramatizations of the events, such as Passion Plays.” There may be some congregations for whom the “guilt trip” is accepted, but it is not a feature of mainstream Christian theology.

There’s another example of blatant public racism that hits a bit closer to home. Mark Williams, who describes himself as a “Founding Tea Party Patriot,” and “spokesman for the Tea Party Express,” [MarkTalk] was moved to react to the NAACP’s call for the repudiation of racism in the Tea Party Express, not by calling out those who would taint the Tea Party Express with a public display of their prejudices, but by crafting a Letter to Lincoln attacking the NAACP, a post he has since taken down. [TPM]

If Williams meant to create a parody, he was well wide of the mark. His premise appears to be that the NAACP is, itself, a racist organization the philosophy and political agenda of which tends to “enslave” African Americans in bondage to Big Government. The analogy doesn’t work, simply because it has required federal action to obtain civil rights for African Americans in housing, voting, transportation, and other realms of American life in which “small” governments in States and localities perpetuated Jim Crow Laws. The NAACP stood at the forefront of the Modern Civil Rights Movement to end the segregation and second class treatment received by African Americans who sought to vote in public elections, use public transportation systems, eat in public restaurants, attend public schools, and fully participate in American economic life.

And, speaking of local issues, this stance taken by Williams in his “Letter,” as an advocate for the Tea Party Express, is related to the senatorial election in Nevada. The Tea Party Express announced its endorsement of candidate Sharron Angle, [KTNV] [LVTSG] and promoted fundraising for her campaign. [TPblg] The Tea Party Express also released television advertising for the Angle Campaign. [TPMDC]

The Tea Party Express has provided more than merely an endorsement. Angle’s FEC filing for April 1 to May 19, 2010 shows “The PAC Tea Party Express bought $258,752.00 worth of advertising and the PAC Club for Growth bought an additional $277,211.00 spending $208,000.00 of the $277,211.00 in one day, during the period of the FEC filing.” [NJP] (emphasis added) Further, Angle would have us believe that her donations come from individuals making modest contributions. The filing shows otherwise: “An analysis of the “Itemized Receipts” reveals that donations from Nevada were $45,221.50, out of state donations were $61,260.50, and another $184,222.51 in donations were classified as “Unitemized” This is not a grassroots effort when the three PACs spent $536,263.00 and her donations were only $290,704.51.” [NJP]

So, what is Candidate Angle’s reaction to Williams’ commentary? How would she respond to this statement from a Founding Tea Party Patriot and Spokesman for the Tea Party Express?

“Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government “stop raising our taxes.” That is outrageous! How will we Colored People ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?” This stereotyping is patently offensive, and the underlying assumptions elementally racist.

There was more: “And the ridiculous idea of “reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of government.” What kind of massa would ever not want to control my life? As Coloreds we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!” The NAACP’s membership did think for themselves, then and now. It was the NAACP that faced down demands from southern governments in the 1950s for copies of their membership lists. [CaseLaw] It was the NAACP that sought an anti-lynching bill in as early as 1918. [NAACP] It was NAACP Litigation Director Charles Hamilton Houston and Legal Counsel Thurgood Marshall who brought 26 cases to the U.S. Supreme Court, one of which was Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. [NAACP] Mark Williams may have assumed that the “darkie” stereotype describes a portion of the African American community, but he’s missed both the history and the point.

How does Mrs. Angle feel about the Tea Party Express spokesperson using an unmistakably biased perception of African Americans as a feature in his “parody” of the NAACP’s efforts to secure civil and human rights for its membership, and by extension for members of other ethnic minorities?

Will Candidate Angle forswear the support of the uniformed and ill-advised like the followers of TV personality Glenn Beck? Will she forswear the support of one of her earliest endorsements, the Tea Party Express and its evidently bigoted spokesperson Mark Williams?