Opinion | Exploiting Black Fears of False Persecution
There are multiple examples of Black people rallying around beleaguered politicians. Little over a week after Kenneth Starr release his salacious report about the interactions between Bill Clinton and the White House intern Monica Lewinsky, The Washington Post ran an article that led with this:
“At a time when President Clinton is desperate for allies, no constituency has been more visible in its support for the beleaguered president than African-Americans. And no group of lawmakers may be more critical in protecting him against an increasingly hostile Congress than the Black Caucus.”
The article went on to point out that in a poll the paper had recently conducted, Clinton received higher marks from Black people than from white people, and most tellingly, that “the sex scandal threatening to remove him from office has offered yet one more piece of evidence to many Blacks that Clinton is like them, ‘persecuted’ by a corrupt and racist criminal justice system.”
The New York Times reported in 2013 under the headline, “Among Blacks, Spitzer and Weiner Find a More Forgiving Crowd,” that Black voters were far more likely than white voters to view the disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner favorably, “and more likely to say they deserve a second chance.”
Of course, this hesitation to persecute is in friction with a society in which, at least among liberals, there is an increasing focus on hearing, honoring and believing accusers.
Even when it comes to offenses that aren’t sexual — like Mike Bloomberg’s Stop and Frisk program and Donald Trump’s whole raft of detrimental policies — politicians often take advantage of Black people’s willingness to defend them. One Black pastor who met with Trump at the White House called him “the most pro-Black president that we’ve had in our lifetime.”
America has taught Black people in this country to avoid snap judgments and rushed condemnation. White supremacy taught that lesson. Now, politicians, even liberal ones, seek to take advantage of that teaching, to link arms in persecution.
But, of course, these are unions of convenience. When all else fails, politically, turn to Black voters to save you.
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