Hillary Clinton's commitment to civil rights

[bigtree]

from September 20, 2014:


On a subfreezing morning in January 2003, then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) walked to the pulpit of Trinity Baptist Church's Martin Luther King Day celebration in the Bronx to make a startlingly rousing speech to their predominantly African-American congregation. Typically, such speeches are principally aspirational — they acknowledge that society has largely rebuked racial discrimination's ugly past but urge steadfastness in tackling challenges that lay ahead. But it was Clinton's stirring repudiation of Trent Lott, then the Republican Senate Majority Leader from Mississippi who a month earlier praised Strom Thurman's 1948 pro-segregation presidential campaign, that enthused the audience. Her remarks suggested changes in leadership alone will not eradicate racism and discrimination but the rigidity of the pathways to political and economic enfranchisement must acquiesce to the strength inherent in this country's diversity...

While in the Senate, she introduced the Count Every Vote Act of 2007 to combat a "history of intimidation." Fighting against voter ID laws, Clinton said that "By trying to require not just photo identification but proof of citizenship — proof that thousands of American citizens can't produce through no fault of their own — cynical Republican lawmakers are trying to build new walls between hundreds of thousands of eligible senior, minority, and low-income Americans and their civil right to choose their own leaders. Republicans claim that these requirements are needed to prevent fraud, but the reality is that they do little more than disenfranchise eligible voters."

In an interesting juxtaposition with Trent Lott's incendiary comments, Clinton, a few months earlier, stood with the widow of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall at a podium alongside former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, who was being sworn in as the first African-American President of the American Bar Association in its 124-year history – 60 years after they lifted a ban on black members. Her appearance this week at the Legal Services Corporation and her board chairmanship of that organization in the early 1970s reaffirmed a longstanding commitment to support low-income communities and people of color in the courtroom and at the highest levels of legal advocacy.

Back in 2007, speaking of the Jena 6 in Louisiana, Clinton said, "I am deeply concerned about reports of potentially disparate treatment of white youths and African-American youths in the criminal justice system. ... And I have long been troubled by a history of disparate treatment of African Americans in our criminal justice system." And regarding the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., her remarks to a mostly white audience were considered some of the most substantive: "Imagine what we would feel, what we would do if white drivers were three times as likely to be searched by police during a traffic stop as black drivers..."

Whether pushing for race to be considered in higher education admissions policies or fighting against the use of race-neutral "percentage plans" in federal affirmative action proposals, there are aspects to Hillary Clinton's activism that exist across multiple policy and political venues as well as at the community level...


read: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/civil-rights/218382-hillary-clintons-commitment-to-civil-rights

[morningfog]

1. I have no reason to doubt her commitment to civil rights.

[Cha]

2. Hillary is a Strong Civil Rights Supporter. Thanks for the article, bigtree~

"While in the Senate, she introduced the Count Every Vote Act of 2007 to combat a "history of intimidation." Fighting against voter ID laws, Clinton said that "By trying to require not just photo identification but proof of citizenship — proof that thousands of American citizens can't produce through no fault of their own — cynical Republican lawmakers are trying to build new walls between hundreds of thousands of eligible senior, minority, and low-income Americans and their civil right to choose their own leaders. Republicans claim that these requirements are needed to prevent fraud, but the reality is that they do little more than disenfranchise eligible voters."

[Nye Bevan]

3. See, this shows why the attacks on Bernie are somewhat unfair.

Issues like intimidation of minority voters just don't tend to come up in 95% white states like Vermont.

[Cha]

5. They were pointing out his lack of talking about racial problems at his kickoff..

but, of course no mention of anything other than praise can be addressed to St Bernie. I don't think Bernie thinks of himself that way.. just some of his supporters.

We didn't have Intimidation of minority voter problems like that in New York, either.

[Scootaloo]

6. Kind of an ironic post there, Cha n/t

[Thinkingabout]

4. Her advocacy for Civil Rights began in her college days, the fight continues.

I just wonder when is this going to reach a loin where the hate stops and acceptance is everywhere. To think of the miles and years for this cause and still the fight goes on. Perhaps when the Dixiecrats lose more ground and disappears.

[bigtree]

7. notably, when she began working with Marian Wright Edelman

Hillary Clinton: 1972: Worked with Edelman on school desegregation in South

In 1972, I returned to D.C. to work for Marian Wright Edelman. My assignment was to gather information about the Nixon Administration’s failure to enforce the legal ban on granting tax-exempt status to the private segregated academies that had sprung up in the South to avoid integrated public schools. The academies claimed they were created in response to parents deciding to form private schools; it had nothing to do with court-ordered integration. I went to Atlanta to meet with the lawyers and civil rights workers who were compiling evidence that proved the academies were created solely for the purpose of avoiding the constitutional mandate of the Supreme Court’s decisions.

As part of my investigation, I drove to Alabama. At a local private school, I had an appointment to meet an administrator to discuss enrolling my imaginary child. I went through my role-playing, asking questions about the curriculum and makeup of the student body. I was assured that no black students would be enrolled.

Source: Living History, by Hillary Clinton, p. 57 Nov 1, 2003 http://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/Living_History_Civil_Rights.htm

[McCamy Taylor]

8. This really should not have to be said, but sadly it does because

some folks are following the Karl Rove playbook which goes "Attack them on their strengths." Next thing you know, we will hear that Clinton hates women and children.

[peecoolyour]

9. Which is why she has my vote should she win the nomination.

I trust that she will nominate top-notch people to the Supreme Court.

[whereisjustice]

10. 10 years later she's collecting $300,000 per speech from Wall Street and

she isn't asking them to stop sending jobs to slave labor in Asia where you will get arrested for speaking about civil rights.

And those speeches aren't about ending police violence and corruption against minorities, violating their civil rights.

No, those speeches are about the virtues of Wall Street and how unfair it is to hold them responsible for our middle class decline.

She's come a long way since her days as a Walmart director, hasn't she?

[Pauldg47]

11. You took the words right out of my mouth....

...matter of fact, she doesn't say much of anything anymore...where are you Hillary?

[840high]

12. ...^ that