Hillary News & Views 2.24: "Mothers of the Movement," SC Town Hall, Standing with HBCUs

[MrWendel]

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/24/1483354/-Hillary-News-Views-2-24-Mothers-of-the-Movement-SC-Town-Hall-Standing-with-HBCUs

By Lysis



Today’s Hillary News & Views begins with a powerful day on the campaign trail with incredibly strong women.

The Washington Post reports:

“Something is very wrong when we have these incidents where kids can get arrested for petty crimes and lose their lives,” Clinton said. “Something is wrong when African Americans are three times more likely to be denied a mortgage as white people are, when the median wealth of black families is just a fraction of the median wealth for white families,” Clinton said.

Clinton sat silently as one after the other, the five mothers told the stories of their children’s deaths, and about why they are backing Clinton’s presidential bid. The unusual campaign event was part testimonial, part memorial, part call to action against what Clinton called lax gun laws designed to shield gun makers and dealers.

“I was never into politics but now I am, and one of the reasons is because of her,” said Sybrina Fulton, whose unarmed teenaged son Trayvon Martin was killed by a neighbor in Florida in 2012.

Clinton, sitting to Fulton’s left, rubbed her shoulder as she spoke.

Clinton was also joined by Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland, who was found hanged in her jail cell in Texas after a traffic stop last year; Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, who died in a police chokehold in New York in 2014; Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre Hamilton, shot by a police officer in Milwaukee in 2014; and Lucy McBath, mother of Jordan Davis, a Florida teen shot in 2012 by a man who had complained about loud music coming from the car the boy was riding in.

“I say to you, if Eric Garner was a white man, standing on the corner in the suburbs,” he would not have been killed, Carr said. “We cannot take this anymore. We have to get up and do something about it.”

The same group of women spoke to audiences on Clinton’s behalf across South Carolina on Monday and Tuesday. They all were among a group of women who met privately with Clinton last year in a session several of them described as emotional.

“I endorse her because she endorsed us first,” Carr said to applause.

“We have nine months to put her in” the White House. “She’s the new baby,” Reed-Veal said.

(More in link)

[KitSileya]

1. It is very important that we center these mothers, not Clinton

Clinton is ceding the stage to them, and that is very powerful. Their message is the important thing, not whether they endorse Clinton. The murders of black men and women have been happening regularly, and each time we see the distraught family members on tv, where the media portray them almost titillatingly in their grief. This tour that Clinton has organized is a chance for them to take the stage for themselves, being in control of their own message. It is incredibly powerful. As allies, us white folks need to join with Clinton in the act of listening, and center these mothers and their message. They deserve no less.

[William769]

3. They need someone to help get thier message out.

Hillary is the only one doing that.

[KitSileya]

4. Yup, she is being a good ally.

But part of being a good ally is not hogging the limelight, and unfortunately, the media is not giving Clinton any choice - they are almost unilaterally focusing on what these endorsements mean for her, and almost ignoring the message of these courageous women. So it behooves us to not fall into the same trap. We know how awesome Clinton is - let us focus on the message of these mothers instead of focusing on how awesome it is that Clinton got these endorsements.

[William769]

2. Kick & very highly recommended!