What Buttigieg really said at the Human Rights Council Campaign fundraiser

[femmedem]

An earlier post on DU linked to a misleading article which said that Mayor Pete called out Democrats for their use of identity politics. (I'm not blaming the DU member for posting it. Unless one saw the video of the speech, one couldn't have known how misleading the article was.)

This article accurately portrays the speech that I heard:

"South Bend, Indiana, mayor and 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg condemned the Trump administration’s embrace of “peak white identity politics” in a speech Saturday, warning of a brewing “crisis of belonging” across the nation.

Speaking at a fundraiser in Las Vegas for the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, the Democrat said such politics are “designed to drive apart people with common interests.” He urged Americans instead to find unity in knowing that each of them is unique.

Buttigieg pointed to the potential for “the beginning of a new form of American solidarity” in which the country realizes “that the one thing we do have in common may be the challenge of belonging in a society that sees us for what makes us all different.”

“I’m not talking about pretending that there are equivalencies between the different patterns of exclusion in this country,” he added. “I may be a part of the LGBTQ community, but being a gay man doesn’t even tell me what it’s like to be a trans woman of color in that same community let alone an undocumented mother of four or a disabled veteran or a displaced auto worker.”

More: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-buttigieg-white-identity-politics-crisis-of-belonging_n_5cd86ca5e4b054da4e8b316a?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvL3NXQmhKQ2FFTmg&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA8zASSPeDdf5X4ECcB-3OHsMxrdHVnkCZPh0KTvWGjqKCiOiIZab5wHjxYUl0p8ngeAqMt7NxQpUfCmGqahbbIE5jujv774YpSU8kAsT7sJ3MIfGVMLbLopFemvKDb1tNjZfDdVZ5xlsJV38GCH_MlG_XQI50Opels6XZzNZSNA

[leftofcool]

1. Thank you.

[WeekiWater]

2. As I get to know him I like him more and more.

I have seen a number of inaccurate and highly questionable negative stories about him. I also see a lot of support and respect for him.

Whatever happens to him in this primary I see him playing a major role in shaping our party in the decades to come.

[femmedem]

3. I agree. After initial positive stories, the media found a simple narrative

that began with incomplete reporting on the police chief issue. Similar stories like the initial article on the Human Rights Campaign speech spread a misleading "Mayor Pete is insensitive on racial issues" message, followed by--surprise--Mayor Pete isn't polling well with black voters. I do worry that this narrative is now nearly set in stone. But I hope you are correct about him playing a major role in the Democratic party, regardless of what happens this primary season. I think that he will, because his decency and intelligence shine through.

[WeekiWater]

4. The reporting on the police chief and housing issues...

Was horrific. Full of deception, half truths, and anecdotes.

The bad part is it took additional reading to understand the full situations. Seems many people struggle to make it past a headline.

[RLG]

5. And it will get worse.

n/t

[crazytown]

6. I don't think so.

The people who stepped forward to give interviews were candidates for Mayor in South Bend’s May 9 election.

[RLG]

7. I meant outside conservative groups nt