Reply #48: No, a "token black" is a person put up front by a white organization [View All]

[RaleighNCDUer]

to fend off charges that they are not sufficiently diverse. It does not reflect on the person that is being used, but on the organization using that person.

I don't know know Ms Williams, or why she is working with Hillary's campaign. Maybe she is a DLC true believer, neo-liberal to the core; maybe she's an old-style feminist; maybe she just plain likes Hillary. The 'why' of it is immaterial. The fact is, she is being put out front to criticize Obama's campaign BECAUSE as a black woman she cannot be accused of racism for criticising a black candidate. I have little doubt she is fully aware of it - it is not unlikely she put herself up for the job because of that very reason. The fact that she is being used willingly does not mean she is not being used.

It is not racism, but pragmatism, that brought the Clintons to the decision to marginalize Obama as being the "black candidate". Not racism, but a decided lack of ethics to deliberately exploit the racism that exists.

Re-read the post. It is not an attack on Ms Williams, but on the Clinton campaign. As it should be.