Ben Jealous: Forget What Hillary Said in the 1990s. It’s Her Current Positions That Trouble Me.

[Luminous Animal]

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/02/26/forget-what-hillary-said-1990s-its-her-current-positions-trouble-me

Today, in 2016, Hillary Clinton is the only Democratic presidential candidate who supports the death penalty. Her position is far outside the progressive mainstream and contrary to the very notion that “Black Lives Matter.”

Bernie Sanders has always opposed the death penalty. His opposition is undergirded by his awareness of its disproportionate use on Black and Brown people, its almost exclusive use on the poor, and the historic connection between the death penalty and lynching. Indeed, it has been factors like these, and the notorious execution of Troy Davis in Georgia despite mountains of evidence of his innocence, that have motivated six Democratic governors, including Martin O’Malley, to abolish the death penalty in their state since 2008.

The fact that a “progressive” lawyer like Hillary Clinton supports the death penalty in 2016 is incomprehensible. Once again, she is alone among Democratic presidential contenders in taking such a backward position on this serious matter of racial justice and human rights.

Finally, there is her ongoing unwillingness to take a courageous stand of the issue of police violence and mayoral accountability in Chicago.

[peacebird]

1. This!

[democrank]

2. Clinton`s position on the death penalty

is one reason I could never vote for her. I`m curious as to how many other "progressives" hold her view?

[Fairgo]

3. She is not a brave person but she has an unshakable passion in her soul -

- the one true constant: She wants to be president.

Everything else is negotiable. Hillary is very clear on what is being bought and sold. As Churchill quipped, "...Now we are haggling about the price."

[KoKo]

11. Sadly...this rings true...

[farleftlib]

4. Dems should oppose the DP

It is depraved and barbarous, it's not a deterrent and it's racist in its application. What's to support about it?

[Lucky Luciano]

20. I'm not against it in principle, but I oppose the way it is applied.

A vicious undisputed serial killer should be put down like any terminally ill rabid dog, but the application in the US is extremely racist and classist - that makes it untenable.

[PeoViejo]

5. Never forget

There is no Statute of Limitations on the Truth.

[Jefferson23]

6. I'm glad to see someone talking about it. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

7. This is a good article but I'm not forgetting what Hillary said in the 90s because it's consistent

with her actions today.

Thanks for the thread, Luminous Animal.

[Loki]

8. Did you ever say anything in the 90's that you wished you hadn't?

Probably not, since some people seem to be so perfect they never say or do anything that they regret later. I have and did, but I'm not like that now. Plus you can never change your mind or evolve on any issues. My mother was against gays and gay marriage. She's from the depression era, but now she would get up and probably smack someone who said something negative about a gay person and she's 98 years old. People change, thank god. I'm editing this to add "People never change, especially in Bernie World."

[Uncle Joe]

16. If there was a true sign of evolution I might buy it but racist dog whistle language used in the 90s

and Hillary's present day support of

In 2008 she was the only one of six Democratic presidential primary candidates to oppose providing retroactive relief to addicts who were given long sentences for possessing crack cocaine, should those sentences be made much shorter like those given for possessing powder cocaine. By 2008 sentencing disparities had disproportionately affected female addicts, often Black mothers, increasing the mass incarceration of black women and the warehousing of Black children in foster care.

(snip)

Today, in 2016, Hillary Clinton is the only Democratic presidential candidate who supports the death penalty. Her position is far outside the progressive mainstream and contrary to the very notion that “Black Lives Matter.”

Bernie Sanders has always opposed the death penalty. His opposition is undergirded by his awareness of its disproportionate use on Black and Brown people, its almost exclusive use on the poor, and the historic connection between the death penalty and lynching. Indeed, it has been factors like these, and the notorious execution of Troy Davis in Georgia despite mountains of evidence of his innocence, that have motivated six Democratic governors, including Martin O’Malley, to abolish the death penalty in their state since 2008.

(snip)

Finally, there is her ongoing unwillingness to take a courageous stand of the issue of police violence and mayoral accountability in Chicago.

Black civil rights activists have been outraged for months by evidence which suggests that Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, who has a long history with the Clintons, may have had a role in suppressing footage of the killing of an unarmed black man by the Chicago police department until after he was re-elected.

Many in the Black community and beyond have called for Emanuel to resign. Bernie Sanders, who as a student was a civil rights activist in that city, has said anyone involved in suppressing information about the killing should be held accountable. He has said that he doesn’t want Emanuel’s support, and that “any elected official with knowledge that the tape was being suppressed or improperly withheld should resign.”

Secretary Clinton, by contrast, said that Emanuel “loves Chicago, and I’m confident that he’s going to do everything he can to get to the bottom of these issues and take whatever measures are necessary to remedy them.” A month later she moderated that position, but only slightly, saying that “Mayor Emanuel has said that he is committed to complete and total reform and I think he should be held to that standard.”



http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/02/26/forget-what-hillary-said-1990s-its-her-current-positions-trouble-me

tell me that Hillary's "evolution" is just painting over a structurally deficient foundation.

[Luminous Animal]

21. In the 80s, I was marching for gay rights. In the 80s, I was marching for the end to war.

In the 80s, I was marching to provide care for gay men who were dying. In the 80s, I was protesting Reagan's regime of ignoring AIDs. In the 90s, I was marching for AIDs awareness with an infant on my back. In the the 90s, I was marching against the first Iraq war with an infant on my back. In the 90s, I belonged to Oakland Cop Watch and carried a big old fucking video camera to film cops abusing black citizens. In the 90s I was testifying in court to keep woman on welfare out of jail. In the 90s, I was arrested for protesting DOMA.

In the 90s, I helped create a network of women on welfare nationwide network to defeat "Welfare Reform." ONE OF THE MOST CRUEL PIECE OF LEGISLATION THAT I HAD WITNESSED IN MY LIFETIME. UTTERLY BEREFT OF COMPASSION AND A DESPICABLE CONTINUATION OF REAGAN'S DISGUSTINGLY MEAN PROPAGANDA OF WELFARE QUEEN. DISGUSTING AND DESPICABLE,

THREE PEOPLE QUIT THE CLINTON ADMIN BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT IT WOULD THROW MORE CHILDREN INTO POVERTY.

AND IT DID. WE HAVE MILLIONS MORE CHILDREN SUFFERING AS A RESULT.

MILLIONS MORE.

MILLIONS.

HILLARY AND BILL KNEW AND THEY JUST DID NOT FUCKING CARE. JUST LIKE THEY DID NOT CARE ABOUT THE BRAIN DAMAGED HUMAN BEING THAT THEY FLEW (in first class) TO EXECUTE.

To this day, I cry over "Welfare Reform." It is just flat out fucking cruel.

[Matariki]

22. You must have missed the part where Uncle Joe said "it's consistent with her actions today."

Or the part where she changes evolves her position based on who she's talking to.

[Doctor_J]

28. Was opposition to gay rights any less wrong in the 90s than it is now?

Right is right, wrong is wrong.doma and dadt were wrong, and she was in favor of them.

[Loki]

31. So you are saying that my 98 year old mother is a liar because

She has changed her opinion of gay people, transgender people and gay marriage since the90's? Go on tell me that Dr J. She changed and she's proud of it. Only you and BS are completely perfect right?

[passiveporcupine]

19. And the 94 crime bill that they fought for

greatly expanded federal death penalty

[Luminous Animal]

24. You can bet I won't forget. Thank you, Uncle Joe.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. She"s comfortable in the center-right zone

When she speaks about more progressive issues she sounds fake

[valerief]

10. Yes. She was young kid of 50 back then. nt

[Luminous Animal]

25. She wasn't a young kid when she was first lady and vigorously supported "welfare reform"

She wasn't a young kid when she enthusiastically supported the crime bill. She wasn't a young kid when she wanted to make burning the flag a federal crime. She wasn't a young kid when she and her husband vacationed with war criminal Kissinger.

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. She'd be better suited for Gov. of Texas.

[malokvale77]

26. Please no.

We have enough problems here.

[jalan48]

13. Hillary's been a politician so long I don't think she knows who she is.

Her goal is to become the first woman POTUS-it's the only thing that hasn't changed about her in decades.

[Rafale]

14. What concerns me

Is all the warmongering coming from the former Secretary of State. I say it as a Afghanistan war vet. I cannot support endless war. Our troops cannot continue at this pace for much longer and it is bankrupting this country. There has to be a better way than dropping GBUs on every Muslim we can find. It's as if nothing changed for her since the Iraq war vote. She learned nothing.

[KoKo]

15. Agree...there has to be a better way...or a different way...

And...that we don't have the ability to discuss it and our Mainstream Media doesn't address it... is a very disturbing thing.

As you say:

I say it as a Afghanistan war vet. I cannot support endless war. Our troops cannot continue at this pace for much longer and it is bankrupting this country. There has to be a better way than dropping GBUs on every Muslim we can find.

[Rafale]

17. Agree

The whole regime change, covert action thing has been nothing but a train wreck for multiple Presidents. We are undermining our national security by breaking up nation-states and creating terrorists in Libya, Iraq, Syria, the Yemen, et al. Next up--Lebannon and Turkey?

[Matariki]

23. +1 Thank you.

[Doctor_J]

29. It's bankrupting the country, but not her donors.

Lots of foundation donors get war contracts

[Rafale]

32. Yep

That's the key.

(go sixers, too)

[passiveporcupine]

18. And Bernie is right

When was a Wall Street millionaire ever given a death penalty, much less put in jail at all?

But plenty of black people who could not afford good legal coucil, ended up on death row. Were they all guilty? According to statistics...no!

[FangedNoumenom]

27. Let's talk about what she did in 2009 in Honduras

Yes? Anyone?

[Luminous Animal]

30. It's horrible.