Can some of you older guys school me on the Hillary Clinton "super predators" thing?
Up until yesterday I always believed that Hillary Clinton called black men super predators because I've seen it reported on TV and in print. After watching the video she never says that all she says is "some gang members are 'super predators' who lack empathy", etc, etc. Nowhere does she ever explicitly say or allude to black men. Am I missing part of the speech?
I was a kid when these comments were made so I might lack context on the situation or time period at which these comments were made. I'm just surprised she's gotten so much grief for these comments for over 20 years.
Yes, on the surface you are right, the popular talking point that Hillary Clinton went on national TV and called black children super predators is not true. That myth gets repeated so often it is now accepted as fact. Hell, tons of dudes on NT believe that is exactly what happened and even Kaep does too. And she did apologize for using the term “super predator”
But, her comments are offensive and racist if you look at the context within they were made.
The term super predator was being used by criminologist to make the argument that poor kids that live in urban areas have a deposition to commit crime, be involved in gang activity and these children are beyond saving. Now due to segregation, we know “kids in urban areas” means black and Latino kids.
So now think hat that argument implies
Young children, as young as 12, who are failed by the system at nearly every step of the way are not worth being rehabilitated or helped in anyway. We send these kids to ****** schools, let police harass them, let drugs and illegal guns flood their communities, use BS marijuana laws to economically disadvantage them (and their parents), then when they turn to gangs for some sort of security we label worthless and beyond saving.
Listen there were tons of people complicit for tough on crime laws, not just conservatives but progressives, centrist, liberals, and they were very popular in the black community. But this super predator rheotropic was used to even argue that when we send these kids in jail we should not even try to help them become better people. Don’t have education programs in jail because it is a waste, three strike laws are good become if don’t they will just commit more crime, not furlough because “hey, do we want more Willie Hortons out there”, and tons more BS
And Hillary Clinton knew that argument, she knew what super predatory implied because we had just come off the Crime Bill debate. She knew members of her own party were against using this term, because it was implicitly racist, yet her used it any. And she used to brush aside the question of if these kids should be rehabilitated too. She basically says, lock them up and worry about them later.
She has apologized for her comments and now sincerely seemed serious about helping minority communities.
But yeah, some dudes too lazy to make a policy reason to not vote for Hillary, stretched the truth about her actions, and pushed a false narrative. This I have a problem with
However, others returned the same energy she put out in the world, that no matter how much you do to make up for your mistakes, you are irredeemable. This I understand
