Ken Berwitz
Yesterday it was in Harlem, New York, with al sharpton and the mother of Eric Garner, who died after resisting arrest in Staten Island, after being brought down in something of a choke hold by one of the police officers (there\’s a lot more to this story than a “choke hold”).
Today it is Chicago, with the mother of Sandra Bland, who died in her jail cell three days after being stopped for a minor traffic infraction and, instead of accepting a polite ticket or warning by the officer (as clearly seen on video tape), managed to become so uncooperative and abrasive that she wound up being arrested. (There is no evidence that Ms. Bland was mistreated in jail, and she had attempted suicide in the past.)
In other words, Hillary Clinton is going into Black areas, with relatives of Black people whose deaths, rightly or wrongly, are being used to indict police…specifically White police officers.
For what? To “prove” that she is for Black people? Against White cops?
I sympathize with Ms. Garner and Ms. Bland for the deaths of their family members. But why are they allowing Hillary Clinton to parade them in front of Black audiences, like some kind of show-and-tell session? Neither woman has any political standing. Neither woman is known as an organizer or a fund raiser (at least until now).
What is the purpose of this, other than to use them as political props? To reinforce Hillary Clinton\’s assiduously developed/desperately needed image as an “us versus them” sympathizer?
This is the worst kind of pandering.
Little wonder that Hillary Clinton would be engaging in it, and little wonder that it is being done just prior to the South Carolina primary, where she needs every Black vote she can get.
