RACE POLITICS?

October 16, 1998

Elizabeth Brackett reports on why a majority of African-Americans are standing by President Clinton.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Elizabeth Brackett of WTTW-Chicago has the story on blacks and the president. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The president was the headliner at a fund-raiser for incumbent Senator Carol Moseley Braun in Chicago this afternoon. PRESIDENT CLINTON: Thank you very much. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: It was hard to tell who needed the help the most - the beleaguered president or the embattled senator. She is the first African-American woman elected to the Senate, but after a term wracked by questionable personal political decisions, she is substantially down in the polls. But Laura Washington, the editor and publisher of an investigative monthly journal in Chicago, says the fund-raiser will help energize voter turnout in the African-American community. LAURA WASHINGTON, Publisher and Editor, The Reporter: I think it'll help in the African-American community for the same reasons that it's helping Clinton. Clinton is like - people see Carol Moseley-Braun the same way. They see her as beleaguered; they see her as persecuted. And when you see the two of them together on the podium, that sends a message, I think, to African-Americans, who are concerned about justice and fairness. CLIFF KELLEY, Talk Show Host, WVON-Chicago: Thank you so much for your call. We have a first-time caller. Barbara, good morning. You're on WVON. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Callers on this black talk radio felt almost universally that Mr. Clinton has not been treated fairly. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CALLER: As far as President Clinton is concerned, I think what they've done to them is just simply shameful. And it's disgraceful how they sensationalized the case. CLIFF KELLEY: What many of our people are saying - and there's no difference here - everything that the President has been accused of other people have done in the past and certainly we're not threatened with impeachment. And I think the fundamental unfairness is the reason people are reacting as they are. UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: The President has done so many things for this country that haven't been done with two previous presidents that what difference does it make if he has sex with somebody? ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Talk show host Cliff Kelley says many of his listeners have a personal reaction to what they see as unfair treatment of Mr. Clinton. CLIFF KELLEY: I think African-Americans, based on how we have been treated, particularly in the criminal justice system in this country, can sort of understand what he is going through and that most of it is being done in a way of prosecution and persecution. They don't think that it's right, and I agree with that. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: At a popular lunch spot in Chicago we found no support for the ongoing impeachment process. LOIS JOHNSON: I don't condone his behavior at all, not by any means, but, again, I really feel like he was placed in office to run the country. And he may have sidestepped in some ways, but I'm sure, as we all do at some point in our lives, but I think we really do need to get back to the issues at hand. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Why do you think it has been pursued so vigorously? LOIS JOHNSON: I think it's a Republican attack. And it's the Republicans' way of trying to force the Democrats out of office, out of power, I should say, from a power position, and being that they really could not attack him on the issues at hand and the economy and the budget per se, that's the only way they really could -- to get back at him. JOE WHITE: He's done something morally wrong, and, of course, that's in his private life, and that should be dealt with - him and his family. But I don't think it's ground for impeachment. No. He's done a good job, I think, as president. He's addressed certain issues that should have been addressed at the time. And he's a hard worker, and I think that they should just leave him alone. He's been found guilty morally of something that he's done, but I think that that's between him and his family. SPOKESPERSON: We support Bill Clinton at this critical moment in his career. (applause) ELIZABETH BRACKETT: In Washington the Congressional Black Caucus reflects the strong support their constituents have for the president. Not one African-American Democrat voted to open an impeachment inquiry. PRESIDENT CLINTON: I want to thank you for standing up for me and understanding the true meaning of repentance and atonement. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Northwestern University Sociology Professor Aldon Morris says the African-American support for Mr. Clinton is not surprising. ALDON MORRIS, Northwestern University: African-Americans now for over ¼ of a century have supported the Democratic Party, and they believe that their interest is better represented by the Democratic Party. But then there are other issues, such as affirmative action. Affirmative action has been very important for upward mobility of African-Americans. And here is a president that took it upon himself to create what he calls the situation initiative, and, therefore, will create a conversation about race in America. I think that's another very important reason. BARBARA RANSBY, University of Illinois at Chicago: What kind of gender politics play out, or race politics play out in the current controversy surrounding a presidency? ELIZABETH BRACKETT: But Barbara Ransby, Assistant Professor of History and African-American Studies, at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says there are several reasons why African-Americans should not give the president or his policies automatic support. BARBARA RANSBY: I don't think that Clinton either deserves or earned the kind of loyalty that some black leaders are giving him. The welfare legislation was an outrage to poor people in general but certainly poor women of color and their children -- his abysmal treatment of Lani Guinier and Joycelyn Elders, two highly visible black women, who were basically abandoned and kicked to the curb by Clinton at his discretion. So he hasn't been terribly loyal, either to friends, and certainly not to the interests of black women. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: What disturbs Ransby even more are questions of gender and the politics of the President's behavior. BARBARA RANSBY: I don't think that the issue is really about sex or simply about lying about sex. I think it's about sex in the workplace with a subordinate. We are basically saying that men with a certain amount of power can have the kind of sexual access to younger women where they're subordinates in a hierarchy with impunity, that if we say that this is not an important issue, if we give Clinton a slap on the wrist for this, I think it really sends a dangerous message in terms of women's status in the workplace. And I think it is a feminist issue. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Victor Johnson is no feminist. But this blue collar Chicagoan is also outraged over the president's behavior with Monica Lewinsky. VICTOR JOHNSON: I don't think he should be supported at all. I think he should go because he lied, obstructed justice, he used a young woman, he disgraced the office of the presidency. He's just a scumbag. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: What do you think should happen to him? VICTOR JOHNSON: I think he should be impeached or forced to resign. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: And Johnson has little patience for those who say African-Americans know Mr. Clinton has been treated unfairly because of their own experience with the legal system. VICTOR JOHNSON: I think that's garbage. That has nothing to do with what he did. I mean, that is true, the legal system is unfair to a lot of African-Americans. I mean, I've been to court myself. People get stopped all the time over silly stuff. And I think that has nothing to do with what he did. He took advantage of a young girl. He lied. And he just - he needs to quit. I think he needs to go. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: But according to a recent New York Times poll, that's not what a majority of African-Americans think. 86 percent of African-Americans approve of Mr. Clinton's job performance, versus 58 percent for whites. And 63 percent of African-Americans say the president shares the moral values of most Americans. The number drops to 22 percent for whites. One reason behind the high poll numbers is the African-American community's willingness to forgive, says Laura Washington. LAURA WASHINGTON: I think the church has a lot to do with it. I think, you know, the African-American community is a deeply religious community, and that goes back to our heritage in slavery. We relied on religion and prayer as a form of redemption, and our religious beliefs, in general, say you should forgive, you should let it go, you should not hold in the anger, you should not focus the anger on the person that's asking forgiveness; you should forgive. REV. BERNICE KING: King David was heard to say in similar fashion as our President has been heard to say, "I have sinned against the Lord." And the prophet remarked back, "The Lord also has put away your sins." David remained king. (applause) ELIZABETH BRACKETT: When Martin Luther King's daughter came to the White House, the President was visibly moved by that willingness to forgive. (applause) The question is: Will the anger many African-Americans express over the treatment of Clinton make a difference in the polls in November? While Clinton's troubles and Washington's handling of them may keep some turned off voters at home, some analysts say that reaction in the black community could be just the opposite. CALLER: How could we mobilize the feelings that African-Americans have about the injustice that we are seeing into a voting block? ALDON MORRIS: African-Americans are likely to vote in greater numbers in the November elections, because they recognize what's at stake here. I think that they probably want to send the signal that they continued to support the Democratic Party and President Clinton. ELIZABETH BRACKETT: Morris and other observers say they see little that could shake the support most African-Americans have for the President and the Democrats between now and the upcoming mid-term elections.