Sister Souljah moment

Last updated

A Sister Souljah moment is a politician's calculated public repudiation of an extremist person, statement, group, or position that is perceived to have some association with the politician's own party. [1]

Contents

It has been described as "a key moment when the candidate takes what at least appears to be a bold stand against certain extremes within their party" [2] and as "a calculated denunciation of an extremist position or special interest group." [3] This act is intended to be a signal to centrist voters that the politician is not beholden to those positions or interest groups. However, such a repudiation runs the risk of alienating some of the politician's allies and the party's base voters. The term is named after the hip hop artist Sister Souljah. [3]

Origins

Sister Souljah in 1997 Sister Souljah million womans march Philadelphia.jpg
Sister Souljah in 1997

The term originated in the 1992 presidential candidacy of Bill Clinton. [3] In a Washington Post interview published on May 13, 1992, the hip hop MC, author, and political activist Sister Souljah was quoted as saying (in response to the question regarding black-on-white violence in the 1992 Los Angeles riots):

Question: Even the people themselves who were perpetrating that violence, did they think that was wise? Was that a wise reasoned action?
Souljah: Yeah, it was wise. I mean, if black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?... White people, this government and that mayor were well aware of the fact that black people were dying every day in Los Angeles under gang violence. So if you're a gang member and you would normally be killing somebody, why not kill a white person? Do you think that somebody thinks that white people are better, are above and beyond dying, when they would kill their own kind?

— Quoted in David Mills (June 16, 1992) "In Her Own Disputed Words; Transcript of Interview That Spawned Souljah's Story", The Washington Post [4]

Speaking to Jesse Jackson Sr.'s Rainbow Coalition in June 1992, Clinton responded both to that quotation and to something Souljah had said in the music video of her song "The Final Solution: Slavery's Back in Effect" ("If there are any good white people, I haven't met them"). [5] Clinton said: "If you took the words 'white' and 'black,' and you reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech." [6]

Prior to his appearance, Clinton's campaign staff had conducted an intense debate about how far he should go in distancing himself from Jesse Jackson, who was unpopular with moderate voters. When Souljah was invited to speak at the conference, Clinton's advisors saw their chance. In an essay for The New York Review of Books , Joan Didion, who covered Clinton's campaign, wrote, "a number of reporters had apparently been told in advance by Clinton aides that Governor Clinton would use his Rainbow speech to demonstrate his ‘independence’ from Jesse Jackson, and the very quotable intemperance of Sister Souljah provided the most logical possible focus for such a demonstration." Later in the essay, Didion argued that the Sister Souljah incident had been favorably viewed by the media as "a Clinton call for ‘an end to division’ that had at once served to distance him from Jackson and to demonstrate that he was ‘the guy in charge,’ capable of dominating, or ‘standing up to,’ a kind of black anger that many white voters prefer to see as the basis for this country’s racial division." [7]

External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Sister Souljah's response to Gov. Bill Clinton's remarks, June 16, 1992, C-SPAN

Clinton's response was harshly criticized by Jackson, who said, "Sister Souljah represents the feelings and hopes of a whole generation of people," and claimed that she had been misquoted. [8] Clinton was also criticized by some of the Democratic Party's other African American supporters. [9] Souljah responded by denying she had ever made remarks promoting murder and accused Clinton of being a racist and a hypocrite because he had played golf at a country club that refused to admit black members until he decided to run for president earlier in the year. Clinton acknowledged that he was once a member of an all-white Arkansas golf club early into his presidential campaign and publicly apologized. [10] In response to the rebuttal, Paul Greenberg, an Arkansas journalist and long-time Clinton critic who dubbed the Arkansas Governor "Slick Willie" during his 1980 re-election bid, [11] criticized Souljah for lying about what she said in an earlier interview with the Washington Post, accusing her of trying to fend off criticism "with the savvy of an experienced pol." In the same article, he compared her to Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam. [12]

Other examples

Well into the 21st century, there have been several instances called Sister Souljah moment(s).

Early 2000s

As a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2000, Texas Governor George W. Bush spoke before the conservative Manhattan Institute in October 1999 saying, "Too often, on social issues, my party has painted an image of America slouching toward Gomorrah", quoting the title of a book by conservative jurist Robert Bork. Bush's comments were seen as a repudiation of the religious right and an attempt to appeal to moderate voters; commentator Charles Krauthammer called it "an ever so subtle Sister Souljah on Robert Bork." [13]

In the same campaign for the Republican nomination, Arizona Senator John McCain stated, "Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right." This was similarly seen as a repudiation of the religious right; columnist Jacob Weisberg called it "a pungent Sister Souljah moment." [14]

During the 2008 United States presidential campaign, Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama received much criticism for his association with his longtime pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and Wright's pattern of controversial statements. On April 29, Senator Obama distanced himself, in a well-received speech on racism, calling some of Wright's statements "outrageous" and "a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in truth." [15] [16] South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn said of the speech, "This, I think, offers Barack Obama his Sister Souljah moment"; [16] the speech was also described as "more than a Sister Souljah moment" by columnist Maureen Dowd. [17]

Later in the campaign, Obama delivered a speech on Father's Day at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In the speech, he appeared to criticize absentee fathers in the African-American community, saying, "if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that what too many fathers also are is missing — missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it. You and I know how true this is in the African-American community." [18] Multiple publications called the speech a Sister Souljah moment, [19] [20] [21] [22] although Obama spokeswoman Linda Douglass denied this. [23]

On July 10, 2008, prior to a taping of the news program Fox & Friends , Jesse Jackson was unwittingly caught by an open microphone whispering to a fellow interviewee, saying, in reaction to Obama's Father's Day speech the month before, that Obama was "talking down to black people" and that he (Jackson) wanted "to cut [Obama's] nuts off." [24] Jackson's son, Illinois Congressman and co-chair of Obama's presidential campaign Jesse Jackson Jr. publicly lambasted his father's comments. Washington Post journalist Dan Balz called the comments an "accidental Sister Souljah moment" for Obama, since Jackson had distanced himself from the candidate without Obama having to take a stand. [25]

2020s

On August 28, 2020, conservative pundits George Will and Amanda Carpenter called on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to have a "Sister Souljah moment" to distance himself from the violence of the Kenosha protests, which occurred against the backdrop of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an African American man. [26] [27] Two days prior, Biden had already released a statement condemning violence at protests, which the commentators viewed as inadequate. [28] [29] [30]

In late October 2024, just one week away from the 2024 United States presidential election, Bill Maher urged Kamala Harris to have a "Sister Souljah moment" by calling out an "extremist" from the left as a last ditch effort to win the election. [31] Harris lost the election to Donald Trump.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Carville</span> American international political consultant (born 1944)

Chester James Carville Jr. is an American political consultant, author and occasional actor who has strategized for candidates for public office in the United States and in at least 23 nations abroad. A Democrat, he is a pundit in U.S. elections who appears frequently on cable news programs, podcasts, and public speeches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 United States presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American to be elected to the presidency. This was the first election since 1952 in which neither the incumbent president nor vice president was on the ballot, as well as the first election since 1928 in which neither ran for the nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Clyburn</span> American politician (born 1940)

James Enos Clyburn is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 6th congressional district. First elected in 1992, Clyburn is in his 17th term, representing a congressional district that includes most of the majority-black precincts in and around Columbia and Charleston, as well as most of the majority-black areas outside Beaufort and nearly all of South Carolina's share of the Black Belt. Since Joe Cunningham's departure in 2021, Clyburn has been the only Democrat in South Carolina's congressional delegation and as well as the dean of this delegation since 2011 after fellow Democrat John Spratt lost re-election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign</span> Political campaign

The 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton, the then-governor of Arkansas, was announced on October 3, 1991, at the Old State House in Little Rock, Arkansas. After winning a majority of delegates in the Democratic primaries of 1992, the campaign announced that then-junior U.S. senator from Tennessee, Al Gore, would be Clinton's running mate. The Clinton–Gore ticket defeated Republican incumbent President George H. W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle in the presidential election on November 3, 1992, and took office as the 42nd president and 45th vice president, respectively, on January 20, 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Democrats (United States)</span> Ideological faction within the Democratic Party

New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturally liberal on social issues while being moderate or fiscally conservative on economic issues. New Democrats dominated the party from the late 1980s through the early-2010s, and continue to be a large coalition in the modern Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sister Souljah</span> American author, activist and rapper (born 1964)

Lisa Williamson, known as Sister Souljah, is an American author, activist, rapper, and film producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Democratic National Convention</span> U.S. political event held in Denver, Colorado

The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for president and vice president. The convention was held in Denver, Colorado, from August 25 to 28, 2008, at the Pepsi Center. Senator Barack Obama from Illinois gave his acceptance speech on August 28 at Invesco Field in what the party called an "Open Convention". Denver last hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1908. Obama became the party's first nonwhite nominee, and nominee of African descent, for president. Senator Joe Biden from Delaware was nominated for vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Plouffe</span> American political and business strategist (born 1967)

David Plouffe is an American political and business strategist best known as the campaign manager for Barack Obama's successful 2008 presidential campaign. He was the senior advisor to Kamala Harris' 2024 presidential campaign. A long-time Democratic Party campaign consultant, he was a partner at the party-aligned campaign consulting firm AKPD Message and Media, which he joined in 2000.

The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties of the United States political system and the oldest active political party in the country. Founded in 1828, the Democratic Party is the oldest active voter-based political party in the world. The party has changed significantly during its nearly two centuries of existence. Once known as the party of the "common man", the early Democratic Party stood for individual rights and state sovereignty, and opposed banks and high tariffs. In the first decades of its existence, from 1832 to the mid-1850s, under Presidents Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and James K. Polk, the Democrats usually defeated the opposition Whig Party by narrow margins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries</span> Selection of the Democratic Party nominee

From January 3 to June 3, 2008, voters of the Democratic Party chose their nominee for president in the 2008 United States presidential election. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was selected as the nominee, becoming the first African American to secure the presidential nomination of any major political party in the United States. Due to a close race between Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, the contest remained competitive for longer than expected; neither candidate received enough pledged delegates from state primaries and caucuses to achieve a majority, without endorsements from unpledged delegates (superdelegates).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Mills (TV writer)</span> American journalist and TV writer (1961–2010)

David Eugene Mills was an American journalist, of Pamunkey Indian descent writer and producer of television programs. He was an executive producer and writer of the HBO miniseries The Corner, for which he won two Emmy Awards, and the creator, executive producer, and writer of the NBC miniseries Kingpin.

"A More Perfect Union" is the title of a speech delivered by then-Senator Barack Obama on March 18, 2008, in the course of the contest for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination. Speaking before an audience at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Obama was responding to a spike in the attention paid to controversial remarks made by Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor and, until shortly before the speech, a participant in his campaign. Obama framed his response in terms of the broader issue of race in the United States. The speech's title was taken from the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign</span> Successful presidential campaign of then-U.S. Senator

Barack Obama, then junior United States senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for president of the United States on February 10, 2007, in Springfield, Illinois. After winning a majority of delegates in the Democratic primaries of 2008, on August 23, leading up to the convention, the campaign announced that Senator Joe Biden of Delaware would be the vice presidential nominee. At the 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 27, Barack Obama was formally selected as the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States in 2008. He was the first African American in history to be nominated on a major party ticket. On November 4, 2008, Obama defeated the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, making him the president-elect and the first African American elected president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Jackson</span> American Baptist minister, activist, and politician (born 1941)

Jesse Louis Jackson is an American civil rights activist, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. Beginning as a young protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, Jackson maintained his status as a prominent civil rights leader throughout his political and theological career for over seven decades. He served from 1991 to 1997 as a shadow delegate and senator for the District of Columbia. Jackson is the father of former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. and current U.S. Representative Jonathan Jackson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African-American candidates for President of the United States</span>

African-American candidates for president of the United States from major parties include U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), elected president of the United States in 2008. He was the first African American to win a presidential election and the first African American to serve as president of the United States. He was re-elected as president in 2012. There had been several candidates in the years before.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evan Bayh 2008 presidential campaign</span> 2008 presidential campaign of Evan Bayh

The 2008 presidential campaign of Evan Bayh, Democratic Senator and 46th Governor of Indiana, began shortly after the 2004 presidential election.

Bill Clinton was the 42nd president of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. After the end of his presidency, he continued to be active in the public sphere, touring the world, writing books, and campaigning for Democrats, including his wife, Hillary Clinton, who served as the junior U.S. senator from New York between 2001 and 2009 and the 67th United States Secretary of State between 2009 and 2013, on her presidential campaigns in 2008, in which she was runner-up for the Democratic nomination, and in 2016, when she lost the election to Donald Trump. After Clinton left office, he ended up forming a close friendship with George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush, and later, with their son George W. Bush.

On April 4, 2011, Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, announced his candidacy for re-election as president. On September 5, 2012, he again became the nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2012 presidential election. Along with his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, Obama was opposed in the general election by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, along with various minor candidates from other parties. The election took place on Tuesday, November 6, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign</span> American political campaign

In 2016, Hillary Clinton ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States. Clinton ran as the Democratic Party's candidate for president, in which she became the first woman to win a presidential nomination by a major U.S. political party. Prior to running, Clinton served as the United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator representing New York from 2001 to 2009, and the first lady of the United States as the wife of Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. She was defeated in the general election by the Republican candidate, businessman Donald Trump.

References

  1. ↑ "Time for a 'Sister Souljah' moment". July 17, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  2. ↑ Brando (March 5, 2012). "Mitt's Sister Souljah Moment" . Retrieved September 29, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Vennochi, Joan (September 16, 2007). "Sister Souljah moments". The Boston Globe .
  4. ↑ Mills, David (May 13, 1992). "Sister Souljah's Call to Arms: The rapper says the riots were payback. Are you paying attention?". The Washington Post . p. B1. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  5. ↑ Lewis, Anthony (June 18, 1992). "Opinion | Abroad at Home; Black and White". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  6. ↑ Bouie, Jamelle (October 2, 2016). "The Democratic Party's Racial Reckoning". Slate (magazine) . Archived from the original on April 20, 2024. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
  7. ↑ Didion, Joan (September 24, 1992). "Eye on the Prize". The New York Review of Books. 39 (15). ISSN   0028-7504. (This piece was also published in Didion's 2001 essay collection Political Fictions ).
  8. ↑ Lewis, Op.cit.
  9. ↑ Kornacki, Steve (July 29, 2019). "1992: Bill Clinton builds a winning coalition, Jackson is diminished". NBC News . Retrieved October 8, 2019. It was against this backdrop that Clinton delivered his "Sister Souljah" speech, which opened up a public war with Jackson.
  10. ↑ Philips, Chuck (June 17, 1992). "'I Do Not Advocate ... Murdering' : 'Raptivist' Sister Souljah Disputes Clinton Charge". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Stories of Bill". www.pbs.org. October 8, 1996. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  12. ↑ Greenberg, Paul (June 19, 1992), Sister Souljah And The Irrational Rationality Of Hate, Chicago Tribune, retrieved August 25, 2014
  13. ↑ "Setting Himself Apart From Those Hard-core Conservatives". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  14. ↑ Weisberg, Jacob (February 29, 2000). "McCain's Selective Outrage". Slate.com. Slate. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  15. ↑ Slevin, Peter; Fears, Darryl (April 30, 2008). "Obama Calls Minister's Comments 'Outrageous'". The Washington Post.
  16. 1 2 Nick Timiraos and Jackie Calmes. "Obama Denounces Ex-Pastor for 'Rants'", April 30, 2008, pp. A1, A18.
  17. ↑ Dowd, Maureen (April 30, 2008). "Praying and Preying". The New York Times.
  18. ↑ Politico staff (June 15, 2008). "Text of Obama's fatherhood speech". Politico.
  19. ↑ McPherson, Lionel (July 14, 2008). "Obama's Sister Souljah moment". The Guardian.
  20. ↑ Cohen, Michael A. (June 16, 2008). "The Souljah Legacy". The New York Times.
  21. ↑ Martin, Jonathan (June 15, 2008). "Obama calls out black community". Politico.
  22. ↑ Coates, Ta-Nehisi (June 17, 2008). "Another view on Obama's fatherhood speech". The Atlantic.
  23. ↑ "Obama Says Blacks Must Take Responsibility - CBS News". CBS News. July 14, 2008.
  24. ↑ "Jackson apologizes for 'crude' Obama remarks". CNN Politics. July 9, 2008. Archived from the original on September 3, 2010. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
  25. ↑ Balz, Dan (July 10, 2008). "Obama's Accidental Sister Souljah Moment". Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
  26. ↑ Will, George F. "Opinion: Biden needs a Sister Souljah moment". The Washington Post.
  27. ↑ Carpenter, Amanda (August 28, 2020). "What Does Biden Have To Do to Show He's Tough on Riots?". The Bulwark . Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  28. ↑ Easley, Jonathan (August 26, 2020). "Biden: 'Burning down communities is not protest'". The Hill.
  29. ↑ Robinson, Stephen (August 30, 2020). "No, White People, Joe Biden Doesn't Need A 'Sister Souljah Moment'". Wonkette.com. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  30. ↑ Graham, David A. (September 1, 2020). "Kenosha Could Cost Trump the Election". The Atlantic . Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  31. ↑ Leeman, Zachary (October 26, 2024). "It's Not Too Late!' Maher Suggests Kamala Harris Take Out 'An Extremist' in Her 'Own Coalition' as Last Ditch to Win: 'Have a Sister Souljah Moment'". Mediaite . Retrieved October 29, 2024. Bill Maher recommended Vice President Kamala Harris give her campaign a last-minute boost by targeting an "extremist" on her own side of the aisle. On Friday's Real Time, Maher finished the show off by saying it's not "too late" for Harris to have a "Sister Souljah moment."
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.