I turned on the radio to listen to the Mark Thompson show one night last week. I caught the show right in the middle of a woman’s righteous rant. She was expressing her views on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. She said that we’re spending all this time talking about who lied and who’s not lying. And that’s when she said, “I’d rather have a lying Hillary Clinton, as some call her, in the White House, than a dumb, dumb man like Donald Trump”. Yes, indeed. I whole-heartedly agree. But note the “some call her”.
That woman’s words just stuck with me. The more I heard people say: she’s lying about emails, lying about her health, lying about whatever, the more this woman’s words rattled in my brain; as well as snippets of a song I couldn’t quite catch, until today. It’s from Alvin Ailey. It’s actually one of my favorite performances.
Alvin Ailey Dancers
What public servant has been more talked about, rebuked, and scorned, than Hillary Clinton? We may not sing this song consciously, but I feel it is in the subconscious of African-Americans. We may not know the words, but we feel it in our spirit. Perhaps that’s why we have such an affinity for Hillary. We feel it in her spirit. We know it as a kindred spirit. Perhaps not all of us. But with polling among African-Americans as high as 97%, I’d dare say most of us.
Every time I hear that she needs to do more to get people on her side, get people to like her, I insert the unspoken “white people”. When I hear polls are tightening, I think,”that’s white people”. Because I don’t think the support of African-Americans is squishy. Those of us who do support her, do so despite the name-calling. We agree with her “Deplorables” comment. We don’t care about the emails. We don’t see every cough or sniffle as a sign of imminent death. We’re not trying to lock her up or string her up. I don’t believe that we are persuaded by whatever labels people choose to place on her. We know about being called names that do not represent who we are. We know we didn’t place those labels on her. We understand that whatever they are saying, they are saying because of their own fear of someone who is the exact opposite of the thing they said.
And to this woman’s closing argument, she said, “All we have is our vote, use it wisely. And don’t let these people trick you.” I, for one, will not be tricked by the names/labels or bogus outreach. I’m sticking with the “fill in whatever name they may call her” Hillary over a man named Donald J. Trump.
UPDATE: I changed the title and made some modifications. Based on the comments, I think people just read the title and assumed I was calling Hillary a liar. I was not. And I never will. I was trying to point out that others have given her that label and in spite of that I still support her. I don’t buy the faux-scandals. I’ve not been persuaded by all the negative that has been heaped on her. And that is what I heard in this woman’s talk show conversation. We’re not buying what they’re selling and we’re still with her.