Letters to the Editor
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And the cynic would be right...
The cynic will say that Hillary Clinton has detected tension in the brown-black relationship and exploited it, at a time when her rival is an African-American with vast support from black America. More accurately, I think Clinton has punctured the easy generality of a term like people of color.
And the cynic would be right. After years of misconstruing Toni Morrison's words and making pat jokes about Bill's "blackness", this all went quickly out the window after a black candidate, whom many in his own ethnic community derided as not black enough, managed to actually attract enough momentum to become a serious contender. In fact, the Clinton team constantly downplays any predominantly black state Barack wins, suggesting that they weren't really that invested in X state, despite the fact that Clinton did a tour through black churches trying to drum up support in all of those said states. In fact the discourse, which has focused almost exclusively on Obama's supposed magic elixir in caucus states, ignores his wins in predominantly black states, because, you know, as Bill said "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in 84 and 88...and he ran a good campaign".
Does this show the Clinton's to be craven and despicable? No. What it does show however, is the level of entitlement white politicians have over certain minority groups they claim to represent, and how many of them are not very different from that person who tells you "I have black friends...I swear." After losing the segment they for years said they were best friends with, they've gone to find another one where undeserved accolades and best pal jokes can be racked up. That is until a "Latino" comes close to winning.