DISQUS

Symphony · 2 years ago

I recently (Mar) saw Maya Angelou speak on back to back days. Though I enjoyed her immensely and soaked up every word she had to say her endorsement doesn't sway me one bit; especially since I have my doubts regarding Clinton. She has not impressed me of late.

marisa · 2 years ago

The article you mentioned in your post points out that Bill Clinton got a lotta black love while doing very little. This video seems like it's trying really hard to bring that magic to Hillary. I love Angelou as much as the next person, but something about the way she's being deployed in this video unsettles me.

dougk · 2 years ago

Jack - A big Thank You for asking what I 'thought', not what I 'felt'.


The Angelou endorsement of HRC is disingenuous. Dr. Angelou provides no guideposts to help the viewer navigate the transition of HRC, from First Lady, wife, and candidate, to Black Americans' Number One Soul Sister. How bizarre, how bizarre!



Does Dr. ANgelou expect us to take it on faith?

Cynthia · 2 years ago

For doing this, Maya Angelou just went down one notch in my book.

natthedem · 2 years ago

Angelou's been a Clinton supporter for many years (or so suggests her donor history at opensecrets.org), so I'm not at all surprised by her support of HRC in the presidential primary.


After seeing her on the invite for "Club 44" in DC a few weeks back, I knew that her role in the campaign would be more visible than in years past.

ptcruiser · 2 years ago

Maya Angelou's endorsement of Hillary Clinton did not come as a surprise to me. There is a large network of affluent, well educated and prominent black women who became acquainted with Hillary Clinton during her tenure as a lawyer and a board member of the Children's Defense Fund. Marian Wright Edelman, who is the Fund's founder and leader, has spent years building and cultivating relationships with these women. I would not describe any of these women as acolytes of Mrs. Edelman but they are part of the formal and informal network she uses to promote the Fund's work. Hillary Clinton is a beneficiary of these relationships.


One of the women who has been and is still a key operative in this process is Margaret "Maggie" Ann Williams. Ms. Williams is a former Communications Director at the Children's Defense Fund and is still a close confidant and adviser to Mrs. Edelman. She was also Hillary Clinton's first chief of staff in the White House and was or is a consultant to her presidential campaign.



We can expect to see more endorsements of Hillary Clinton from local and nationally prominent black women over the next year. These endorsements will be spread out and released over time to give the impression that there is a growing groundswell of support among black women for Hillary Clinton.



There is nothing wrong or untoward about this process but those of us down here on the ground need to recognize this move and provide our people with a contextual framework for understanding this process. The ground for many of these endorsements was fixed some time ago.



What we need to always be mindful of is that what they represent, in part, is the transfer of black political capital to entities and individuals who may not have done much for the black community, as a whole, to have earned the use of this capital. In this respect these sisters are not acting markedly different from what the so-called brothers did for decades. Black political capital is seen as a fungible commodity by the black elite regardless of which public restroom its members may use.

Jill Tubman · 2 years ago

thanks for giving angelou's statement more context, ptcruiser.

Anonymous · 2 years ago

How you can do something like this and still say anything about black unity is beyond me.

Anonymous · 2 years ago

Oh my God. Now we are turning on Maya Angelou for supporting who SHE believes to be the best candidate. Give me strength for my people and their forever twisted sense of race unity (but don't you dare identify me or my chosen candidate by race).Laughable and sad.

Michael · 2 years ago

I read this on Global Grind (http://globalgrind.com/content/fp1962775/Campai...). Thanks to PT Cruiser for adding some more info...I think people shouldn't really be affected by who endorses who...but I do think that this video IS awkward and maybe its not the best time to be releasing it, because it just looking like a way to compete with Obama and Oprah

Anonymous · 1 year ago

Guess I'll have to take back some of those negative things I have said about Maya Angelou in the past. I am also a Clinton supporter. Am doing gender support! Found the website "Black Women for Obama", but am still looking for "White Women for Hillary". I usually don't pay much attention to who "celebrities" support, except in the case of Oprah...that is anyone she supports I am immediately suspicious of, and normally, as in this case take the opposite POV.