Bill Clinton channeled his inner redneck today and unleashed on Black Lives Matter, both in defense of his 1990’s policies and his wife’s lack of them. It was the kind of ugly that is so horrifying you feel it right between the eyes, like brain-freeze:

Merely defending mass-incarceration would have been bad enough, but the gusto with which he let loose offered a rare glimpse into the sham that is “First Black President.” Black Lives Matter, in great part, is in response to the 1990’s policies that set in motion the militarization of police and mass-incarceration. Clinton’s welfare reforms are what are behind the extreme poverty we now see in cities like Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, and many others.

The thing, though, is that this outburst should come as no surprise. Slick Willie has had plenty of moments, most notably last time his wife ran for president, when he made racially-charged comments. But that was back in 2008 and, one would think, both Clintons learned from the experience. Right? Wrong! Neither one has. In fact, they’ve become so emboldened about their sense of entitlement to the Black vote, that Bill Clinton felt perfectly comfortable denigrating today’s Black civil rights movement two weeks before the New York primary, and just a couple of days since his wife lost Wisconsin. Bernie Sanders was elected thanks to 30% of the Black vote there.

Then, a day later, comes this non-apology; the kind that got us whooopings as kids, our lesson that apologies must be heartfelt or else dispensed with.

https://youtu.be/Gk9hr9vUz40

As I wrote in my piece, William Jefferson Clinton was not our first black president,  there is nothing sudden about today’s outburst. Clinton said some things in a gymnasium in Tennessee a few weeks ago. The press, particular members of it, let the moment go without so much as a mention.

I’ve been curating videos of Hillary Clinton’s racial missteps since right before she announced she was running in this primary. The first instance was during a CNN Town Hall. Christiane Amanpour just could’t get Clinton to say that the GOP’s treatment of President Obama has been racist. Watch:

Days after the Charleston massacre, Clinton invoked “All Lives Matter” in Florissant, Missouri:

But the next really significant incident was Hillary’s first encounter with Black Lives Matter:

Then there was the eviction of BLM activists in Atlanta:

and

pic.twitter.com/HJK2ii2wy1

— #AUCShutItDown (@AUCShutItDown) October 30, 2015

"It is unfortunate that they didn't listen to the secretary," Rep. John Lewis says of the BLM protesters. pic.twitter.com/xpkGQFngs9

— Dan Merica (@merica) October 30, 2015

Protesters arrive at Hillary Clinton’s fundraiser at Clark Atlanta University. Congressman John Lewis, Mayor Shirley Franklin, and Andrew Young talk to the students. #atlanta #atl #hillaryclinton #journalist #news #media #hillaryclinton #hbcu

A video posted by Elizabeth Montgomery (@atlbornnraised) on Oct 30, 2015 at 12:40pm PDT

Let’s not forget her handling of a question at a town hall by a man who was wrongly imprisoned for nearly 40 years of his life, on death row:

On the death penalty @HillaryClinton #DemTownHall https://t.co/EuXDUcYL4X

— TV One (@tvonetv) March 14, 2016

Then, there is another incident in Atlanta:

https://youtu.be/LqLfvQfuvsA

Here’s Minneapolis:

These aren’t displays of white privilege. These are both supposedly sophisticated and deeply knowledgeable people. Of the two, Bill Clinton’s reputation for being conversant and embracing of Blacks and Black culture is supposedly legendary. That reputation is based on a media-perpetuated myth.

Have you had enough yet? Isn’t it about time we all stopped enabling the kind of white supremacy the Clintons, both of them, so clearly represent?

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CNN’s montage:

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