13 Apr 2011 Brazile’s Double-Standards on Race, Class and Benefits

At any moment, you’d expect her to bellow “they took our jobs” like those guys on “South Park.”

During an April 1 Aspen Institute symposium on “The State of Race in America,” former Democratic National Committee chairman Donna Brazile made the contention that white America was taking black America’s tax money.

In a clip of the event that went viral, Brazile appears to exhibit pessimism for minority Republican officeholders who do not embrace the politics of race and class.  In doing so, she proves her own point — made during her opening remarks — that America is still not a place “where race is not part of our conversation” and the “intersection of race and politics no longer collide” (the entire panel discussion can be seen by clicking here).

Talking about Tim Scott, the newly-elected black Republican congressman from South Carolina, Brazile suggested Scott may not be retained because he is “not perceived as holding on for government services for those people.  He’s seen as… a man — not even black.”

So, in effect, Brazile suggests that Scott has created a post-racial America — if only in his congressional district — and that he will apparently suffer for it.

Earlier, Brazile rightly asserted that whites benefit from the same welfare programs that blacks do — though she wondered if perhaps more so.  She complained that whites did so without the stigma suffered by blacks.  She went on to say that, because of this, liberal lawmakers are demonized for visibly delivering and protecting welfare benefits for their black constituents.

Brazile then went on to assert — and this is what raised conservatives’ dander – that black tax money “bypassed” black communities to benefit whites.  And then, she suggested, Democratic lawmakers face opposition from white, middle-class voters for “holding onto, you know, government programs for those people who are taking our money.”

Brazile appears to claim that conservatives are taking political advantage of middle-class angst against “those people” — blacks — while whites are the ones who are actually living high on the government dole.

It’s an interesting double-standard: blacks and their liberal guardians are demonized for being perceived as keeping the welfare state status quo, but don’t take all the welfare that rightfully should be coming to the black community.

This does not sit well with Project 21 chariman Mychal Massie, who says:

Donna Brazile obviously cannot have it both ways.  She cannot claim that blacks are more needy, and in need of special dispensations, while simultaneously complaining that whites accept the belief that blacks need welfare as a truism.

The bottom line is that this sort of business conjecture will exist and fester as long as race-based assignations are considered acceptable currency for political and personal gain.