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RACE CARD? JESSE JACKSON, BLACK CANDIDATES SAYS BILL CLINTON SHOULDN’T CAMPAIGN FOR RAHM
December 30, 2010
Earlier this week, Congressman Danny Davis issued a warning to former President Bill Clinton: steer clear of Chicago.
According to Davis, Clinton — America’s supposed “first black president” — is in danger of hurting his own reputation among Chicago’s African America community. The Chicago Tribune reported:
Davis, a veteran West Side congressman, said he is “seriously concerned and disturbed” by information Emanuel’s campaign released a few days ago that Clinton will travel to Chicago next month to support his former aide. Emanuel worked in the Clinton White House before serving as a North Side congressman and chief of staff to President Barack Obama.
“The African-American community has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the Clintons, however it appears as though some of that relationship maybe fractured and perhaps even broken should former President Clinton come to town and participate overtly in efforts to thwart the legitimate political aspirations of Chicago’s black community,” Davis said in a statement. “We respectfully request and urge former President Clinton not to become involved in the Chicago mayoral election.”
Davis denies his statements are playing the race card and says anyone who think so is reading to much into his comments. “You don’t threaten friends,” Davis said of Clinton. “But it’s a friendship relationship. It’s an affinity relationship. It’s not a race relationship. … We both grew up in Arkansas. We have a homeboy relationship. It doesn’t have racial connotations.”
Davis said his call for Clinton to butt out is partly strategic — Davis feels Clinton will help Emanuel win votes.
“I’m saying, ‘Don’t come in and campaign against me. Don’t do that.’ Sure Rahm worked for him, but a lot of us worked with him and for him,” Davis said. “Why not stay out of this one? Or go down to Arkansas where the weather in nice.”
But Davis and Carol Moseley Braun — the two most prominent black candidates in the Chicago mayoral race — met Thursday to discuss the state of their campaigns against the presumed front-runner, Rahm Emanuel — Clinton’s favored candidate. Also at the meeting was Rev. Jesse Jackson who told WGN-TV that there must be only one black candidate in the race and called on Clinton to abandon plans to campaign for Emanuel.
Jackson says African-Americans and Hispanics were among Clinton’s biggest supporters; and he says, rather than offend his most loyal friends, Clinton should call off his campaign trip.
“[H]ere are our friends and political allies, …family members. [Clinton] chose, it seems, Rahm over Danny and Carol and del Valle and Chico. He chose Emanuel over the two most loyal communities to him from Arkansas to Washington. It’s a bit disappointing, but that, too, will pass.”
Meanwhile, Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun Times says the candidates are wasting their time with worry over Clinton’s support for Emanuel:
From the start, black mayoral candidates have spent too much time worrying about Emanuel’s business instead of taking care of their own.
This latest faux pas by Rep. Danny Davis illustrates my point.
Davis shouldn’t be the least bit stressed that former President Bill Clinton is planning to appear in Chicago to support Emanuel, who was a fund-raiser and top White House adviser during the Clinton White House years.
But instead of down-playing Clinton’s influence among African-American voters in Chicago, Davis exploded with a warning that can be interpreted as “playing the race card.” …
More including video at: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/race-card-jesse-jackson-black-candidates-says-bill-clinton-shouldnt-campaign-for-rahm/
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Is it a “race card” or IS IT the Progressive uber left that do not want Bill Clinton there because he is viewed as a Centrist/pragmatist?
WHY not an uproar about Rahm when he was connected to Obama as his Chief of Staff?
Another question could be: Does Obama need Rahm as mayor when he returns to Chicago after his presidency? If so; WHY?
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Rep. Danny Davis:
Danny K. Davis is an openly socialist Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 7th district of Illinois.
[...]
In the late 1970s Communist Party USA member Harold Rogers served on a “Citizen’s Committee” supporting Timuel Black‘s unsuccessful campaign for State Representative in the 22nd District.
The “Citizen’s Committee” included “former” communist Charles Hayes, radical journalist Don Rose, socialist Chicago Alderman Leon Despres, future Democratic Socialists of America members Saul Mendelson (a former Trotskyite), Danny Davis and Milt Cohen (another former communist).
[...]
Communist Party connections
Danny Davis was also on good terms with the Communist Party USA. In Chicago, the Communist Party has for many years held an annual a fund raising banquet for its paper, the Peoples Weekly World (formerly the Peoples Daily World).
According to the Peoples Daily World of July 28 1990, Chicago alderman Danny K Davis attended the 1990 banquet on July 15th.
Davis applauded those at the banquet, who, he said, are always in the midst of struggle. PDW readers, he said, are “steadfast in the fight for justice”.
The affair netted $2,500 for the PDW fund.
According to the Peoples Weekly World October 3 1998, Congressman Danny K. Davis interrupted his campaign work for United States Senate candidate Carol Moseley Braun to present an award at the 1998 Chicago Peoples Weekly World banquet.
This event raised $10,000 towards keeping the Communist Party paper afloat.
[...]
Progressive Chicago
In late 1993 Progressive Chicago letters were always signed by 17 people;[7]
- Ron Sable
- Dwayne Harris, 21st Century Vote
- David Orr Cook County Clerk
- Ernestine Whiting, ACORN
- Madeline Talbott, ACORN
- Bessie Cannon, President SEIU Local 880
- Keith Kelleher, Head organizer SEIU Local 880
- Joe Gardner Commissioner, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
- Lou Pardo, (Northwest Voter Registration Project)
- Rene David Luna, (ADAPT)
- Dick Simpson
- Danny K. Davis
- Carol Harwell, United Voter Registration League
- Barack Obama
- Ron Davis
- Carl Davidson, Networking for Democracy
- Philip Jahn, Teamsters Local 743
Congressional Progressive Caucus
In 1998 Danny Davis Democrat was listed as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus[8].
As of February 20 2009 Danny Davis was listed as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus[9].
[...]
Democratic Socialists of America
Danny Davis is one of the few Democratic Party Congressmen open about his membership of Democratic Socialists of America.
In 1990 Chicago DSA endorsed Danny Davis for the Chicago mayoralty.[12]
According to a December 29 1998 email from DSA membership officer Solveig Wilder;[13]
- “Ron Dellums (who recently retired from Congress) is a Vice Chair of DSA, and Danny Davis, John Conyers, and Major Owens are all DSA Members.”
When Danny Davis ran for Congress in 1998, Democratic Socialists of America did not officially endorse any candidates but he was “recommended” as worthy of a vote by Chicago DSA-citing his membership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and his support for Progressive Challenge.
- Danny Davis, U.S. House of Representatives, 7th District
- Danny Davis is a member of the Progressive Caucus, an old friend of DSA and a member of the New Party. If that’s not enough, you can…[14]
Davis was still a DSA member at least as late as his 2006 Congressional race according to DSA’s Democratic Left Summer 2006.
- DSA has also endorsed DSAer and Congressmember Danny Davis in his bid for re-election in Chicago.[15]
In 2006 Danny K. Davis, received $50 from the Democratic Socialists of America Political Action Committee for his campaign as Democrats candidate for the the Illinois seat in the U.S. Congress Primary.[16]
MORE at: http://www.keywiki.org/index.php/Danny_Davis
***includes footnotes and citations**
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Carol Moseley Braun
Supporting John Lumpkin
In 1978, Braun was a leading member on the Committee to Elect Dr. John R. Lumpkin for the 7th Ward Alderman, Chicago.[2] John Lumpkin was the son of prominent Chicago Communist Party USA leaders Frank Lumpkin and Bea Lumpkin.
U.S. Peace Council sponsor
In 1979 Carol Moseley Braun, while serving in the Illinois State Legislature, was listed as a founding sponsor of the Communist Party USA front, the U.S. Peace Council.[4]
In May 17th 1987 Moseley Braun helped sponsor, with Communist Party leaders Angela Davis and Herbert Aptheker, a benefit for elderly Chicago Party leaders Claude Lightfoot and Jack Kling.
On September 7, 1991, more than 300 people gathered at the St James methodist Church on Chicago’s South side to remember the life of Communist Party USA national committee member, Claude Lightfoot. Speaker Carol Moseley Braun told of “having been enriched by a dinner converstion with her late father and Lightfoot, which gave her a deeper insight into the struggles of the unemployed in the 1930s.”[8].
Party support
While serving as recorder of deeds Moseley-Braun decided to run for United States Senate in the 1992 election on the Democratic Party ticket.
Like her mentor, Harold Washington, Moseley-Braun was supported by the Communist Party USA.
Communist Party USA official Tim Wheeler wrote in Peoples Weekly World on Chicago Party chairman and Save Our Jobs (SOJ)committee leader, Frank Lumpkin and his role in the elections of Harold Washington, Charles Hayes and Carol Moseley Braun[9];
- Lumpkin also led SOJ into independent political action. They played an important role in the election of Harold Washington as mayor of Chicago, a historic victory over the most entrenched, reactionary political machine in the U.S. Bea (Lumpkin’s wife) writes that “At that time, Washington and Lumpkin had a special relationship … Washington seemed to draw strength from Lumpkin’s participation. At meetings rallies, street encounters, whatever, Washington would call Frank over and say, ‘When I see you, I know things are in good hands.“
- SOJ was also an important factor in the election of Charles Hayes, African-American leader of the Meatcutters union, to take the Congressional seat vacated by Washington, and the election of Carol Moseley Braun, the first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.
[....]
Socialist support
Chicago was also home to an alliance of remnants of the Socialist Party USA and former Trotskyite and communist activists. This group held an annual dinner, to mark the the birthday of legendary U.S. socialists Norman Thomas and Eugene Debs.
Democratic Illinois State legislator Robert Mann was closely associated[12]with this group.
When Mann stood down in 1978, the socialists looked around[13]for a successor.
- When former Rep. Robert Mann, one of the House’s most staunch veteran liberals, announced his retirement from the House, Braun was asked to consider running for his seat.
Carol Braun was then elected to the Illinois State Legislature, with socialist support.
[...]
Saul Mendelson’s funeral
The Memorial Service for Chicago Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member Saul Mendelson was held on Sunday, March 29, 1998, at the First Unitarian Church, Chicago[18].
The service was MC’d by a retired colleague, Bob Clark. Carl Shier of DSA, spoke first and was followed by Saul’s friend Deborah Meier, “a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient who is now starting a new school in Boston”. Amy Isaacs, National Director of the Americans for Democratic Action, spoke of what “Saul had meant on foreign affairs to the ADA”.
Other speakers included Communist Party USA aligned Senator Carol Moseley Braun, Alderman Toni Preckwinkle, State Senator Barack Obama, Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie and “a good friend from New York”, Myra Russell.
The concluding remarks were made by an old friend, Harriet Lefley, a former Trotskyist with Saul Mendelson in the 1940s, who was then Professor of Psychology at the University of Miami Medical School.
Eulogies also came from Quinn Brisben, (Socialist Party USA presidential candidate 1976, 1992) and David McReynolds (Socialist Party USA presidential candidate 1980, 2000).
Both Brisben and McReynolds are also members of Democratic Socialists of America.
More at: http://www.keywiki.org/index.php/Carol_Moseley_Braun
***Includes footnotes/citations****
======================
Jesse Jackson, Sr.
RainbowPush Coalition
Reverend Jackson founded Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) in Chicago, IL. He also founded the National Rainbow Coalition. He merged the two in September 1996, creating the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
Panther roots
Former Black Panther Party leader Eldridge Cleaver, who broke with the Panthers and became an active anti-communist after experiences in Cuba and pro-communist countries in North Africa and Eastern Europe, said that the Rainbow Coalition has roots in the Black Panther movement. He said it uses simply “warmed over” 1960s Panther rhetoric, even including its name. Old Panther newspapers, he pointed out, refer to a “rainbow coalition” of blacks, whites and Puerto Ricans.[13]
Communist Party support
The Communist Party USA‘s Daily World said on April 13, 1984 during the Presidential primaries:
- The answer to Reagan and Bush is to redouble efforts to build and strengthen the all peoples’ front, a vital part of which is the campaign being waged on the issues by Jesse Jackson.
Communist Party vice presidential candidate Angela Davis added:
- The Jesse Jackson campaign is going to force the Democratic Party to speak on issues that they ordinarily would not address.
Gus Hall, when asked who the Communist Party would support for President in the 1988 election, said:
- As a political party we do not endorse candidates of other political parties. Communists as individuals work in the election campaign, even in the campaigns of other candidates, not only Communist candidates.
- I think our members will work for the candidates they think have the most progressive, most advanced positions. At this stage most members of the Party will be working for Jesse Jackson on the basis that he does have an advanced position. But we do not endorse any candidate, including Jackson.[14]
Workers World support
A strong supporter of the Rainbow Coalition was the Workers World Party, an extreme Communist group that has had links with the violent Weather Underground. The WWP backed Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition in 1984 through one of its fronts, the All Peoples’ Congress.[15]
Adviser Ron Dellums
During the 1988 Presidential Election campaign, far left Congressman Ron Dellums became a prominent adviser on Defense to Jesse Jackson.[16]
Campaign for America’s Future
In 1996 Jesse Jackson, was one of the original 130 founders of Campaign for America’s Future.[17]
Borosage on Board
Institute for Policy Studies leader Robert Borosage has served as an issues adviser to several progressive political campaigns, including those of Senators Carol Moseley Braun, Barbara Boxer and Paul Wellstone. In 1988, he was Senior Issues Advisor to the presidential campaign of Reverend Jesse Jackson.[18]
Congressional Progressive Caucus
In 1997 Chicago DSA member Bruce Bentley wrote;
- There is a class struggle in process in the Congress with the Progressive Caucus around such issues as the Welfare Bill, NAFTA and Single Payer Health Care.
As a result of this DSA’s Political Director Christine Riddiough organized a meeting with the Congressional Progressive Caucus with the purpose and cogent task as to: “How can we unite our forces on a common agenda?” Those in attendance included Richard Trumka, Noam Chomsky, Patricia Ireland, William Greider and Jesse Jackson.[19]
He is the author of two books: Keep Hope Alive (South End Press, 1989), and Straight From the Heart (Fortress Press, 1987). In 1996, he co-authored the books Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice, and the Death Penalty (Marlowe & Company, 1996) and It’s About The Money (Random House, 1999) with his son, U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr.
More at: http://www.keywiki.org/index.php/Jesse_Jackson%2C_Sr.
***Includes footnotes/citations****
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Are the Progressive/Socialists/Marxists/Communists worried that they will lose their hold on Chicago?
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We are not racist.
We are not violent.
We are just no longer silent.
