“As women whose ancestors have lived through the incivility of slavery, segregation, and all other forms of discrimination, racism, and sexism, as people who have historically been told to “wait” for justice, for freedom, for our turn, we consider it an insult to characterize Ms. Waters’ call for the exercise of our constitutional rights as uncivil and un-American.”
On July 3rd a letter signed by nearly 200 Black leaders and allies was sent to Chuck Schumer and Nanci Pelosi. (The above passage is from the letter.) They expressed their “deep disappointment” in Democratic leadership for what they considered a failure to defend Rep. Maxine Waters. In fact, they’re arguing that Schumer and Pelosi did the exact opposite by publicly criticizing her and calling her actions “un-American.” In a strong defense of Rep. Maxine Waters they quickly reminded Schumer and Pelosi that Black women are the most loyal base of the Democratic Party and the Progressive Movement – at a time when millennials and many in the Black community are questioning the Democratic Party’s leadership, this is probably one reminder that they’d rather not address. While the unusual mid-week holiday might buy them some extra time, it’ll be hard to escape this critique, which seems to be growing within the Democratic Party.
When Rep. Maxine Waters was asked about Schumer’s “un-American” comment, she responded…
“Well, I’m surprised that Chuck Schumer, you know, reached to do that. I’ve not quite seen that done before, but one of the things I recognize, being an elected official, is in the final analysis, leadership like Chuck Schumer will do anything that they think is necessary to protect their leadership.”
Below are two more passages from the 2-page letter. If you haven’t read it, we encourage you to do so. Whether you agree or not with these 200 leaders and allies, it’s safe to say the old guard in the Democratic Party might be running out of time. Either way, being publicly challenged and reprimanded by your most loyal base is not a good look.
For Black women, who are the most loyal base of the Democratic Party and the Progressive Movement, Congresswoman Waters is our shero… She continues the phenomenal legacy of leadership of Black women who paved the way for all women to break glass ceilings… Disparaging or failing to support Congresswoman Waters is an affront to her and Black women across the country and telegraphs a message that the Democratic Party can ill afford: that it does not respect Black women’s leadership and political power and discounts the impact of Black women and millennial voters.
We call on the Democratic Party leadership to step up and publicly support Congresswoman Waters… We further believe Congresswoman Waters is owed an apology for your public comments insinuating she is “uncivil” and “un- American” for challenging the Trump Administration.”
Do you agree with them and their letter? Is there anything Schumer or Pelosi can say to calm the waters in their party? And does this signal a bigger problem within the Democratic Party – that their leadership needs to be replaced with millennials and more people of color?
Let us know what you think… your perspective matters.
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