Joe Scarborough Helpfully Tells Black Dude What Black Voters Really Want
It is always nice to see a white guy explain to a black person exactly what African-Americans want. It is even better when the white dude is a smug, rich, former Congressman who makes a living schmoozing with other Washington insiders and rich white guys.
During Friday’s broadcast of Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough interviewed Urban League president and former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial. The conversation was ostensibly about both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton courting the black vote ahead of the South Carolina primary, and Morial’s thoughts on the two candidates. However, it quickly moved into some good ol’ whitesplaining by Joe.
Discussing Sanders and John Lewis’s criticisms of his civil rights activism, Morial said he believes Bernie is “sincere” and credible, but the real question for black voters is which candidate can really hold up the banner of equal rights. At this point, Joe interjected and told Morial that black voters should actually be looking for those whose policies would help them financially more.
“If you’re the Urban League, isn’t the question who would help black voters the most? Whose policies would actually break away the ongoing vicious cycle we have where the rich get poorer, the poorer — I mean the rich get richer — the poor get poorer, isn’t that what’s critical? Because it’s black Americans who share the disproportionate burden of those numbers.”
Morial responded by stating that it is his belief that blacks would most like to be a part of the country’s political discussions, and perhaps support a candidate that they believed would look to the community to be a significant portion of the governing coalition. Joe, not understanding what Morial was saying, told him how wrong he was, saying he believed African-Americans were more concerned with economic policies and jobs, and not “getting a job in the administration.”
Eventually, a visibly frustrated Morial explained to Scarborough what he meant regarding governance.
“You don’t understand what I’m saying,” Morial stated. “Being a part of a governing coalition means you will have a seat at the table to be a participant as policies are shaped.”
Essentially, we aren’t looking for white people to have full say over our lives, but that we are provided equal voice in the policies affecting us. But this just flew over Joe’s head because of course.
Below is video of the segment, courtesy of MSNBC:
