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Hillary Clinton, African-Americans and the Corporate Media

© AP PhotoHillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State, has recently announced her candidacy for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State, has recently announced her candidacy for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. - Sputnik International
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Most media pundits expect tomorrow’s Democratic primary in South Carolina to provide Hillary Clinton with a significant win over Bernie Sanders, and the African-American vote will be pivotal for Clinton’s chances.

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton - Sputnik International
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Activist Eugene Puryear, author of "Shackled and Chained: Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America," explains "Loud & Clear" the role of the corporate media in generating support for Hillary Clinton within the African-American community, despite the record of her husband President Bill Clinton's administration in expanding mass incarceration, dismantling social welfare programs, and establishing discriminatory laws and policing strategies that disproportionately affect black Americans.

According to Puryear, the reason Hillary Clinton has so much support from the black community is due to the huge role the media has in playing down the growing consciousness about her husband's role in the sharp rise of mass incarceration in the country. Hillary Clinton, alongside her husband, promoted many discriminatory policies as First Lady, including remarks she made in early 1990s about "superpredators," and positing an extremely racist characterization of young black males, all to justify new laws.

"All that we actually hear from the mainstream media is that black people like Hillary Clinton, and that Bernie Sanders is an old white guy that can't resonate with black people," Puryear claimed.

"The black electorate in the US is the most loyal portion of the electorate to the Democratic Party and I think Hillary Clinton has the level of understanding of that reality that has been around the Democratic Party establishment," he suggested.

Black people, a large part of whom don't vote, actually don't like Hillary Clinton but, as Puryear puts it, blacks who do vote will vote for "a devil you know rather than for a devil you don't know."

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a rally Friday, Feb. 19, 2016, in Las Vegas - Sputnik International
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Puryear claims that Hillary Clinton pushed to "end welfare as we know it," drastically reducing support for the poorest while managing to put the middle class lifestyle out of reach of most of the population.

Bill Clinton was known for tough laws. The ‘three strikes' law, ruling that, if you commit three felonies, the third will send you to prison for life regardless of the type of the crime you committed, was facilitated under his watch. Moreover, billions of dollars have been given to states who, in turn, give that money to private companies, to build prisons in "an unbelievable building boom" that Hillary Clinton pushed for heavily.

"Bill Clinton played a key, pivotal role in the skyrocketing number of people in prison in general, particularly African-Americans and the unbelievably destructive policies of mandatory minimums, three-strikes laws and the overall crime bill situation, as well as heavily-strict police forces and reducing the amount of aid given to poor black communities," he stated.

President Clinton drastically cut welfare spending; when he cut 7 million Americans from receiving federal welfare checks, the move disproportionately affected blacks, as they are more likely than white non-Hispanic and Asian Americans to rely on the government for poverty assistance.

"He was able to present a more friendly face while at the same time knifing his constituency in the back, in the way Reagan would never have done, because people would have been looking over his shoulder expecting the racist move from Raegan behind the nice gesture. With Clinton you have a nice gesture and people felt that really meant something," Puryear theorized.

The Democratic Party has played a role in stopping any mass upsurge in the popularity of the politics of the left, a definition of President Clinton's policies and an indicator of how his wife Hillary would rule if she comes into power.

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