Pete Buttigieg and race

[people]

I think Pete Buttigieg is incredibly smart and well-spoken. He has one deficit. He was asked by a Harvard student at CNN's townhall for students about his decision as a new mayor to demote the city's first black police chief. His explanation was reasonable but then he said he was "very surprised" at the degree of anger and pain that decision of his caused the black community. Asked by Anderson Cooper what he learned from that experience he said "We" have to "reach out more to the minority community" and the low income community.
His answer surprised me because implicit in it was that "We," i.e., his governing body of South Bend, was white and that the "minority community" was separate from it. It really, really bothered me. It displayed to me an implicit acceptance that "we" whites rule and others are outside of it. It displayed a white man's unconscious uncritical view of whiteness and power. I am NOT saying that Buttigieg is a racist. I am saying he is too removed from a multi-racial consciousness of community and governing. That is not an attitude that appeals to me. He is off my list as a candidate to get my primary vote.

[jezebel321]

1. the "we" was referring to his mayoral office. nt

[people]

5. "we"

I understand that the "we" referred to his mayoral office, but his statement implies that the people in his governing office are white and that they are separate from and outside of the "minority community."

[vsrazdem]

2. His poll numbers with African Americans is dismal. He has a long way to go.

[fatrick]

12. Can't be done overnight

You can’t build credibility with minor titles over night, it takes decades. Bernie has decades invested in supporting minorities well before it become politically expedient. Pete can’t grt that quick and same for Beto, I like em both by they’re at least 2 decades away from credibility with minorities.

[ehrnst]

14. You do know that Pete is Gay, don't you? So there is that "minority" cred.

Of course neither Pete nor Beto moved to a piece of rural land in the whitest state in the US right after college, leaving behind civil rights activism, but I'm thinking that there are other things in their backgrounds just as credible with monority "titles."

December 2018:

'We Find Ourselves Excluded': Racial Justice Leaders Ask Bernie Sanders 'To Get With The Program'

https://www.vpr.org/post/we-find-ourselves-excluded-racial-justice-leaders-ask-bernie-sanders-get-program

I don't see Beto and Pete being the subject of articles about not getting women's issues.

[JI7]

25. this response and the post to which it responded can't be serious.

[jg10003]

3. All candidates use the royal "we".

For example:
WE raised a lot of money.
WE are moving up in the polls.
WE have a plan for dealing with the zombie apocalypse.

[spicysista]

4. This....

"I am saying he is too removed from a multi-racial consciousness of community and governing."
This is the exact statement my friends and I (mostly black, but also multi-racial people ages 27-38) ponder. We just say it with the inflection of asking a question.
The jury, for me, is still out on Mayor Pete. I need to see more.

[leftofcool]

6. We as a collective"we"

Of course he isn't racist. Neither is he removed from "multi-racial consciousness." if you don't like him just say so instead of going into a long rant to imply he is racist.

[crazytown]

8. We - our campaign

It’s bleeding obvious.

[jcgoldie]

7. Related to this OP the problem I see with Mayor Pete is he doesn't expand the base...

Its also a problem for my candidate Warren I think (although I think she's hands down the most substantive and sincere candidate who will make the best president, thus my support.)

The Democratic Party coalition is made up of many disparate groups and a lot of them are unlikely voters. The key to having the best chance against Trump is inspiring those less than likely blocs to show up. Obama did it. The three candidates that I think have the best chance of doing that albeit in very different ways are Harris who could expand the black vote ala Obama, Beto who could inspire larger than normal numbers of Millenials and Hispanic voters which could be key in Texas and Arizona, and Biden who I believe has the best chance of suctioning some rust belt working class whites from Trump. I'm a bit skeptical of that last claim because I have a feeling being from red southern Illinois across the river from Missouri, that most of these Trumpers have dug in their bunkers and if they haven't turned on the orange idiot yet then they aren't going to.

Mayor Pete appeals to college educated white people. Those people are already going to show up to vote against Trump. So who else does he inspire?

Just my opinions and impressions.

[femmedem]

27. I think Warren made huge inroads with her She the People appearance.

I would have said the same thing about her last week, but between the recent CNN town hall and She the People, I'm hopeful her poll numbers are about to go up.

[loyalsister]

9. "We" in reference to people in power or the majority of "us" IS white people

White people are running the show and I would rather have a candidate who finds that outraging or at least problematic.

[marylandblue]

10. He is weak among African Americans and he knows.

What I like about Mayor Pete and is that he has a strategy for everything and often he tells you in advance what it is. In this case, he has spoken about certain policy ideas that he thinks will resonate in AA communities and building a strong and diverse outreach team. We"ll see if he can pull it off, but at least he is not pretending he doesn't have a problem.

[True Dough]

11. Seems like a good place for this video...

[SidDithers]

13. I've seen him called Mayo Pete on Twitter...

I get the sense he’s not beloved by POC.

Sid

[Celerity]

18. because everyone knows Twitter is the be all and end all of foundational quantitative metrics

Cel

[UniteFightBack]

21. Mayo Pete....

[IndyOp]

15. You're reaching a lot of conclusions based on little evidence - links for you:

The issue of race is very, very, very important to me. I've been following what he has been saying and what others (especially African Americans) have to say about him.

Abandoned Homes / What AA leaders in South Bend say....

Pete said that the issue of abandoned houses came up at many, many houses when he knocked doors as a candidate before the first election he won. The issue was mentioned most often by people in neighborhoods like LaSalle - low income people living with abandoned homes in their neighborhoods. He prioritized the work because the source of the project was community members, not newbies who wanted a more pleasant view on their drive home.

And, yes, he took critical responses of a few people who were negatively impacted and used it to create momentum to write grants to make further improvements.

Stacey Odom said she approached the mayor after learning of preliminary plans to redevelop her neighborhood, a historically black area called LaSalle Park, on the city's west side. She said she told Buttigieg the city should help the people currently living there keep their homes.

The redevelopment plans, which she characterized as not having progressed very far, were abandoned. She asked the mayor for $300,000 for a grant program to help homeowners with repairs. He countered, she said, with $650,000.

Odom, whose family has lived in the neighborhood for four generations, was spurred to found a community development corporation that connects area homeowners with resources to help keep them in place. She has an aggressive goal of her own: to repair 60 homes in two west-side neighborhoods and build another 28.

"That’s the kind of person you want in office," she said. "Someone who is looking at your best interests. And if they’re not (at first), if you go to them and tell them what your interests are, then they will take your concerns and make them their concerns."

Buttigieg said the city has decided to budget $1 million annually for such programs.

https://amp.indystar.com/amp/3165477002?__twitter_impression=true

More on Odum and the project
https://www.wvpe.org/post/home-repairs-strengthen-community-ties-south-bend


Pete's positions:

10 20 30 Amendment - How do you fix segregation in our neighborhoods?
https://meetpete.org/zunsfxjyOAE.html?time=1261

African Americans - Black Agenda, Entrepreneurship
https://meetpete.org/zunsfxjyOAE.html?time=1157

Black Homeownership - Reparations
https://meetpete.org/GJC-L5WtJug.html?time=816

Asset Inequality
https://meetpete.org/3oDLSWsLc18.html?time=3011

American Dream - Break the Cycle of Poverty
https://meetpete.org/Y_VjaO-HwTA.html?time=660

How has South Bend changed you?
https://meetpete.org/Nldx3r7h3Cg.html?time=3154

[marylandblue]

19. He's got some good, innovative answers, but he really needs to talk about it much more.

[IndyOp]

20. Agreed! (nt)

[PDittie]

16. This is what

Bernie got dinged for four years ago.

Note that Mayor Pete was not at SheThePeople today.

[JI7]

22. that was becsuse that were limited and it was about whoever responded first

the real problem is that Pete doesn't seem to have people with knowledge who can help him when it comes to campaigns.

[Celerity]

17. 'It displayed to me an implicit acceptance that "we" whites rule'

GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK

I say this as a lesbian woman of colour atheist who sees Buttigieg as a transformative candidate, and also as a human being who can smell bullshit from 10,000 metres away.

[Blue_true]

23. Tell us what you're really thinking.

You make a good point, even the best, most effective leaders will make mistakes, but they also make corrections as it appears Mayor Pete did. The demotion of the AA police Cheif without a thorough background investigation into what was going on is a mistake that he made, but it is a mistake that I can promise you almost 100% of non Black leaders having to make such a decision will make, I have seen that regularly happen in business and it is a disgusting mistake that a lot of decent people make - they regret it latter on, but damage can't be undone.

[people]

24. Buttigieg

I've learned things about him that I did not know after reading all of these comments. He is not who I thought he was. I am glad.

[secondwind]

26. If the police chief had been white......

Mayor Pete would have done the same thing.