Clinton’s diversity gains coincided with punitive policies hurting poor black Americans.

Evidence

Of course, African Americans constituted 15 percent of Clinton’s administration appointments. At some point in his two-term presidency, an African American headed the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Labor, and Veterans Affairs. He also appointed more African American judges than any other president in U.S. history. For those folk (about 7 to 10 percent of black America) who benefited most from opening predominantly white colleges and universities to African Americans, Clinton’s presidency represented an extraordinary advance. But Clinton also supported the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which exploited white fear to justify the expansion of punitive crime policy. As a result, more and more black people—particularly poor black people—found themselves in jail and prison. And his strategy of triangulation led to the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. So-called welfare reform only widened the gap between the haves and the have-nots within black communities. All the while black liberal political elites, at least most of them, helped Clinton sell these policies to black voters. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 309

Categorization

• QUESTION: Glaude’s ‘7 to 10 percent of black America’ benefiting from college desegregation — worth chasing the source of this figure.
• SEED: The black-elite-as-salesforce for punitive policy is a strong essay angle on how representation without power becomes cover for racial harm.