Pelosi unites black and white women in anger over remarks about Waters

When Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) issued her mandate to supporters that they continue to harass and bully any member of the Trump cabinet they may run into in public, the other end of the political spectrum reacted in a predictably indignant way. Like-minded critics of the Trump administration embraced Waters’ unhinged performance as the siren call on which they have been waiting. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), however, realized that the directive from Waters may have crossed a line with ordinary people (voters), so she dared to say that the inflammatory statements were uncivil and maybe even unAmerican.

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I don’t often credit San Fran Nan with applying some common sense to a potentially volatile situation, but I do in this case. Now, though, it seems that Pelosi has united both black women and white women alike in anger over her response to Waters’ remarks. Two letters have been written and delivered to the minority leader taking her to task for her lack of support and criticism of Waters. Apparently, bullies are bad if the alleged bully is President Trump but not if it includes a far left black woman politician. Go figure. Here is Pelosi’s first call for unity and civility:

 

Black women politicians and activists united to sign a letter to Pelosi expressing their disappointment with failure her to protect Waters from the criticism she deserved and called on her to make amends for labeling the remarks uncivil and unAmerican. The letter also is addressed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who also called for a calmer approach in his remarks on the Senate floor. They call the pushback on the incendiary remarks “unwarranted”. Their letter was delivered to Pelosi and Schumer on Tuesday.

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“We write to share our profound indignation and deep disappointment over your recent failure to protect Congresswoman Waters from unwarranted attacks from the Trump Administration and others in the GOP,” the women wrote in a letter sent Tuesday. “That failure was further compounded by your decision to unfairly deride her as being ‘uncivil‘ and ‘un-American.‘“

“In doing so, we believe this mischaracterizes her call to action for peaceful democratic assembly and the exercise of her constitutional rights to free speech in support of defenseless immigrant children and their families,” the letter continued.

You can read the letter for yourself HERE and look at the list of those who signed on to it. You’ll notice that Donna Brazile, longtime political insider and Clinton supporter, counted herself among them. Though there was not an immediate response to the letter, Pelosi did release a statement Wednesday. She speaks against threats to Waters, though there is no such call for the safety of Trump officials.

In a statement released Wednesday, Pelosi said: “Congresswoman Maxine Waters is a valued leader whose passionate call for family reunification should be heard without any threats to her safety.

“Donald Trump has sullied the bully pulpit with reckless disregard for the safety of others … He should stop his attacks on Congresswoman Waters and all Members of Congress, the free press, and all Americans who have the right and the responsibility to speak their minds.”

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Meanwhile, a letter from angry white Democrat women was penned by a Pelosi constituent in California. Woo boy. Is the far left finally beginning to tire of Pelosi? It appears that the edges are being to fray on her regular blanket of support among liberal women. Third wave feminists are not having it. They want an apology from Pelosi for attempting to “silence” Waters.

When you attack a Black woman for speaking out about injustice, and when you call for ‘civility’ in the face of blatant racism, you invoke a long history of white supremacist power,” the letter to Pelosi states. It continues:

Why should Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kirstjen Nielsen get to walk through a ceaselessly accommodating world, unchallenged by the public, never being forced to grapple with their daily complicity in what will be—what is already being—judged as a particularly dark moment in the history of our country? They are white women backing racist, xenophobic policies, and to ask that your colleague act “appropriately” at a time like this only serves to sustain white supremacy.

Leave it to Democrats to label opposition to an unhinged black woman’s political statements as racist. That term was used so frequently by pro-Obama people during his two terms that they totally diluted the sting that the charge of racist held at one time.

As I said, the author of this letter is a Pelosi constituent and a consultant. She even taught a new term to me. She calls for a “call-in” as she calls for action.

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The impetus for the letter originated with Lindsey O-Pries, a consultant, who convened a small group of colleagues via a group chat to express her dismay with Pelosi’s words and to brainstorm about possible actions. The letter was signed by the original ten women convened by O-Pries and sent to Pelosi’s chief of staff on Monday morning, July 2. As of today, with the number of signatories approaching 4,000, Pelosi’s office has not acknowledged the letter, much less responded.

Sabrina Andrus, executive director of If/When/How (a network for law students and legal professionals working for reproductive justice), said in a phone call that the letter was intended to provide a public statement of “frustration and anger and a means of white women ‘calling in’ another white woman who made a serious mistake in trying to silence a Black colleague. We wanted to make a public statement that would start a conversation, and hopefully lead to a public apology from Pelosi.”

“It’s both a call-in and a call to action,” said Andrus about the letter.

A call-in, it turns out, is a way of addressing a problem through education instead of shaming the offender. Our progressive betters are so much smarter than us regular folk. Yes, that’s sarcasm. It gets to be too much. The made-up terms and the sheer arrogance of the leftists are hard to keep up with these days. The letter, in this case, is how the woke women are calling-in with their demand that Pelosi shows support toward Waters. Mostly they want an apology.

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The real lesson should be that those who live by identity politics die by identity politics, in the way an elected official risks losing her re-election over angering a very important group – women voters. Pelosi already faces pressure from the far left to step aside and let the next generation of Democratic leadership emerge. This unification of women against her handling of one of their own won’t help.

No word yet on how Chuck Schumer is handling the angry women.

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John Sexton 7:00 PM | December 06, 2024
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