The line has begun! #Pete2020 #PeteForAmerica #PeteInChicago #GrassrootsEvent @PeteButtigieg pic.twitter.com/TDd5Vc5HYk
— marla.izbicky (@MarlaIzbicky) August 20, 2019
Black people hate Buttigieg.
If he weren’t polling at 0 with black voters, he might be a contender. Instead he’s the candidate who raises a lot of money at events in trendy neighborhoods, but has no ability to connect with a sizable chunk of the Dem base. Despite stripping Beto O’Rourke of much of his votes (the two men are variations of the same sniveling hipster weasel), O’Rourke is still hanging in there because he draws from a minority base.
Meanwhile Buttigieg showed up on Chicago’s South Side to pitch benefits for black people… to a white crowd.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg held a self-described grassroots campaign rally in Bronzeville on Tuesday night, but the overwhelmingly white audience he drew to the event in a historic black neighborhood reinforced the difficulty the Democratic presidential hopeful has had in connecting with African American voters.
As part of discussing those proposals, Buttigieg touched on his Douglass Plan, named after abolitionist Frederick Douglass, that he calls “a comprehensive investment in the empowerment of Black America.”
Sorry, Black America isn’t interested.
The plan calls for tripling the number of black entrepreneurs within a decade, awarding 25% of all government contracts to minority business owners, creating rules to foster more diversity among teachers, increasing funding for historically black colleges and universities by $25 billion, and establishing “health equity zones” to ensure better health care for black Americans.
It doesn’t matter what Buttigieg offers, he can’t get black support.
“The American black experience might as well put you in another country, and we can no longer allow this to exist,” Buttigieg said to a round of applause.
… from white lefties.
Buttigieg backers made contributions as low as $25 and $50 to the candidate’s campaign to gain entry to the event while some paid up to $1,000 to attend a pre-event reception with the mayor. Before the doors opened, a long line of supporters stretched down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and down a nearby side street.
And never had there been that many white people around MLK Drive.
“Whoa, where are they all coming from? I’ve been in this neighborhood for 20 years, and I ain’t never seen nothing like that before, all these white folks lined up over there. Never,” Ruby Laster said, pointing at the line of supporters as she waited for the bus across King Drive.
The Rev. Chris Harris, who introduced Buttigieg at the event, acknowledged as much and called on the hundreds in attendance to help diversify the support of Buttigieg’s campaign.
“Next time we have an event in Bronzeville, we need some more black faces up in here. We need some more brown faces up in here,” Harris, pastor of the Brightstar Church of God in Christ, said as the crowd cheered. “Next time, you can’t leave your black and brown friends at home. And if you don’t have some, you need to make some!”
It’s funny because it’s true.
Leave a Reply