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{{Short description|Political discourse term}}

In [[United States]] [[politics]], a '''[[Sister Souljah]] moment''' is a [[politician]]'s public repudiation of an allegedly [[extremism|extremist]] person or group, statement, or position perceived to have some association with the politician or their party. Such an act of repudiation is designed to signal to [[centrism|centrist]] [[vote|voters]] that the politician is not beholden to traditional, and sometimes unpopular, interest groups associated with the party. Though, such a repudiation runs the risk of alienating some of the politician's allies and the party's base voters.

{{use mdy dates |date=September 2020}}

A '''Sister Souljah moment''' is a [[politician]]'s calculated public repudiation of an [[extremism|extremist]] person, statement, group, or position that is perceived to have some association with the politician's own party.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/opinion/article_1e23b4da-0dd2-11e4-bdd5-001a4bcf887a.html|title=Time for a 'Sister Souljah' moment|date=July 17, 2014|accessdate=July 20, 2014}}</ref>

It has been described as "a key moment when the candidate takes what at least appears to be a bold stand against certain extremes within their party"<ref>{{cite web|author= Brando|url=https://notenoughtequila.blogspot.com/2012/03/mitts-sister-souljah-moment.html|title=Mitt's Sister Souljah Moment|date=March 5, 2012|accessdate=September 29, 2012}}</ref> and as "a calculated denunciation of an extremist position or special interest group."<ref name=BG/> This act is intended to be a signal to [[centrism|centrist]] [[vote]]rs that the politician is not beholden to those positions or interest groups. However, such a repudiation runs the risk of alienating some of the politician's allies and the party's [[Base (politics)|base]] voters. The term is named after the hip hop artist [[Sister Souljah]].<ref name="BG">{{cite web|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|title=Sister Souljah moments|first=Joan|last=Vennochi|date=September 16, 2007|url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/09/16/sister_souljah_moments/}}</ref>

==Origins==

The term originates in the [[1992]] [[U.S. presidential election, 1992|presidential]] candidacy of [[Bill Clinton]]. In an interview published [[May 13]], [[1992]], the [[Hip hop music|hip-hop]] [[rapping|MC]], author, and [[political activist]] [[Sister Souljah]] was quoted in the ''[[Washington Post]]'' as saying,

[[File:Sister Souljah million womans march Philadelphia.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Sister Souljah]] in 1997]]

The term originatesoriginated in the [[1992]] [[U.S. presidential election, 1992|1992 presidential]] candidacy of [[Bill Clinton]].<ref name=BG/> In ana ''[[Washington Post]]'' interview published [[on May 13]], [[1992]], the [[Hip hop music|hip- hop]] [[rapping|MC]], author, and [[political activist]] [[Sister Souljah]] was quoted as saying (in response to the question regarding black-on-white violence in the ''[[Washington1992 Post]]''Los asAngeles saying,riots]]):

{{blockquote|Question: Even the people themselves who were perpetrating that violence, did they think that was wise? Was that a wise reasoned action?<br />

{{Cquote|"If Black people kill Black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?"<ref>David Mills. "[http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/74018923.html?dids=74018923:74018923&FMT=ABS Sister Souljah's Call to Arms]". ''Washington Post'', 13 May 1992, p. B1.</ref>}}

Souljah: Yeah, it was wise. I mean, if black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?... White people, this government and that mayor were well aware of the fact that black people were dying every day in Los Angeles under gang violence. So if you're a gang member and you would normally be killing somebody, why not kill a white person? Do you think that somebody thinks that white people are better, are above and beyond dying, when they would kill their own kind?|Quoted in David Mills (June 16, 1992) "In Her Own Disputed Words; Transcript of Interview That Spawned Souljah's Story"|''The Washington Post''<ref>{{Cite news|last=Mills|first=David|date=1992-05-13|title=Sister Souljah's Call to Arms: The rapper says the riots were payback. Are you paying attention?|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |language=en-US|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/31/AR2010033101709.html|access-date=2023-01-13|issn=0190-8286|page=B1}}</ref>}}

Speaking to [[Jesse Jackson|Jesse Jackson Sr.]]'s [[Rainbow/PUSH|Rainbow Coalition]] in June 1992, Clinton responded both to that quotation and to something Souljah had said in the music video of her song "The Final Solution: Slavery's Back in Effect" ("If there are any good white people, I haven't met them").<ref>{{Cite news|last=Lewis|first=Anthony|date=1992-06-18|title=Opinion &#124; Abroad at Home; Black and White|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/18/opinion/abroad-at-home-black-and-white.html|access-date=2023-01-13|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Clinton said: "If you took the words 'white' and 'black,' and you reversed them, you might think [[David Duke]] was giving that speech."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bouie|first=Jamelle|date=2016-10-02|title=The Democratic Party's Racial Reckoning|newspaper=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |language=en-US|url=https://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/10/hillary_clinton_s_reverse_sister_souljah_moment.html|accessdate=2024-11-12|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240420042827/https://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/10/hillary_clinton_s_reverse_sister_souljah_moment.html|archive-date=2024-04-20}}</ref>

The remark was part of a longer response to the [[1992 Los Angeles riots]]. The quote was later reproduced without the context of the complete interview<ref>A partial transcript of this interview was posted to Linguist-list:<br>Ellen Contini-Morava. [http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/3/3-512.html Disc: Free Indirect Discourse by Sr. Souljah?]. Linguist-list e-mail list, 19 June 1992.</ref> and she was widely criticized in the media.

{{Template:Centrism US}}Prior to his appearance, Clinton's campaign staff had conducted an intense debate about how far he should go in distancing himself from Jesse Jackson, who was unpopular with moderate voters. When Souljah was invited to speak at the conference, Clinton's advisors saw their chance. In an essay for ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', [[Joan Didion]], who covered Clinton's campaign, wrote, "a number of reporters had apparently been told in advance by Clinton aides that Governor Clinton would use his Rainbow speech to demonstrate his ‘independence’ from Jesse Jackson, and the very quotable intemperance of Sister Souljah provided the most logical possible focus for such a demonstration." Later in the essay, Didion argued that the Sister Souljah incident had been favorably viewed by the media as "a Clinton call for ‘an end to division’ that had at once served to distance him from Jackson and to demonstrate that he was ‘the guy in charge,’ capable of dominating, or ‘standing up to,’ a kind of black anger that many white voters prefer to see as the basis for this country’s racial division."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Didion |first1=Joan |author-link=Joan Didion |title=Eye on the Prize |journal=The New York Review of Books |date=24 September 1992 |volume=39 |issue=15 |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1992/09/24/eye-on-the-prize/ |language=en |issn=0028-7504}} (This piece was also published in Didion's 2001 essay collection ''[[Political Fictions]]'').</ref>

In June 1992, Clinton responded to the quote while giving a speech to the [[Rainbow Coalition]], saying,

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?26613-1/rap-artists-response-clinton-remarks Sister Souljah's response to Gov. Bill Clinton's remarks, June 16, 1992], [[C-SPAN]]}}

Clinton's response was harshly criticized by Jackson, who said, "Sister Souljah represents the feelings and hopes of a whole generation of people," and claimed that she had been misquoted.<ref>Lewis, ''Op.cit.''</ref> Clinton was also criticized by some of the [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]]'s other [[African American]] supporters.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kornacki |first=Steve |author-link=Steve Kornacki |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/1992-bill-clinton-builds-winning-coalition-jackson-diminished-n1029606 |title=1992: Bill Clinton builds a winning coalition, Jackson is diminished |work=[[NBC News]] |date=2019-07-29 |accessdate=2019-10-08 |quote=It was against this backdrop that Clinton delivered his "Sister Souljah" speech, which opened up a public war with Jackson. }}</ref> Souljah responded by denying she had ever made remarks promoting murder and accused Clinton of being a racist and a hypocrite because he had played golf at a country club that refused to admit black members until he decided to run for president earlier in the year. Clinton acknowledged that he was once a member of an all-white Arkansas golf club early into his presidential campaign and publicly apologized.<ref name="uoooavt4">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-17-ca-573-story.html|title='I Do Not Advocate ... Murdering' : 'Raptivist' Sister Souljah Disputes Clinton Charge |last1=Philips |first1=Chuck |author-link=Chuck Philips|work=Los Angeles Times|date=June 17, 1992|access-date=August 25, 2014}}</ref> In response to the rebuttal, [[Paul Greenberg (journalist)|Paul Greenberg]], an Arkansas journalist and long-time Clinton critic who dubbed the Arkansas Governor "Slick Willie" during his 1980 re-election bid,<ref>{{Cite web|date=1996-10-08|title=Stories of Bill|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/choice/bill/greenberg.html|access-date=2023-01-13|website=www.pbs.org}}</ref> criticized Souljah for lying about what she said in an earlier interview with the ''Washington Post'', accusing her of trying to fend off criticism "with the savvy of an experienced pol." In the same article, he compared her to [[Louis Farrakhan]], the leader of the [[Nation of Islam]].<ref>

{{citation|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/06/19/sister-souljah-and-the-irrational-rationality-of-hate/|title=Sister Souljah And The Irrational Rationality Of Hate|author-link=Paul Greenberg (journalist)|last1=Greenberg |first1=Paul |publisher=Chicago Tribune|date=June 19, 1992|access-date=August 25, 2014}}</ref>

==Other examples==

: "If you took the words ‘white’ and ‘black’ and you reversed them, you might think [[David Duke]] was giving that speech."

Well into the 21st century, there have been several instances called Sister Souljah moment(s).

===Early 2000s===

Clinton's response was criticized by members and leaders of the [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]]'s [[African-American]] supporters, such as [[Jesse Jackson]]. However, it is often reported by the media to have also reinforced the image, in the eyes of moderate and independent voters, of a centrist politician who was “[[tough on crime]]” and “not influenced by [[special interest]]s.”

In October 1999, [[Texas]] [[Governor]] [[George W. Bush]],As a [[candidate]] for the [[U.S.Republican Party (United States) presidential electionprimaries, 2000|Republican nomination for president in 2000]], [[UnitedGovernor Statesof Republican PartyTexas|RepublicanTexas Governor]] [[nominationGeorge W. Bush]] for the presidency speakingspoke before the [[American conservatism|conservative]] [[Manhattan Institute]], saidin October 1999 saying, "Too often, on social issues, my party has painted an image of America slouching toward [[Sodom and Gomorrah,|Gomorrah]]", quoting the title of a [[Slouching Towards Gomorrah|title of a book]] by conservative [[jurist]] [[Robert Bork]]. Bush's comments were seen as a repudiation of the religious right and an attempt to appeal to moderate voters; commentator [[Charles Krauthammer]] called it "an ever- so- subtle Sister Souljah on Robert Bork."<ref>[http{{Cite news| url= https://www.jewishworldreviewchicagotribune.com/cols1999/krauthammer101199.asp10/11/setting-himself-apart-from-those-hard-core-conservatives/|title=Setting "SlouchingHimself TowardApart TheFrom Center"],Those [[CharlesHard-core Krauthammer]],Conservatives| work= [[JewishChicago World ReviewTribune]],| Octoberaccess-date= 11, 1999.2017-09-25|language=en}}</ref>

Also inIn the 2000same campaign for the Republican nomination, [[Arizona]] [[United States Senate|senatorSenator]] [[John McCain]] stated, “Neither"Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be [[Louis Farrakhan]] or [[Al Sharpton]] on the left or [[Pat Robertson]] or [[Jerry Falwell]] on the right.” " This was similarly seen as a repudiation of the religious right; columnist [[Jacob Weisberg]] called it "a pungent Sister Souljah moment."<ref>[{{cite web|last1= Weisberg|first1=Jacob |author-link=Jacob Weisberg |title=McCain's Selective Outrage |url=http://www.slate.com/idarticles/1004709news_and_politics/ballot_box/2000/02/mccains_selective_outrage.html| "McCain's Selective Outrage"],website=Slate.com [[Jacob|date=February Weisberg]]29, [[Slate2000 (magazine)|publisher=Slate]],|accessdate=25 FebruaryMay 29, 20002016}}</ref>

Clinton's remarks were consonant with his larger strategy to move the Democratic Party to a more centrist stance on many issues. Clinton went on to win the [[President of the United States|presidency]], and the term ''Sister Souljah moment'' subsequently entered the political lexicon.

During the [[2008 United States presidential campaign]], [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] nominee [[Barack Obama]] received much criticism for his association with his longtime pastor, [[Jeremiah Wright]], and Wright's pattern of controversial statements. On April 29, Senator Obama distanced himself, in a well-received [[A More Perfect Union (speech)|speech on racism]], calling some of Wright's statements "outrageous" and "a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in truth."<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/29/AR2008042903173.html?hpid=topnews&hpid=topnews | newspaper=The Washington Post | first1=Peter | last1= Slevin | first2=Darryl | last2=Fears | title= Obama Calls Minister's Comments 'Outrageous' | date= April 30, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Timraos">Nick Timiraos and Jackie Calmes. "Obama Denounces Ex-Pastor for 'Rants'", April 30, 2008, pp. A1, A18.</ref> [[South Carolina]] [[United States House of Representatives|Congressman]] [[James Clyburn]] said of the speech, "This, I think, offers Barack Obama his Sister Souljah moment";<ref name="Timraos"/> the speech was also described as "more than a Sister Souljah moment" by columnist [[Maureen Dowd]].<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/opinion/30dowd.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin | work=The New York Times | first=Maureen | last=Dowd | title=Praying and Preying |author-link=Maureen Dowd | date=April 30, 2008}}</ref>

==Other examples==

In October 1999, [[Texas]] [[Governor]] [[George W. Bush]], a [[candidate]] for the [[U.S. presidential election, 2000|2000]] [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] [[nomination]] for the presidency speaking before the [[American conservatism|conservative]] [[Manhattan Institute]], said, "Too often, on social issues, my party has painted an image of America slouching toward Gomorrah," quoting the title of a [[Slouching Towards Gomorrah|book]] by conservative [[jurist]] [[Robert Bork]]. Bush's comments were seen as a repudiation of the religious right and an attempt to appeal to moderate voters; commentator [[Charles Krauthammer]] called it "an ever-so-subtle Sister Souljah on Robert Bork."<ref>[http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/krauthammer101199.asp "Slouching Toward The Center"], [[Charles Krauthammer]], [[Jewish World Review]], October 11, 1999.</ref>

Later in the campaign, Obama delivered a speech on [[Father's Day (United States)|Father's Day]] at the annual convention of the [[NAACP|National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP). In the speech, he appeared to criticize [[Father absence|absentee fathers]] in the African-American community, saying, "if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that what too many fathers also are is missing — missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it. You and I know how true this is in the African-American community."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Politico staff |title=Text of Obama's fatherhood speech |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2008/06/text-of-obamas-fatherhood-speech-011094 |website=Politico|date=June 15, 2008 }}</ref> Multiple publications called the speech a Sister Souljah moment,<ref>{{cite web |last1=McPherson |first1=Lionel |title=Obama's Sister Souljah moment |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/14/barackobama.race |website=The Guardian |date=14 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Cohen |first1=Michael A. |title=The Souljah Legacy |url=https://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/the-souljah-legacy/ |website=The New York Times |language=en |date=16 June 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Martin |first1=Jonathan |title=Obama calls out black community |url=https://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0608/Obama_calls_out_black_community.html |website=Politico |language=en |date=15 June 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Coates |first1=Ta-Nehisi |title=Another view on Obama's fatherhood speech |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2008/06/another-view-on-obama-apos-s-fatherhood-speech/5070/ |website=The Atlantic |language=en |date=17 June 2008}}</ref> although Obama spokeswoman [[Linda Douglass]] denied this.<ref>{{cite web |title=Obama Says Blacks Must Take Responsibility - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-says-blacks-must-take-responsibility/ |website=CBS News |date=14 July 2008}}</ref>

On July 10, 2008, prior to a taping of the news program ''[[Fox & Friends]]'', Jesse Jackson was unwittingly caught by an [[hot mic|open microphone]] whispering to a fellow interviewee, saying, in reaction to Obama's Father's Day speech the month before, that Obama was "talking down to black people" and that he (Jackson) wanted "to cut [Obama's] nuts off."<ref>{{cite news| url= http://articles.cnn.com/2008-07-09/politics/jesse.jackson.comment_1_obama-campaign-jesse-jackson-black-voters?_s=PM:POLITICS| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100903143651/http://articles.cnn.com/2008-07-09/politics/jesse.jackson.comment_1_obama-campaign-jesse-jackson-black-voters?_s=PM:POLITICS| url-status= dead| archive-date= September 3, 2010|title=Jackson apologizes for 'crude' Obama remarks|date=July 9, 2008|work=CNN Politics|accessdate=14 May 2012}}</ref> Jackson's son, Illinois Congressman and co-chair of Obama's presidential campaign [[Jesse Jackson, Jr.|Jesse Jackson Jr.]] publicly lambasted his father's comments. ''Washington Post'' journalist [[Dan Balz]] called the comments an "accidental Sister Souljah moment" for Obama, since Jackson had distanced himself from the candidate without Obama having to take a stand.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/07/obamas-accidental-sister-soulj.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018021813/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/07/obamas-accidental-sister-soulj.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 18, 2012|title=Obama's Accidental Sister Souljah Moment|last=Balz|first= Dan|author-link=Dan Balz |date=10 July 2008|newspaper=Washington Post|accessdate= 11 May 2012}}</ref>

===2020s===

Also in the 2000 campaign for the Republican nomination, [[Arizona]] [[United States Senate|senator]] [[John McCain]] stated, “Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be [[Louis Farrakhan]] or [[Al Sharpton]] on the left or [[Pat Robertson]] or [[Jerry Falwell]] on the right.” This was similarly seen as a repudiation of the religious right; columnist [[Jacob Weisberg]] called it "a pungent Sister Souljah moment."<ref>[http://www.slate.com/id/1004709/ "McCain's Selective Outrage"], [[Jacob Weisberg]], [[Slate (magazine)|Slate]], February 29, 2000</ref>

On August 28, 2020, conservative pundits [[George Will]] and [[Amanda Carpenter]] called on Democratic presidential nominee [[Joe Biden]] to have a "Sister Souljah moment" to distance himself from the violence of the [[Kenosha protests]], which occurred against the backdrop of the police [[shooting of Jacob Blake]], an African American man.<ref>{{cite news |first=George F. |last=Will |authorlink=George Will |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/biden-needs-a-sister-souljah-moment/2020/08/27/8f5310c6-e894-11ea-970a-64c73a1c2392_story.html |title=Opinion: Biden needs a Sister Souljah moment |newspaper=The Washington Post }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://thebulwark.com/what-does-biden-have-to-do-to-show-hes-tough-on-riots/ |title= What Does Biden Have To Do to Show He's Tough on Riots? |first= Amanda |last=Carpenter |authorlink=Amanda Carpenter |website=[[The Bulwark (website)|The Bulwark]] |date=August 28, 2020 |accessdate=September 2, 2020 }}</ref> Two days prior, Biden had already released a statement condemning violence at protests, which the commentators viewed as inadequate.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/513802-biden-burning-down-communities-is-not-protest |title= Biden: 'Burning down communities is not protest' |first=Jonathan |last=Easley |date=August 26, 2020 |website=The Hill }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.wonkette.com/conservatives-suggest-joe-biden-drive-a-rhetorical-bus-over-black-people-to-show-hes-anti-riot |title=No, White People, Joe Biden Doesn't Need A 'Sister Souljah Moment' |first= Stephen |last=Robinson |date=August 30, 2020 |website= [[Wonkette]].com |accessdate=September 2, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/trump-accentuating-his-weakness/615910/ |title=Kenosha Could Cost Trump the Election |first=David A. |last=Graham |date=September 1, 2020 |work= [[The Atlantic]] |accessdate=September 2, 2020 }}</ref>

In late October 2024, just one week away from the [[2024 United States presidential election|presidential election]], comedian [[Bill Maher]] urged Democratic nominee [[Kamala Harris]] to have a "Sister Souljah moment" by calling out an "extremist" from the left as a last ditch effort to win the election.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mediaite.com/tv/its-not-too-late-maher-suggests-kamala-harris-take-out-an-extremist-in-her-own-coalition-as-last-ditch-to-win-have-a-sister-souljah-moment/|title=It's Not Too Late!' Maher Suggests Kamala Harris Take Out 'An Extremist' in Her 'Own Coalition' as Last Ditch to Win: 'Have a Sister Souljah Moment'|last=Leeman|first=Zachary|work=[[Mediaite]]|quote=Bill Maher recommended Vice President Kamala Harris give her campaign a last-minute boost by targeting an "extremist" on her own side of the aisle. On Friday's [[Real Time with Bill Maher|Real Time]], Maher finished the show off by saying it's not "too late" for Harris to have a "Sister Souljah moment."|date=October 26, 2024|accessdate=October 29, 2024}}</ref>

== References ==

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==See alsoReferences==

{{reflist|2}}

* [[Triangulation (politics)|Triangulation]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sister Souljah Moment}}

[[Category:Bill Clinton]]

[[Category:George1992 W.Los BushAngeles riots]]

[[Category:American1992 political termsneologisms]]

[[Category:UnitedJune States1992 presidentialin election,the 1992United States]]

[[Category:Bill1990s Clintonin hip-hop]]

[[Category:Political terminology of the United States]]

[[Category:American political neologisms]]

[[Category:Centrism in the United States]]

[[Category:Bill Clinton 1992 presidential campaign]]

[[Category:Political extremism in the United States]]

[[Category:History of women in the United States]]