In United States politics, a Sister Souljah moment is a politician's public repudiation of an allegedly 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 centrist 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.
The term originates in the 1992 presidential candidacy of Bill Clinton. In an interview published May 13, 1992, the hip-hop MC, author, and political activist Sister Souljah was quoted in the Washington Post as saying,
"If Black people kill Black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?"[1]
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[2] and she was widely criticized in the media.
In June 1992, Clinton responded to the quote while giving a speech to the Rainbow Coalition, saying,
- "If you took the words ‘white’ and ‘black’ and you reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech."
Clinton's response was criticized by members and leaders of the 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 interests.”
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 presidency, and the term Sister Souljah moment subsequently entered the political lexicon.
Other examples
In October 1999, Texas Governor George W. Bush, a candidate for the 2000 Republican nomination for the presidency speaking before the 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 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."[3]
Also in the 2000 campaign for the Republican nomination, Arizona 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."[4]
References
- ^ David Mills. "Sister Souljah's Call to Arms". Washington Post, 13 May 1992, p. B1.
- ^ A partial transcript of this interview was posted to Linguist-list:
Ellen Contini-Morava. Disc: Free Indirect Discourse by Sr. Souljah?. Linguist-list e-mail list, 19 June 1992. - ^ "Slouching Toward The Center", Charles Krauthammer, Jewish World Review, October 11, 1999
- ^ "McCain's Selective Outrage", Jacob Weisberg, Slate, February 29, 2000