Organizing for America | Nfor Julio Barthson's Blog: Hillary's Duplicity

Hillary's Duplicity

By N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader - Jan 10th, 2008 at 1:50 pm EST

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Tags: African Americans, barack obama, Hillary Clinton, HIV/AIDS, racism, south carolina

Does Hillary Clinton really like blacks and would she really fight for their cause as much as she makes us believe? Or is she just going to ride the black horse to victory and then turn her back on this community as she has done before? It's up to African Americans to look at the facts from the past and make the correct decision. Check out the official correspondence below, culled from a community blog, that explores an example of Hillary's duplicity vis-a-vis the black community...

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Is Hillary Clinton Flip-Flopping Blacks?

Hillary Clinton's painted as two-faced to African Americans.

In a letter that was totally ignored by the mainstream media, Harry Alford, President of The National Black Chamber of Commerce, wrote directly to Senator Hillary Clinton that he was "stunned" that she appeared at Howard University for a debate before an African American audience acting as the champion of approving funding for HIV / AIDS treatment in low income Black communities, when she herself voted against a bill that would have improved monies and help for HIV / AIDS treatment in those same communities.

This is the letter Mr. Alford wrote below. It's a hell of a damning read:

July 11, 2007

The Honorable Hillary Clinton
United States Senate
428 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Clinton:

I watched the June 28th Democratic presidential candidates’ debate at Howard University with great interest, and in particular I wanted to address your comments about HIV/AIDS.

I found it interesting that you chose a presidential debate, held before a largely African American audience, to speak out on the fact that HIV/AIDS funding does not fairly reach African Americans with HIV. I only wish you had voted the same way last year in the United States Senate, when we really needed you.

In fact, as was reported in the Washington Post on August 23, 2006, you led the effort to gut provisions in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006 (S. 2823) which would have fixed the increasingly unfair and outdated formulas that hurt African Americans, particularly in the rural South. The bipartisan remedy to this problem, which would have ensured funding would follow the caseload instead of short-changing African Americans, had been supported by 19 of the 20 Senators on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee – and you were the lone “no” vote.
I was stunned to see you, less than a year later, performing before a black audience as if you had led the fight for these changes instead of being the lone warrior against them. Indeed, due to your efforts, these desperately needed remedies had to be cut from the bill or you would not have allowed the Ryan White program to be renewed.

African Americans have overtaken every other ethnic group to become the face of HIV/AIDS in America, and we all have a duty to ensure that every black American living with HIV/AIDS has equal access to the care and support services needed from the federal Ryan White CARE Act to stay healthy and stay alive.

I am glad that at least now, unlike last year, you recognize that women of color in the South are 26 times more likely to be HIV-positive than white females. But thanks to your determined fight against reforms last year, a large portion of Ryan White CARE Act funding is still set aside for large metropolitan areas, and most of the states in the South will never qualify for it. African Americans make up 19% of the South’s population, but accounted for over 60% of all new AIDS cases in 2003. Eight southern states have had to treat the same number of people with HIV/AIDS as other states which have gotten more funding under the outdated formulas. You blocked the changes we needed to fix that.

In fact, as Congressional action dragged on without resolution last year, three people died in South Carolina among some 300 HIV/AIDS patients sitting on an AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting list at the time because the state’s Ryan White funding had once again run out too early.

It is distressing to see the person who single-handedly defeated the most recent effort to get equitable HIV/AIDS funding formulas for African Americans appear today as if she is their greatest champion. Sadly, our community has seen far too much pandering in presidential campaigns and far too little getting delivered that will make a difference for all of us, no matter where we live.

African Americans with HIV/AIDS need visionary leaders with innovative ideas. We need someone who will finally win the fight to make health care funding follow the need in this country, instead of leaving entire communities out in the cold. We don’t need ever-changing candidates who know how to pander, but don’t know how to lead.

I respectfully ask that you bolster your newfound enthusiasm for correcting the growing disparities in HIV/AIDS funding by actively working to undo the damage of your efforts last year. If you’re truly seeking to lead, please introduce new legislation that would ensure that the Title I funding formulas in the Ryan White CARE Act follow the HIV/AIDS caseload with no more unfair set-asides and end the injustice that has cost lives and harmed the nation’s integrity.

Sincerely,

Harry Alford
President/CEO

cc: The Honorable Barack Obama

With all of this, one wonders why Senator Clinton gets as much support from the Black community as she does. Perhaps it's because people -- in general -- just don't know what's going on.

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