MI-07: Surging Progressive Once Said Black Democratic Leaders 'Defang The White Left'

[RandySF]

WASHINGTON – A progressive House candidate whose surge in a battleground district in Michigan has alarmed Democratic party officials once said Black U.S. political leaders are a “pillar” of the “capitalist, imperialist” American establishment whose backing for Democratic leadership “defangs the white left.”

William Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement who is running for the Democratic nomination in the state’s 7th congressional district, made his comments on the Sept. 10, 2024 episode of his podcast, Hegemonicon, which featured conversations about social movements and politics.

The extent to which the older generation of Black political leadership are such a pillar, frankly, for establishment, capitalist, imperialist American power through their role as this kind of traditionalist, establishment-ist pillar of the Democratic Party, it’s a big problem,” Lawrence said around the 41:48 mark of the podcast. “It’s a big problem for left politics in this country. And it gets us every single time. It really defangs the white left and puts us in impossible positions, really.”

Lawrence said Friday he regrets his past comments, which were part of a conversation about Black liberation with his guest, Khury Petersen-Smith, a young Black activist and the Michael Ratner Middle East Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.


https://www.huffpost.com/entry/surging-progressive-once-said-black-democratic-leaders-defang-the-white-left_n_6a51a01ae4b084b03f7f0f6d