Black News Tonight’s Marc Lamont Hill Takes on Whitehouse Private Club Controversy
Thursday, June 24, 2021
Black News Tonight's Marc Lamont Hill on Wednesday night took on U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s claims about his relationship to the exclusive Bailey’s Beach Club.
The entire controversy was sparked when last Friday, GoLocal’s News Editor Kate Nagle interviewed Whitehouse if the private club had any minority members and the Senator said, “I think the people who are running the place are still working on that and I’m sorry it hasn't happened yet.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTGoLocal’s report has sparked global news coverage -- including the Washington Post, Politico, Axios, Newsweek, the Daily Mail and dozens of other stories around the globe.
Hill played the clip of Whitehouse answering GoLocal -- and then launched into the following commentary:
Senator Whitehouse…’We must work our way through the issue - there’s a long history’ - he said a whole bunch of nothing. Let’s be very clear.
Let me pause and tell you all a little something. First of all, Monday night he told reporters on Capitol Hill that the club informed him that it does in fact ‘have diversity’ of membership. That means to be clear there’s all kinds of white people in the club — tall white people, short white people, there’s Irish white people, Russian white people, all kinds of white people…very, very diverse white club. But here’s the issue.
Fundamentally, this shows you the hypocrisy of many white so-called liberals. They talk a good game. They’ll take a knee. They’ll wear some kente cloth. They’ll say they support racial justice. They’ll grandstand about Breonna Taylor or George Floyd. They’ll talk about how racist Trump is. That’s easy. That’s low-hanging fruit.
But what do you do when the rubber meets the road. What do you do when your theory has to turn into practice. Sometimes the best politics to identify somebody by is not how they vote — although that’s important; it’s not what they say — although that certainly matters — it’s what their personal politics look like. What does it mean to be feminist, if you’ve not feminist in your lives and relationships, brothers? What does it mean to support LGBT rights, but when you’re in that locker room, in that frat house — what do you say? What are you doing?
And what’s it mean to be a white liberal who says all the right things on race — they love black people, they just can never seem to find one worth hiring. They ‘got all these white friends in Congress’ - but none of them have ever been to their house. You ain’t got none in your real life. And they talk a good game about racial inclusion but you were part of a club that has a long history of racial exclusion.
There’s a long tradition’ — the long tradition is white supremacy. You said ‘they’re working their way through it’ — they’re going to do it when their hand is forced. Save me the platitudes. Save me 49 seconds of talking garbage, and not staying nothing, sir! If you’re really about this racial justice life you’re going to have to prove it. Because right now, to quote a great philosopher, you need more people.
In addition to his role at Black News tonight, he is also the host of BET News and the Coffee & Books podcast. An award-winning journalist, Hill has received numerous prestigious awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, GLAAD, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
Hill is the Steve Charles Professor of Media, Cities, and Solutions at Temple University. Prior to that, he held positions at Columbia University and Morehouse College.
Related Articles
- Sen. Whitehouse Says U.S. Excluded Minorities From Climbing Economic Ladder in Statement
- Whitehouse Refuses to Answer Questions on All White Club, Family is One of Largest Shareholders
- BLM Blasts Whitehouse — “I Am Ashamed of Senator and His Affiliation With This Racist Club”
- GoLocal’s Whitehouse Interview Sparks NYT Reporter, Fox News and Politico Questions
- “It’s a Long Tradition in RI,” Whitehouse Defends Family’s Membership in All-White Club
- Exclusion, Whitehouse, and Bailey’s Beach - Guest MINDSETTER™ Mike Araujo
