Thank you for this article. Sen. Warren is right about the system being rigged. It is rigged against nearly all of us.
As a result we all suffer from three existential threats:
Injustice, Inequality, and Instability.
See https://www.legalreader.com/elections-for-the-people/
Sen. Warren is working to fix the system.
See her Anti-Corruption Plan at
https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Master%20Summary%20of%20Anti%20Corruption%20Act%20-%20FINAL.pdf
1
In the distant past, many institutions "systematically discriminated against black people in this country,” as Ms. Warren said. Today, however, government entities, corporations and universities all systematically discriminate against white people in this country, while giving blacks special preferences and privileges.
Colleges are so eager for "diverse" students that they have historically admitted black students with an average 200-point-lower SAT score than white and Asian students.
Ironically, the push for "diversity" has led many universities to create racially segregated dormitories, student unions, orientation programs, and graduation ceremonies. There are hundreds of organizations (including entire colleges and universities) and scholarships that are strictly for women and/or ethnic minorities. There isn't a single scholarship or organization that is solely for Caucasians, not a single scholarship solely for men, and the male-only organizations are limited to fraternities, which are under constant attack by the media and school administrators. Apparently, what colleges find offensive isn't organizations or benefits that are limited to a single gender or race, but anything that happens to benefit men or Caucasians.
The basic problem is that a racist past cannot be undone through more racism. Race-conscious programs betray Martin Luther King's dream of a color-blind community, and lead to divisiveness, resentment and acrimony.
11
Strange that Warren did not mention that the greatest harm to black citizens since reconstruction has done by the two great waves of 10's of millions of slave-wage immigrants that both parties have orchestrated, that in recent decades again killed wages and job opportunities for black Americans. And that her party and their university and economist and business ideologues still believe in and manage for "open borders" policies that killed so many manufacturing jobs that millions of black and brown people once had ... via their transfer to China and Mexico. She also neglected to mention the monster flop of affirmative action quotas in regard to minorities in government, universities and businesses that perhaps predictably ended up benefitting mostly mediocre, upper middle-class and wealthy privileged white woman (like her). While at the same time they gained a kind of weird, evil, reverse discrimination legitimacy by denying white men jobs in many government agencies and professions for decades. Because as sympathetic and sometimes honest government officials have advised men: 'don't waste your time applying because we'll only be hiring women for many years until we reach our diversity goals' AND relatively few minorities get sufficient education to meet the minimum of intentionally lowered qualifications for many jobs so … .
3
"“Two sets of rules: one for white families. And one for everybody else."
Okay Warren, you don't ever want my vote (not that you or your anti-white party were going to get it!), got it!
10
I used to think that the comment moderators doing NYT Picks made an effort to present a fair picture of the overall comments by selecting a diversity of picks that did a good job of representing the overall comments. But lately, the NYT Picks seem to have a distinct bias far to the left of moderate. If you look at all the comments, a strong majority express negative sentiment about Warren as president. But the NYT picks are disproportionately positive or somewhat positive about Warren. Why is the Times essentially advocating for this woman by giving her out-sized coverage and selectively highlighting positive reader comments? There are far better candidates - ones who would be heavily favored against Trump rather than a nail biting tossup like the polls are showing that Warren would be.
10
Identity politics are suddenly supposed to be out of vogue for some members of our populace? Want to know who those members are? They are white and male, the very group of people who FOUNDED identity politics and lived identity politics right up until this nation elected a black man and was considering a woman for the job. That's rich.
2
Hmm.
Whites are actually losing population in absolute numbers.
Working class white women's life expectancy declining.
White men suicide rate exploding
Whites, 65% of the population, only constitute 10% of immigrants.
Whites have no politician, even Trump, that will explicitly advocate for their interests.
Whites have no organization akin to 'La Raza' which will advocate for their interests.
Whites are routinely discriminated against in college admissions (esp. poor and working class whites, who 'privileged' by rejection at 7 times the rate of poor/working class Asians (see Espenshade).
So yeah, their are two sets of rules for whites and all others...and those rules disadvantage whites.
9
This is a case of the wrong person (hungry for support) having spoken the truth for the wrong reasons (ambition). The right person would be one who has helped change the rules, or at least fought to maintain the so-called “rule,” and the so-called guarantees, in the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Where was her voice of outrage in the last 3 months, as election fraud was taking place in Georgia and Florida (against African-Americans), and in North Dakota (against Native Americans)?
5
@James Murrow There was not voter fraud against African Americans in FL in the last election.
2
My experience growing up and living in the South mirrors Ms. Warren's remarks. There weren't just two sets of rules when I grew up. There were two sets of everything, from water fountains and bathrooms to schools. We are still experiencing the consequences of that culture, though things are improving over time.
It's mostly black folks who managed to get an education and who left the South to work, but who are returning to retire, who seem to have made a lot of the recent changes.
They have integrated upscale neighbors and even modest middle-class white neighborhoods. They have demonstrated that we can all live together.
Children are also making a difference. Children who are raised by non-biased parents make friends with whomever they like, cutting across racial barriers. They always did, but now those friendships often last past elementary school.
As that is happening, there are white groups like Sons of the Confederacy that promote their own view of the Civil War and keep fighting it today, a view that ignores the fact that slavery played a large role in the secession of states. Yes, states' rights were involved, but largely the rights they wanted to keep were the rights to continue to enslaver human beings.
Until we address that segment of society, along with neo-nazis and white supremacists, we will remain divided.
2
Is this what uniting us as a nation sounds like? Is this what any hope of a democratic victory in 2020 looks like? Is a paranoiac obsession with identity a sign of character?
To fellow liberals out there: please denounce this as virtue signaling regardless of intent; please understand this style of rhetoric is the blueprint for four more years of Donald Trump.
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The author of this piece seems to claim insight into Senator Warren's motivations for making some of her comments.
IMHO, it would give journalists more credibility of they would just say, "It appears to me....", but this blatant assurance that the writer knows the inner workings of an individual's mind is disturbing. Readers can draw their own conclusions quite easily.
6
I came to this site after I saw a notice about i on p. 2 of the printed edition today. First, I realized it wasn't a direct link to the video; I had to enter Warren in the search field on the video page, and then I had to scroll down a full page of items (all videos!) looking for the right one. Finally, I found this one with a pretty specific title, though dated 12/14 rather than 12/17, and then I realized it was less than a minute long! The accompanying text described the full speech better, as well as its connection to the Amerindian issues, but why wasn't there complete video? I felt a bit misled, and will be more sparing in picking up on these p. 2 suggestions in future...
I'm still a Democrat. I'm still a Catholic. But the bishops in both parties have lost their bearings, and Elizabeth Warren is no exception. Beto O'Rourke's message was "if you are a Democrat, you belong here. If you are a Republican, you belong here. If you are white, black .. you belong here.." In other words, we're all in this together.
4
And back in the real world, black unemployment is considerably down under Trump.
Please, Democrats, nominate this woman for President.
6
(I am a Jew. Not Black, but not exactly white either)
So lets say Ms. Warren is right, and the rules are rigged. Not so sure she can do anything about it. You cannot make people like you or help you (we Jews know that :-( )
And you cannot "demand" respect. But you can earn it.
Our communities strongly discourage having babies out of wedlock, drug use, illiteracy.
Ms. Warren is just trying to bait communities of color.
Promising "the government" is going to help is nonsense.
If you want to succeed, you have to help yourself.
Have your young people stay in school. Go after marketable skills.
Have babies when they can afford it.
No drugs.
The government spends hundreds of billions of dollars a year on social programs and after 60 years of it, there is no appreciable difference.
You need to change the culture.
14
Elizabeth Warren is exactly the kind of politician America needs in the Senate and in the House. Her role is to agitate against the status quo to effect legislation that helps us at least lurch grudgingly forward into the future rather than to be sucked backwards into the past. I hope she does not run for President. The best Presidents govern from the center, which she would be unable to do.
2
Does anyone besides Elizabeth Warren, actually believe that Elizabeth Warren has any conceivable route to the Democratic nomination, much less the White House. That the media and Democrats take her at all seriously, is terrifying. A profound misunderstanding of 'unelectability' has cost Democrats several critical Presidential elections (eg McGovern, 1972; Mondale, 1984; Kerry, 2004 spring to mind). Barring once in a lifetime leaders like Obama, Democrats should stick to red state governors like Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter, else Joe Biden. All the others are guaranteed losers.
9
Note to Ms. Warren:
Pandering isn’t leadership.
13
Elizabeth Warren is apparently ignoring the large number of Democrats who think she badly flubbed the DNA test controversy - allowing herself to be baited into a political mess by Trump - who's waiting to bait her some more -especially now that he knows how easily he got under her skin.
Warren's a good senator but Democrats must win in 2020.
We need 3 things in a winning candidate:
No ethical problems. (Warren can't get away from the ethical questions surrounding her claims of minority status. A giant mess waiting to happen, Trump's already branded her "Pochahantas, "drowning out everything else. Who wants to watch this?)
Strong political chops. (Warren fails here by having taken Trump's bait & needlessly engaging him about his racial smear. She's far too eager to have a dirt fight with Trump. People who get into personal fights with Trump emerge badly damaged. Ask Hillary, Jeb, Rubio, Ted Cruz, etc.)
The nominee must be likeable. (Warren also fails here. Many adore her but many view her as harsh, a scold, angry and a dyed in the wool Massachusetts liberal. Men have shown they don't like female candidates they view as humorless or angry - see Hillary Clinton).
Warren's the wrong candidate for the Democrats in 2020.
All the people who are adamant the 2020 nominee must be a woman (bad idea, see where that got us in 2016...) should take a look at Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris, both more appealing than Warren and without the baggage Warren already carries.
4
You’re wrong. She’s not even from Massachusetts originally.
1
Whatever. Overall the opinions were on point.
1
As Reagan said, there they go again, identity obsessed candidates.
It helped do Hillary in, regulated her to the dust heap of history, while Obama who rain as an American and not as a black served two terms.
Warren already has a nail in the 2020 coffin with her remarks re women and men, this speech nailed it shut.
People hate identity politics whether they be male, female, black or white.
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@Paul
"... As Reagan said, there they go again, identity obsessed candidates. ..."
What could possibly be more 'identity obsessed' than Reagan opening his campaign in Philidelphia, Mississippi with his 'states rights' nonsense?
What could possibly be more 'identity obsessed' than diaper don's 5 year birtherism campaign?
These scream: I'm a white guy, women and the 'other' are not.
11
@Paul
Fighting against identity politics is fighting for justice, not identity politics. Stop helping Republicans torn truth upside down.
Identify politics its calling Warren Pocahontas.
Identity politics is sicking dogs on, firing rubber bullets at, and shooting with a water canon native American Water Protectors.
Identity politics is treating central American immigrants differently than European immigrants.
Identity politics is a ban on immigrants based on their religion.
Identify politics is racial profiling.
Identity politics is a ban on immigrants based on their religion.
Jim Crow was Identity politics. The Civil rights movement was a fight for justice.
Burning black churches and shooting people in their houses of worship is identify politics.
Murdering most of the native population for their land was Identity politics.
Slavery was Identity politics.
Violently attacking LGBTs is identify politics.
Paying women less is identify politics.
Trump calling a column of Neo-Nazis chanting "Jews will not replace us" fine people is identify politics.
Inviting the leader of a violent white supremacist group to speak at the NYC Metropolitan Club is identity politics.
The right keeps engaging in identity politics and the left keeps fighting against identity politics. Attacking those that fight against identity politics is helping those that engage in identity politics. Step helping Republicans turn truth upside down.
7
@McGloin-Thank you for your reply McGloin, but again as Reagan said (on an un related issue), there you go again, two wrongs don't make a right. See my reply to old bass guy.
@oldBassGuy-Thank you for your reply. Let me clarify Reagan said there you go again re some unrelated issue and yes republicans can use forms of identity obsession but you don't fight it by being identity obsessed yourself. Two wrongs don't make a right. You don't engage the corner drunk by cursing back at him/her.
The greatest recent of example of it was Obama. He ran as an American and not as a black and served two terms, Hillary ran as a woman and not as an American and was caste onto the dust heap of history.
4
“Two sets of rules: one for the wealthy and the well-connected. And one for everybody else,” she said. “Two sets of rules: one for white families. And one for everybody else.”
These are a strange pair of statements. By repeating “Two sets of rules” Warren seems to imply that all white families are wealthy and well-connected and all families of color are not. This is patently false.
Perhaps Warren meant there are four sets of rules: 1) whites who are wealthy, 2) people of color who are wealthy, 3) whites who are not wealthy, and 4) people of color who are not wealthy. If this were the case, we could rank the positions of the four groups: clearly it is best to be in group 1 and worst to be in group 4. But it better to be in group 2 or 3?
It’s an interesting question, but my suspicion is that Warren was just being dishonest
6
Basically you are just providing the four possible combinations of two different sets of rules for two different groups. This is implied in Ms Warren’s speech. She does not state that the “two sets of rules” for each category are identical. This you can have poor whites treated better than poor blacks but not as well as rich whites.
I do not see any contradiction in her speech
Elizabeth Warren made a great point denouncing economic inequality in the African American community. Now is the time for African Americans to get off the Democratic Plantation that has hamstrung them for decades in our nation.
3
Elizabeth Warren is not trying to divide the country. She is acknowledging to African-American graduates the reality that they will face a system that is rigged against them. Thie is the reality of race in America. Unlike Trumpists support white supremacists who claim they are discriminated against, Warren is telling the truth.
3
Sen. Warren is saying what the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said decades ago. Because it is the truth.
Nobody liked what MLK said then, either, and the rigged system made sure his voice was silenced so the powers that be could continue grinding us apart and down. And they have.
Russian trolls stoke the embers of hate and division in comment sections like this one. But, the embers have been smoldering all along, since Sherman burned Atlanta and opposition to "Reconstruction" reconstructed a new system of oppression. From the Cherokees' Trail of Tears forced migration from their ancestral lands to "No Irish Need Apply," "Whites Only," and "Mexicans Go Home" signs, the Chinese Immigration Exclusion Act of 1860, and the 1924 Immigration Act targeting the "swarthy races" of Eastern European Jews, Italians, Greeks, and Slavic people, job seekers have been pitted against job seeker by "the system." Exploitation of racial fears, poverty and threats of job loss by busting up the trade unions has followed. Follow the money, right to the tippy top of Trump Tower today.
@oh really Please look at a calendar. The year is 2018, almost 2019. Not 1924, much less 1860.
1
This woman will play any race card to try and gain an advantage. However, too many people have seen too much and she will not get away with it.
7
The Pandering Season is now officially open.
7
After Trump's 4000 or so lies, and all the other swamp infested friends of his, I'm not worried about Elizabeth Warren's DNA.
2
Truth to power...minorities, especially black Americans, have been shafted and marginalized through disgraceful and in many cases illegal corrupt rules, regulations and laws for many, many years.
A huge percentage of White Americans never, ever want to have an equal playing field in all aspects of American economic, social, and political life. They want to see the power in the hands of those that look like them.
I'm one of the those white middle aged men who believes and desires an equal playing field for all in America's future.
Make America Truly Equal.
3
Coming from a white lady who used a non detectable infinitesimal amount of minority heritage to get ahead at Harvard and still defend it to this day....I wonder if the system would be less rigged if actual Native Americans or other non-white persons had gotten that professorship? Or so many professorships...
5
Brava to Elizabeth Warren. Those who do not live in black skin, and who trumpet that education and ordinary moral responsibility eclipse the effects of centuries of dehumanization need to listen to Warren. She can say it and have credibility. If we blacks say it, it sounds whiny in white ears. And that fact, as well, is a critical aspect of the sets of rules that differ for blacks than for whites. She is absolutely right; the rules by which we must operate are different and stacked against us. Think about the most obvious example today. Try to conceive of the political survival of a Barack Obama who habitually lies -- about everything, pays off pornstars to silence them, or humiliates the country at home and abroad with his collossal ignorance. What is surprising is that Warren's saying it, merely articulating what all black parents must tell their children, is somehow newsworthy and generates headlines in the NYTimes.
15
Playing the victim card is how Elizabeth Warren rolls. She falsely claimed Native American ancestry as a crutch to get into college. Now she panders to a black audience and encourages them to believe that they are victims of vast white conspiracy meant to keep them subjugated to powerful white men. Nothing good comes of this type of self pity. America is becoming a society of minorities demanding special privileges simply because of the color of their skin. And Warren will play on this misplaced victim mentality as long as it keeps her in the political limelight.
33
Democrats like Senator Warren are the best guarantee that Republicans will stay in power. As a self-proclaimed "tribune for the poor" she earned almost a quarter of a million dollars last year and is worth somewhere between 3 and 10 million dollars. Yes, we have problems in our society. And they won't be solved by people who make a fortune going around telling everybody how bad they have it.
6
Why do the news media keep bringing up Elizabeth Warren's ethnicity? Is it really a subtle way to disparage her as a woman, to suggest that she did not attain her position through competence and hard work, but rather through "racial preferences"?
As for systemic racism, many studies have demonstrated the efforts in our society to keep African-Americans down, starting with excessive disciplinary measures in elementary school and even preschool. If you want to observe the racism endemic in our criminal justice system, just go to the local courthouse in a city with a significant African-American population and watch the hearings and bench trials for a few hours. I have done that.
1
I have been a supporter of Elizabeth Warren.
I am tiring or her obvious pandering to minorities in order to overcome her poor choice of first claiming, then defending her attempt at minority status.
More to the point, if the democrats are to win over the critical segment of the electorate, they have to offer something more than class and racial political war.
The critical segment of the electorate is the middle class, most of whom are white, most of whom worked hard to establish successful lives. They vote more than other segments. Outside of some urban enclaves, they tend to be centrist politically, conservative financially, liberal socially, and tired of defending their success as a result of "privilege." Many will view Ms Warren's current pandering as just another iteration of "you didn't build it."
Which is disappointing.
After Trump, after republican non governance, our country needs binding and it needs policies to redress the issues foisted upon us by republican hubris.
Sounding the racial and class trumpets might delight some, but they will alienate the majority.
Since the purpose of elections is to win the majority of the ballots cast, Ms Warren's strategy will fail. If she is on the presidential ticket, that too will fail. Such failure will result in continued republican mis-governance.
5
Ms. Warren is evidence that the system is not rigged. Otherwise, how would she, a Native American and a woman, get a position at Harvard and get elected to the US Senate?
7
I've always liked Elizabeth Warren. As a professor, she's extremely competent and articulate about the subject of income inequality and rigged regulations that favor the transfer of wealth upward to the monied classes.
And yet, I also understand how polarizing she can be, and a bull in a china shop over this racial identity thing.
That said, for 2020, she has a real role to play in articulating the technical aspects of economic injustices facing African Americans, because such barriers can be subtle or overt.
I hope she remains in the system, but never stops speaking out about the topics she teaches and can explain so well.
24
@ChristineMcM I hope she retires and allows a more realistic person to have her seat.
5
@vulcanalex
Sen Warren has been a powerhouse in efforts to obviate corporate control of our government. We could use more of her kind.
4
I’m not sure what you are talking about. She never articulates any technical ways in which the law is stacked against black people. As far as I know, we don’t have any laws that discriminate against any race, except caucasians. Or at least none of the experts like warren are able to identify any such laws. Admittedly, however, our society discriminates against people who don’t graduate high school, who have multiple babies out of wedlock that they cannot possibly afford, who do drugs and drink to excess, and who walk and talk like a thug. But no law pushed by a limousine liberal can correct for this kind of discrimination without tearing society apart in the process. Sorry, if this speech is the best she can do, she’s a horrible communicator on this issue.
2
I like and admire Elizabeth Warren.
But this is a demonstration of the pretzel the Democratic party has become.
She says the rich and powerful want to pit the white working class against the nonwhite working class to keep them from uniting.
Then she says there is one set of rules for white families and another for nonwhite families.
That's the "unifying" message? The rich and powerful want to racially divide us via economics, the Democrats want to do it for social justice?
That's not going to bring anybody together.
70
Agreed. She is a divider not a unifier. She preaches hate. Not what anyone needs.
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@Talbot
She wants to exploit a racial divide which she is enlarging. Class warfare at its worst.
18
@Talbot
If you can't face the truth, you can't fix the problem.
Even after 90% of the Republican Party, a party dominated by old rich white men who finance white supremacists, snd support a president who calls a column of Neo-Nazis shouting "Jews will not replace us," fine people, you can't see that the billionaire class, and the Party of Trump are trying to divide us.
Stop letting Republicans tell you what to think. They always accuse their enemies of their crimes. Those that fight against identity politics are fighting for justice, not division, annoyed the only way for that to happen is off you realize that those who support racist policies are on the right, and those that fight racist policies are on the left.
6
I wish there was a way somebody could create a secure website where we could all 'vote' on who we wanted for a candidate before an actual election. Then we could at least group together. I'm afraid the democratic party might be too divided to win. Especially if we have a great candidate, but one who can't admit mistakes. Character vs. politics is such a strong issue right now that we can't afford to be on different pages.
Discrimination based on skin color still exists, but we are rapidly reaching a point where education and access to good primary and secondary schools are eclipsing this.
Also, there are other issues holding minorities behind. Take a look at the racial disparities in the percentage of children living in single parent households from the Annie E. Casey Kids Count Data Center. It's startling.
7
@S Baldwin I think most POC would disagree with you. And in terms of single parent households, ask why. I suspect you will find the answer has a lot to do with racism.
1
@Scott D There is strong data supporting the relationship between two-parent households and the future success of the children in school, in the labor market and in their own marriages. The "why" is related to increased household income and more parenting time. I don't know if the data has been broken down to examine the effect specifically for POC. It would be interesting to know this.
As for a relationship between single parent households and racism... there is likely a strong connection. However, there are big differences between African Americans, Latino Americans and Asian Americans in this respect, with African Americans in a big rut. I hope this changes as society improves.
1
I’m a jew. Not so long ago the rules were rigged against us. No longer. Same with blacks. Are there those who still try to suppress us? Yea. Of course. Is that the reason for black on black crime, having babies without marriage and not learning in school, which are the reasons they struggle? Of course not. Even Obama made that case.
What sickening race baiting. Just sickening.
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@Ari Weitzner
You can change your name. Skin color? Not so much. Were your people enslaved in America? Owned by other Americans?
I understand what are getting at. Still, it is a substantially false equivalence.
1
@Gerry Are you aware that slavery ended in in the US 1865? That the Civil Rights Act made racial discrimination in housing, employment, education and health care illegal in the 1960's?
3
Those of us who are not European-American, have dark skin or "foreign-sounding" names most certainly face a stacked system.
This is true even when one holds a post-graduate degree and excels in his or her professional field.
The enemy is institutional racism. It has not gone away, even in supposedly enlightened places. Just look at the tech industry.
Institutional racism is set on auto pilot for European-Americans to hire overwhelmingly other European-Americans.
Hiring outside those boundaries in the minds of those doing the hiring means taking a risk. Why?
Because we people of color are assumed to be less intelligent, less prepared and even unacculturated.
For instance, my name has led many to assume that Spanish is my native language and that I am from Latin America. Thus, I've been complimented on my English fluency.
In fact, I'm a third generation American with no family in Latin America and, of course, English is my native language.
More fundamentally the system is stacked because most of us are condemned to abysmally poor urban public schools and are raised in marginalized and crime-ridden neighborhoods.
9
@Ricardo Chavira If European Americans are still favored in hiring, please explain why the tech workforce, especially in Cali, is predominantly Asian.
1
Elizabeth Warren’s claims to ancestry are similar to those of biracial and uber-privileged NYC kids who have a hyphenated Latino surname or dark skin from one parent.
These kids could ski in Switzerland and attend concerts in Paris and London and yet they effectively steal the admissions spots ‘reserved’ for persons of color by playing up their minority heritage in their interview. The schools play along happily to superficially meet their diversity quotas without being saddled with anyone with real problems.
I once referred to one such candidate as a person of color and the mother bristled at the suggestion since she presumably wanted the child to have a white identity outside of the admissions setting.
I think racial quotas if they must exist should at least exclude the hyper privileged with fake credentials.
18
@Pantagruel What you're referring to is one in a a hundred thousand which has no bearing or effect on admissions!
@Pantagruel Then it wouldn't be racial. It would be class.
@Pantagruel You said what I was thinking. I know people who summer in the Hamptons but intentionally added a Mexican name when their kid was born, to enhance his chances to get into a good college. My kids have generic names, and I will never understand a parent's decision to saddle a kid with a name that has goofy spelling, a bunch of apostrophes and is unpronounceable. Then of course there are celebrity names, which are just ridiculous.
1
Yes the rules are rigged, but in favor of minorities who have competency. If I was a minority I would have been advanced much faster and had several benefits over my life.
13
@vulcanalex Really, please explain what benefits you would have received as a minority with “competency” above and beyond those that aren’t minorities?
Senator Elizabeth Warren is in the position to do something about inequality NOW and throughout her tenure in Washington. How I wish she would stop with the proclamations and get to work in righting wrongs.
2
@Patricia She is?? She is part of a radical minority so she is not in any position to do anything, Now if there really was such bias and she was willing to work with reasonable citizens she could do so. She won't this is just a way to get support for her radical ideas for a run as president.
1
@vulcanalex What racial minority is Elizabeth Warren a part of? You have been deceived if you really believe that.
1
Irresponsible pandering. I hope she gets zero votes in any primary. Is this really the best we can do?
19
@Ted Perhaps it is the best that Dems can or will do. They could be worse.
3
This is pure pandering to identity politics that is akin to Trump's pandering to white grievances, and pushes the moderate middle and working class to vote for republicans and against their own interests. As a democratic voter, I wish I could have another party for my vote. And this nonsense I've been hearing recently by pundits that the 2020 ticket can't consist of two white men, but must be a woman and/or person of color, will only contributes to a potential loss. The ticket should consist of good communicators and a strong message. We can't win with an electoral map that is limited to the blue coasts, as evidenced by the 2016 results. There are more whites in the electoral college states than minorities. The middle of the country will rightly be turned off by this kind of rhetoric. I used to like Warren, but she has become a shrill whiner and her DNA stunt was dumb and played right into Trump's hand . The ticket should be based on who can communicate and reach people in the heartland too, not on gender or racial requirements. Brown (or Biden)-Beto 2020.
14
@dba - I agree with you about her. Further, all the rancor and debate about how one identifies themself and to what, if anything, that entitles them to will be moot if we don’t seriously address climate change, income inequality and the technological displacement of workers.
2
@John
Yes, and so I wish the dems and the media would stop obsessing about Russia and Mueller, and talk more about how Trump is succeeding to destroy the country in the meantime with his policies, as you mention.
@dba
We need the best candidate possible in 2020 and the demands about the nominee's gender and ethnicity are cement shoes threatening to pull us under water with many voters. One of the most powerful objections to Hillary's candidacy was her focus on racial & gender identity. She learned the hard way that patching together a winning majority by appealing to identity politics just antagonized voters. We need a nominee who will bring people together, not focus on
our differences and certainly not Warren's pandering.
This will be a key lesson in 2020.
3
Article is writtten in typical fashion with not so subtle redirection of reader from the essence of the article toward the issue of DNA testing. This is how historically this newspaper attempts to derail campaigns of more progressive Democratic leaders and maintain the failed neo-liberal status quo of the Democratic party.
7
No " kidding ", Sherlock. Now, please tell us something we don't know.
Just saying.
5
Elizabeth Warren is... obviously right.
What else have the rich, the powerful, and the 1% being doing other than: change the rules?
Why have there been so many loopholes that so many corporations in the US pay zero taxes? The exemptions for private equity and real estate. So many industries.
It’s a basic premise of teaching negotiation and power in business schools: write the rules. Look it up in any text that is used to teach MBA students.
and how do those even get to MBA? After going through an elite college as a “legacy student”.
Do people know how many of the CFOs of Fortune 500 companies are white males? And what was the percentage in 2000s?(hint the latter was in the high 90s). Coincidence? Hahaha.
People talk about “old boys networks” then express surprise when someone calls the system as “rigged”.
The thing about America is that wherever you shine a light on a powerful institution, you’re going to find examples of questionable ethical behavior. They have only not been revealed for what they are, because no light has yet been shone on it. (Look at all our national scandals: accounting in 2002, banks and real estate in 2008, political: Russia in 2016...)
4
@Patrician But she is one of those wealthy people, how about she donate her wealth to the worthy poor?
2
There is a big difference between some actors having an advantage over others, and systematic rigging of rules to suppress a minority. For you and warren to conflate the two is obscene, idiotic or a nauseating example of pure envy. Take your pick.
1
@Patrician - But she’s also claiming that society is “rigged” based on race. Still. According to her it’s not only the 1% who are getting over, but whites as a whole. I’m a ride-or-die liberal, but I’d prefer a centrist Republican who is seriously committed to addressing climate change over these Dems playing identity games.
3
It's interesting that this article does not contain the phrase "affirmative action."
When Warren says that the government "has systematically discriminated against black people in this country," what she's talking about (and this is clear from the linked article in The Root) is redlining, a practice that was ended 50 years, ago at the beginning of the Civil Rights era. Since then, in an effort to make amends for past injustices, the government has engaged in open, above-board, written-into-law legal discrimination against white people. It isn't just affirmative action; there is a whole constellation of legal preferences that favor blacks and other minorities, preferences that most people are not even aware of, preferences like minority set-asides, the doctrine of disparate impact, and an array of laws that have resulted in the creation of a multi-billion dollar diversity industry, the primary purpose of which is to advance the interests of blacks.
When Elizabeth Warren tells us that the system is rigged against blacks, she needs to tell us how it is rigged TODAY. She isn't going to do that though, because to the extent that the system is rigged today, it isn't rigged against blacks, it's rigged to favor them.
26
Sen. Warren shows up to acknowledge what her audience already knows. Meanwhile, where are the other Democrat presidential hopefuls? Attending $1000 a plate fundraisers? Meeting behind closed doors with possible funding sources? Oh right- Sen Merkley is down on the border looking through the fence at the internment camp for children. Where is Sen Whitehouse? Sen Sanders? Probably wondering why Beto is considered a leading candidate when he can’t even win his home state (sound, familiar?).
I had to laugh at those recent polls....that evidently didn’t bother to ask registered Dems our preferences. Who exactly did they ask? Million dollar donors? Like....the last presidential election? And comments about using identity politics- uh...weren’t we asked to vote for Hillary because she was- a woman?
3
How does Ms. Warren intend to change the rules so they aren't "rigged"?
If "the rules are rigged because the rich and powerful have bought and paid for too many politicians" the remedy is a Constitutional amendment restricting money in politics.
What is holding her back from building a bipartisan coalition to bring an amendment to the floor of the House and Senate.
I like Ms. Warren she is good at identifying problems. I haven't seen any indication that she can solve them by working with her colleagues.
4
@HL Or term limits so that if you buy someone they are not there long enough to justify the investment. And she really does not compromise with the majority in the senate either, just more radical type of talking.
2
Perhaps she can’t work with her colleagues because they are all indebted to their big donors. That’s the problem. At least she’s talking about the problem- not avoiding it like so many other possible candidates.
1
More drivel from the Democrat tactical playbook. On and on about the talking points of the rich vs. poor without citing one specific example with facts. Throw it all out there to label one side of identity political followers vs. the other to pander to whomever they think they can deceive to buy their divisive allegations and vote for them. Then......do NOTHING to help those who do.
11
The Trump of the Left. I can't take four more years of this nonsense
9
Perhaps a speech to young people about the positive impact of living a decent life and personal responsibility would have been better than the usual “you’re a victim” Democrat Party boilerplate.
18
@EGD Great idea, but since she has not done that talking about it would be foolish. Now say Carter could make that speech and be an example, not to mention some Bush presidents.
1
@vulcanalex
Well, the ‘victim’ theme is what Sen Warren is all about. Too bad for the nation. She should know, however, that negativity is almost never a wining theme.
1
I am white and moved into a black neighborhood two years ago. I know my neighbors now. I know they are good people who are giving their all to keep their homes and provide for their children. And I see their children early in the morning heading up the street, sometimes running, wearing heavy backpacks with books teaching them about our past, our present, and the knowledge needed for the future. Is the past, present, and future the same for all the students nationwide reading those same text books? Not even close.
My heart breaks when I see these children and I, too, believe the system is rigged. I agree with Warren and I agree with writer above....tell us how this will be fixed.
5
@fish out of Water
I am surprised that you are the first comment I have read that seconds Senator Warren. I work at an inner city high school, and absolutely agree with her.
It may not be the correct message to a graduation, but it certainly is a conversation that needs to happen more often.
I am ashamed, as a white male especially, at all the stories told to me by my black students. I posit that most of the people bashing her speech are hardly connected to the black community. Not a week passes where one or more of my students are pulled over and searched by cops, or followed around a store by a suspecting shop keeper. Perhaps it is significant that I am in the south, but she is making a great point.
Thank you.
2
@timuqua Jacksonville is a notoriously high crime city, and cops have a right to try and protect the population.
2
Race baiting is different than trying to solve problems. African Americans represent a large percentage of incarcerated Americans but they also commit a large percentage of crime (e.g. more than 50% of all gun related murders). A genuine politician might try to address the cause of high crime rates in the minority communities rather than just seek to attribute blame and stoke anger. Warren's playbook doesn't compare with Obama's.
18
At 81, long-retired Licensed Family Therapist and Lutheran Pastor, I grieve
In this time that we, the People, are governed and controlled by the chronic Control of an absolute self-centered egotist who Serves only
Himself....to the neglect of his supposed "constituents". We are dominated, 25/7, by Individual#1, a bonafide, Diagnosable Sociopathic
Personality Disorder. He does not know enough to Care...or care enough to Know. As a symptom of his Sociopathic state, he is enjoying his chronic
Domination of any Public Energy and Attention. Any Prison, he would
Probably Purchase. He is beyond Treatment....We are Sick. My major Favorite, Elizabeth Warren, is too honest, forthright...and Feminine...to
have a chance in our corrupted and confused society.
6
The rules are rigged. Yep, the smartest always find a way to win.
6
So let me see if I've got this straight. Ms. Warren claims the system is rigged against people of color, yet she claimed to be a person of color in order to receive preferential treatment from Harvard, U Penn, etc. Right.
This is not "outreach" to the black community. Its pandering - plain and simple.
15
If things are "rigged," maybe our country isn't as progressive, free-thinking, and open-minded as people would want us to believe. The open dialogue (which is often uncomfortable and unpopular) shows that the country isn't particularly interested in making some demographic groups "more equal" than others. The same rules should apply to everyone. Let's do away with preferential treatment and make decisions on hard data, experience, intellect, etc. Enough is enough. The "everybody gets a trophy" philosophy is unrealistic and counter-productive.
7
She's adopted Bernie Sander's "rigged" term. For him it's been the "economy is rigged". She says something similar but doubles down by adding race. This kind of language is as divisive as Trump's rants. It adds to the divide we profess a desire to solve in this country. It is inaccurate and inflammatory. We don't need another person leading this country whose definition of leadership is play to your base and divide the country. Obama didn't lead that way. Whether you agreed with him or not, he led with grace, he spoke of what was good. We need a leader who can get people working together and she isn't it.
6
Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.
Pointing out that we are being divided by tRump (and our government’s institutions) is a far, far cry than actually dividing us.
False equivalence.
2
Yes, please keep talking about race relations in America. But please expand the conversation to include other minorities. Asian Americans, for example, experience plenty of discrimination at work. It is the not packaged racism sold at grocery stores in the South, but more subtle and implicit. In America, the rush to rectify racist behavior always seems to occur at the expense of another minority. Fix it.
4
@Plato Please stop "talking" and where there is a real issue start "doing". Criminal behavior is a massive issue for a start.
1
@vulcanalex
Yes, let's start by tackling the many criminals who have worked on behalf of the current President.
Populism is populism, whether from the left of right. Same language, same claims, same MO.
We need to put this country back together to reach our full potential in a changing, increasingly competitive world. We need to repudiate exploitative pols and media whose business models are based on plumbing the worst instincts of the public.
Get that message across, and it’s a winner.
3
Where are responses in this article from the audience? How did the graduates respond to the address? This report is entirely too sketchy for so important an address. Also, I am uninterested on Ms. Warren's ethnicity. I want to learn about her ideas.
6
Great! I hope Ms.Warren will support Asian Americans in their law suit against Harvard. Why we have one set of rules for successful brown people at Harvard and another set for everyone else. I hope Ms.Warren will talk about the rigged system at Harvard. It is time that the Democrats recognize Asian Americans who vote 80% democrat. If Asian Americans voted solely based on economic factors, they all could be Republicans.
13
It is rigged. Rigged for whoever can pay their lawyers the most. What’s new?
1
FINALLY! A prominent white politician with the guts to call it like it is: a society with institutional racism with a white privileged society where all men and women are NOT treated as equals. She may not win over many votes but she has mine!
2
@Bill Riccobono Have you ever heard of Affirmative Action?
What's in the water in Ypsilanti?
1
There is no qualitative difference between Ms. Warren telling black voters that the judicial system and the national government are rigged against blacks and Trump telling his base that the Mueller investigation is a witch hunt and that the FBI’s “raid” on Michael Cohen’s office was illegal. We don’t need another rabble-rousing demagogue running for President, no matter whose rabble he/she is trying to rouse.
9
@Jay Orchard - no qualitative difference
When is the truth not a difference, qualitative or otherwise?
One is the truth and the other self-serving lies.
4
No difference?
One is telling the truth.
The other is lying.
False equivalence.
3
@Marie Yes but I bet my concept of which is lies is opposite of yours. The system is rigged in favor of minorities, and the Muller persecution is just that an attempt to over come an election.
1
It is really rich to see a rash of folks in the comments section who are ready to point fingers at Warren for calling a spade a spade. If you folks don't like the issues spoken about, then maybe stand in line to fix those problems or, at the very least, stop supporting the people and the system that supports these problematic things furthered upon people of color.
Until then you are really part of the problem.
2
I would've preferred quotes or thoughts from African-American graduates in the audience who heard her speech, as opposed to several passages about the DNA thing. Can we try this for the next piece? It's like Hillary's e-mails all over again.
6
She’s right. 100%.
4
In her speech Ms. Warren says “I’m not a person of color.”
So much for her claims than she is of Cherokee descent, and using that claim to get minority hiring preference at Harvard.
6
"The rich and powerful want us pointing fingers at each other so we won’t notice they are getting richer and more powerful."
Just for this statement alone, she nailed it. Scream it from the rooftops. It explains what both corrupted sides of the corrupted isles will be trashing her.
Go Elisabeth Warren!
5
Elizabeth Warren just torpedoed any chance she had in 2020. I left the Democratic party in 2016 precisely because of this obsession with identity politics. The Democratic party has become devoid of ideas instead of trying cynically seize power by pitting one group agaist another. Straight out of Trumps playbook. I say this as an immigrant and a minority.
14
@B
identity politics, a marketing term invented by the Repubilicans.
As far as I can tell it means "its no good if its not all about me."
1
The rules have been rigged from the start. Looking at the long arc and influence of the Atlantic Slave Trade--through the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, banking and housing discrimination, sustained socioeconomic deprivation, lynching and mass incarceration--the problems were there at the start of the Republic.
There have been improvements, but at the moment we appear to be stepping backwards. We should all hope for an uptick soon. Keep up the pressure on all voters. Can we find a way around our escalating and repressive income inequality without a national catastrophe? That remains to be seen.
2
@John
Sure, let's start with Manhattan--such a good deal for the native peoples who lived there, no?
@John
However cynical and unconcerned you might be, this can be done on socioeconomic grounds and still get to racial disparities. When we came out of WWII the upper 1% controlled about 8% of assets. Now they are at nearly 40%. This isn't good for the country.
Telling people the system is rigged discourages them from putting forth their best efforts and from objectively analyzing their failures. This is a terrible message to send new college graduates.
17
@Beliavsky
No, it's realistic. Just start by looking at how college loans crush students of all colors from moving ahead. The banksters laugh all the way to the bank while young people struggle to make payments for years and years.
@Beliavsky
Pretending that the global billionaires and their global corporations are not bending U.S. government policy to make them richer at our expense or manipulating all of the markets to siphon off the productivity of the workers does not mean we don't know it's happening. It just means that many people see no politicians that are actually fighting for workers and that is why many people don't vote.
Did you really think that minorities wouldn't know the system is rigged unless Warren told them?
God help us if Warren is the Democratic nominee in 2020. All the Independent and never-Trump Republican voters will hold their noses and vote for Trump again. This speech will be seen by working class white voters as a sign that their interests will be secondary to those of racial minorities. Let Warren stay in the Senate and nominate someone who actually has a chance to be elected in 2020.
19
I recoil against the "rigged" language. It's Sanders language, the language of people who, when they are losing fair and square, throw tantrums and try to scramble the game board. It's the language of people who don't listen and who won't entertain serious questions, who allow emotion to control them to the point of throwing chairs at caucuses instead of graciously accepting the outcome of votes they simply did not win, who infiltrate opponents' speeches to try to shout them down or create 15-second "gotcha" videos for YouTube taken out of context, who organize gauntlets outside those speeches to heckle their opponents' supporters mercilessly as they exit the venue, as happened to me. Don't talk to me about a "rigged system." That's code for demagoguery. Tell me your *specific solutions* for addressing inequality, fixing health care, cleaning up the environment, addressing immigration, campaign finance reform, bringing Trump to justice, and most important, winning in 2020. But it doesn't end there: You must also be willing to take and answer my *questions* about your proposals, and have a real conversation. After that I will make up my *own mind*, in peace, as to whether or not to accept them, whether or not they make sense, whether or not they are realistic -- or just emotional pie in the sky.
9
If you don’t acknowledge the problem, it will not be fixed.
The system IS rigged.
3
@Fed Uo Yes rigged in favor of minorities, in many ways. Special rights for small minorities is just a small part of the issue.
1
@vulcanalex
Not "special rights". The "system" has certain considerations trying to lift people up after centuries of repression. I am a white man who recognizes that whites have been given advantages over (and have denied or taken those advantages from) people of color or a certain religion for the entire history of this country. The wealth and riches of this country have largely been built by enslaving black people and by massacring and appropriating the native american's land. And if you don't think certain advantages for whites are not still baked into the system today you are very mistaken.
Trying to level the playing field is the least that could be done.
For some it is easier to attack the messenger in hopes of discrediting the message or to acknowledge the truth.
That the system is rigged is indisputable. The prima facie evidence is not just the distribution of wealth in this country, where a small precentage holds most of the wealth, but that the inequitity is increasing. It is rigged against some people more than others, but it is rigged against all of us who cannot not afford to buy influence to get our way at the expense of others. Of course those who do the rigging claim themselves that the system is rigged because you still have a penny of their dollar and they still, occasionally have to worry about mundane things like laws.
You can't address a problem if you don't recognize that it exists.
2
@Marie Correlation is not causality. The idea that competent or lucky people have a lot of wealth proves a rigged system is idiotic. That would mean no blacks are wealthy, I see several on TV all the time, not to mention all those sports stars. The NBA and NFL must be rigged, I see few white people playing.
3
@vulcanalex - "That would mean no blacks are wealthy,"
That's not what it means at all.
Warren's divisive tribalism is the mirror image of Trump's divisive rhetoric. Trump rails against the "rigged media" and the "rigged academic studies" and the "rigged FBI and Justice Department" which are out to get him. Warren rails about the "rigged police" that are out to get all people of color. These cynical messages are what have brought the American populace to a post-truth age. Black is white. Truth is lies. Poor is rich. No institution can be trusted. There is a difference between teaching context-specific critical thinking skills and teaching a group to blindly distrust any message arising in another group. This type of message does not make me want to vote for a future Warren presidential run.
4
The problem here, as I see it, is that Senator Warren has lost a significant amount of credibility when it comes to discussing this sort of thing.
Why?
It was Sen. Warren who gamed the system earlier in her career by claiming a "diversity carveout," so to speak. That hurt two types of people:
First, the group for which this carve out was actually intend.
Second, the group of students who were necessarily excluded do to the inclusion of individuals like Sen. Warren, as this is a fixed sized pie situation.
Again, this highlights to me the ongoing fatal flaw that Senator Warren is carrying around into 2020.
4
@Chris
It has been proven with much evidence that Warren was already a tenured professor when she claimed to have native ancestry, a claim that she has proven also.
And to grow the size of the college pie, we only have to tax the rich to invest in our children, instead of hurting or children to make the rich richer.
Too bad the majority of these students won’t have careers that would benefit from claiming Native American minority status.
2
Without knowing her background, I see her as one of the two possible candidates to win in the 2020 presidential election. She sticks her neck out for something she believes. Although it may cause more personal attacks, but it is a very good quality for being a honest, transparent, and principled politician. I will definitely vote for her if Biden was not another candidate.
2
Bernie Sanders lost the Democratic nomination in 2016 to Hillary Clinton not because of DNC interference in the primary process (even though it occurred), but because of the powerful electoral support of African American voters in states where those voters where a major component of the Democratic coalition.
If Sanders had announced for President perhaps a year earlier, and spent that year specifically enlisting support among African American establishment legislators, while also speaking directly to their voters, he might well have been the nominee.
You cannot take the African American community, with its very specific history and set of challenges faced, and expect to win a Democratic nomination for President in 2020.
Elizabeth Warren clearly understands this, and is not prepared to make the same mistake.
2
@Matthew Carnicelli
In my third paragraph, what I meant to type was...
You cannot take for granted the African American community, with its very specific history and set of challenges faced, and expect to win a Democratic nomination for President in 2020.
2
@Matthew Carnicelli And lost even worse to whoever the Republicans run.
2
@vulcanalex
In three out of the four rust belt states that had open primaries, where voters could vote four any candidate, Sanders beat both Trump and Clinton. Those states went to Trump winning him the election.
Sanders would have won.
This report is entirely too sketchy. I will soon read the entire address, but I wanted more about Ms. Warren's ideas than just those briefly touching on the dilemma of racial rigging. The problem of rigging by race and class as such should have been developed in this report.
5
Was anyone else bugged by the fact that this article went into zero specifics about her historical analysis or her policy prescriptions? This just feeds the "he said," "she said," machine!
I'm very sympathetic to Warren's positions on things like corporate governance, and would have like to hear what she is now saying about race. But here we only hear that she spoke about race. So instead of a story about the merits of her historical analysis and her policy ideas, we get a racial identity piece.
How is this not an example of exactly what Warren was complaining about: the spokesmen for wealthy elites pitting us against each other on race?
Recommend this comment to send NYT a message!
31
@Stewart Winger: This article is a report on Warren's specific commencement speech at the week-end. It's not an in-depth analysis of her political platform. I'm sure we'll hear a lot more about that in the months ahead. Meanwhile, those who've been paying attention already know a lot about her views. You say you'd "like to hear what she is now saying about race. But here we only hear that she spoke about race." Maybe I'm so much of an outsider that I don;t understand the subtleties of that dog whistle.
2
It is some small progress to see a politician at the national level such as Elizabeth Warren bring the pernicious racism of the US to the fore. The entire culture of the US is rigged against black Americans, who live in a different country than white citizens do and who must struggle for the things that are just given to whites.
I often laugh and shake my head when the US preaches equality to other countries, when we have never learned how to practice it here at home. Our current president demonizes even those blacks who ask to no longer be shot down by the police while going about their daily lives. That alone tells you how far the US still has to go to reach even a semblance of equality for all of its citizens.
9
@Jim Dickinson I wonder where you live, here I live with blacks in my location, they do just as I do. No difference except where they are not so competent.
3
Wow, only word that can describe a white woman who claimed minority status for a career advantage telling actual minorities that the rules are rigged against them is: Priceless. This woman will never be the President. A could have been in 2016 is now relegated to this? Pathetic might fit pretty well too.
18
A shameless opportunist who is less than truthful about her past. Hmmm, considering the current occupant of the While House, she sure seems like presidential material to me.
17
@John Jabo: And, let it be said clearly, she's a woman.
@John Jabo
No. All of the evidence says that she was completely truthful about her past, but pathological liar Trump just made up stuff that isn't true.
Warren, a racist to her core. Always preys upon the weaknesses of the downtrodden. Never helps the downtrodden in the best ways to succeed. She loves simply to take advantage of the fears that minorities frequently have.
A typical Socialist/Communist technique to rile up the folk. Once they have then under their thumb they execute policies that line the pockets of the leaders, like in Venezuela, Russia, China, Europe, etc.
12
@john sloane
Wow, just throw mud and see what sticks eh? It works for Trump so it will work for you?
The caravans of central Americans are coming from the capitalist "success" stories in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
These are the countries that fully implemented Supply Side Economics, staffing taxes on the rich and global corporations, and playing for it by slashing investment in healthcare, education, and infrastructure.
If the Party of Trump succeeds, caravans will be going north from the USA.
Warren describes how the system is rigged.
From experience, she knows how cynical White folks end up stealing the affirmative action spots from minorities by falsely claiming minority status.
22
@Ken: She never did. That's a lie.
2
@Des Johnson Sure she did, there is objective evidence, now perhaps it did not work.
1
And I am sure she ended with the words, "Vote for me and I will fix it for ya!" Well, the Democrats have been telling the African American community that for years. It's not so much the graduates of Morgan State and other HBCU institutions who need such a fix but the African Americans who do not obtain a college degree. Bit they have adapted to the system in their own ways. I hope the Morgan State graduates have learned not to believe the silver-tongued politicians like Warren anymore. Thank you.
17
@Southern Boy
Sorry but it's the centrists who keep calling Warren extreme that also keep dissing minorities by compromising with racist Republican policy.
Silver tongued implies lying. Warren keeps telling the unvarnished truth: that billionaires and the corporations they own are hijacking our politicians and our Republic and turning the government against We the People.
Warren speaks the truth and that scares both Trumpites and the centrist establishment sell outs.
3
@Southern Boy And this president's policies have resulted in more opportunity for those who are competent than ever. Chicago is way short of restaurant workers for example and they whine about no illegals to do the work.
1
I am disappointed by the remarks, as represented here. Long on grievance, short on specifics, or proposals. Not inspiring.
27
It's a zero-sum game in the cruel, hard world outside the ivory towers. That means that for every affirmative action admission or promotion, there was someone at least as talented or hard-working who was explicitly discriminated against because they were born white or male. And since the likes of Elizabeth Warren have told them so, even people in groups aided by affirmative action who were not admitted or promoted under a quota system will resent it. They know the decision was not based strictly upon merit, so why weren't they among the lucky ones?
21
@Earl W.
If you run a win/lose economy, than most people lose. That is not Constitutional. The constitution demands that policy supports the General Welfare, not the specific welfare of the already rich.
If we invest in our own children then everyone who wants to go to college should be able to go.
It is good for the economy and good for democracy to have a highly educated citizenry.
Those of you that keep pushing competition over cooperation have missed the central lesson of evolution: cooperation wins.
Animals separated from the herd die. Lone wolves die. Fish move in schools. Birds fly in flocks.
Rugged individualists are hermits living away from people, not going to the store, not talking on their cell phone, not linked to the web. Once you do all those things you are part of society, and you need to invest in your society, or else you are just a leach. The are far too many super rich psychopaths who take sand take all of the time and never give back.
The rest of us need to take back what they have stolen from us, our productivity. The global billionaires manipulate markets and manipulate government policy to take the productivity of those that actually work for a living and turn in into their wealth. That is the true "redistribution of wealth." We need to claw back some of their ill gotten booty and invest it in We the People as the Constitution demands.
@Earl W. More likely some more competent person, so the real solution is to expand opportunity and allow competition to decide who is best. Sort of like how say the NBA might work.
1
@McGloin Here anybody who wants to go and is somewhat competent to have success can go. We give them free college and some extra support as well. If a red state can do that, so can any state that wants to do so. Not to mention those pell grants for poor people. If you really want to go to college and can do the work you can.
2
If Elizabeth Warren wins the Democratic party nomination, it will guarantee four more years of Trump. I like many of Warren's stances, especially about reform of financial regulations. But this message of racial division and cynicism is a real loser. Please, please, please, we can't stand four more years of Trump.
39
@jeff
She is not talking about division but unification. If you cannot realize that supporting a racist criminal justice system is divisive and that the real cynicism is the idea that you have to let Republicans divide and conquer us without fighting back, then you have already surrendered.
2
@McGloin So you must support the president in his policy of improving the criminal justice system? Probably not. And Warren in dividing people like me, not compromising or unifying them.
1
@McGloin There are no laws anywhere in the US stipulating that only blacks can be arrested for robbery, murder, car jacking or other violent crimes. ALL races have equal opportunities to refrain from harming others and to obey the law.
3
"DNA test that she took to prove her claims that she had Native American ancestry"
Since race is and will be a factor in the upcoming elections and since race is a social construct, can the Times or someone please define it? For Millenials and those of multiple backgrounds, ethinicities and race the traditional and limited American terms fall short.
4
How long are black voters going to tolerate being a perpetually useful victim class for ambitious politicians?
How is Warren's rhetoric really any different than Trump's when he's speaking to those who feel disaffected?
We don't need another divisive President readying political and economic reprisals against the groups that don't vote for her/him. That tribalism is how nations end.
32
@CNNNNC
The difference between Warren and Trump is that Trump is for police brutality and letting a militarized polluted terrorize minorities, and Warren is against that and not ignoring the war in minorities as you would have her do.
The Party of Trump openly talks about separating the country by race, and openly supports white supremacists. Ignoring that fact just empowers the white supremacists. For one example, yhe Metropolitan Republican Club of NYC invited the head of the Proud Boys to speak at their club. The Proud Bouts are documented white supremacist terrorists that go around beating people up, and even beat someone up around the corner that night.
You cannot fix a problem that you refuse to acknowledge, and minorities are not going to keep voting for a Democratic party that keeps telling them to compromise with the Party of Trump.
Republicans never compromise. They keep telling you compromise is evil and a sign of weakness. Compromising with their policies is losing Democrats elections because you are alienating your own base.
Warren speaks truth. If you don't want to hear truth, join the Party of Trump
2
The strong criticism of Warren's DNA test is simply a form of sexism. The patriarchy disapproves. The patriarchy doesn't like Hillary Clinton, either -- and she won by 3 million votes. I am sick of narrow-minded men, no matter what party they claim to belong to. They can't Find enough breaks to give each other. As with Hillary, any mistake Warren makes will be magnified. Never mind that Warren is the smartest, most efficient person on the campaign trail. She gets it done.
11
@slp
So now it was just a random mistake that had Warren falsely claiming Native American heritage?
13
@slp
Hillary didn’t ‘win’ by 3 million votes. She lost. Explore the US Constitution to know why. And it was her endless venality and duplicity that did her in, not some ‘patriarchy.’
As for that malevolent patriarchy you appear to think keeps women down, considering the reverence almost all men have for their mothers, perhaps we should examine the influence of the matriarchy that controls men instead.
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She proved she had Native American ancestry.
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The game is rigged against any who aren't an aristocrat, having last names such as Trump, Bush, Clinton, etc.
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@Dave
Or the last name Warren.
@Dave Really??? Then how can people with say names that are not like them have success??? Look at the head of Google for one example, or the UN ambassador.
She is right. The system is rigged but against everyone except politicians (who are owned by the corporate class at every level of government), the wealthy and corporations. Everyone else loses. Pandering is not the way to win. And Trump won because he is an outsider and Warren will not win because she is an insider.
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@Anita
Warren is not an insider. Insiders push policies that make the rich richer. Elizabeth Warren created the Consumer Protection Bureau, which keeps the insiders from defrauding the people.
An insider accepts and promotes special treatment for insiders. Warren fights against special treatment for the politically connected, and for the General Welfare as demanded by the Constitution.
All of you centrist Democrats that can't tell the difference between injustice and fighting against injustice helped make Trump president.
The right thinks that hate, greed, and violence as the solution to every problem.
The left bases policy on love, sharing, and peace.
Choose a side.
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Please stop with the outsized coverage of Warren. She is one of 100 Senators, not particularly accomplished. She would not be able to be elected anything - even the proverbial dog catcher- anywhere except Massachusetts ( Or maybe California). Please don’t encourage her to run. Unless you want a Trump second term.
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@MD Monroe
"Run, Elizabeth, run. PULEEZE!"
Help insure Trump's second term.
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@MD Monroe
As long as Democrats keep running away from politicians that actually have values and principles and fight for them, and back politicians that hide in a fake center, while Republicans unabashedly back the moist divisive president in my life time, you will continue to lose elections.
Americans don't vote for doormats that compromise everything and get nothing in return.
Americans vote for people that believe on something and stand up for their beliefs.
The right is wrong and the left is correct.
Stop appeasing the Party of hate greed and violence.
1
She is more accomplished than you or most other Senators
But fine, feel free to tear her down: that is the only way Republicans can win (along with voter suppression and gerrymandering)
This style will not get her elected. Her problem is that the public now expects this from her. She needs new ideas tied to the economy. Otherwise she will not get elected.
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@Ralph Petrillo
All of her ideas are tied to the economy. Stop listening to what others say about her, and go read her platform.
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Elizabeth Warren is absolutely correct in her speech about the inequality of the African American community. If there are doubts just put in a call to Stacey Abrams, she'll fill you in on the details of voter suppression. And in 1991 how as a valedictorian of her class was initially refused entry to an invite at the Governor's mansion by the guard. She always remembered that.
Having lived in Atlanta for 23 years know, the African-American community here thrives. But step one foot outside and racial inequality is there, subtle, but there.
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Stacy Abrams, who garnered 1.5 million more votes than Governor Deal in the previous election lost because of voter suppression? Abrams, whose taxpayer funded voter registration effort was rife with irregularities, but she blames Governor Kemp? And if being a minority apparently guarantees discrimination per you and Senator Warren, why has she gone to such lengths, including lying about her heritage, to be one?
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@cherrylog754 So they thrive, and yet you whine?? If such exists it has so little effect as to be irrelevant by your own admission.
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Speak truth to power. And help us all understand. We need to clarify how data is used in the creation of information and disinformation. I have a sense of trust in what she says because of her record and education. But politics is a minefield.
What is political correctness except an ever-evolving form of politeness? Let's not get bogged down now. Be brave and listen for the truth behind everything said amongst our leaders today. Listen for the truth in what we say to each other. She is absolutely right to convey that we are being pitted against each other.
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@Paul Johnson You show your bias in trusting her at all. I try to evaluate what he proposes, how she acts, and especially how she does her job. All of that tells me she is a radical with policies bad for me and my country. You can have some other opinion, that is fine.
@Paul Johnson
Yes political correctness is community norms. Are we going to let the Party off Trump set community norms or the rest of us?
As a white woman born in 1949, Elizabeth Warren encountered a system rigged against her. Her distinguished career is evidence that what she and others did to counter that system was heroic.
We have also made progress in getting rid of de jure racial discrimination. We can be proud of the fact that there are people of color working at the highest levels of business and government.
That doesn't mean that those graduates won't have to work harder and be better than their white counterparts if they want to succeed and reach the highest levels of accomplishment. The system is still rigged; it's just not as rigid as it used to be and that frightens some people.
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It is still rigged at the bottom.
What else do we expect of politicians who seek to be elected except that they will try to appeal to the needs and beliefs of various potential constituencies? And it never hurts to remind them again of the truth, the system is rigged.
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This is rich coming from Elizabeth “0.0001%” Warren. Yes, the system is rigged against minorities. Particularly when caucasians can appropriate the identity of other ethnicities for for professional gain. Warren is nothing more than an accomplished version of Rachel Dolezal.
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@Bret
Where have become of Rachel these days? Oh, never mind. I just saw her on MSNBC as a political commentator....
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@Bret
1 part in 100 is 1%. 1 part in 1000 is 0.1%. 1 part in 10000 is 0.01%.
Where did you go to school? Fix your math. Getting something as simple and basic as this orders of magnitude wrong throws a cloud over the rest of your comment.
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@Bret
Whatever percentage Elizabeth Warren has of whatever DNA is irrelevant; your post says way more about your bigotry than her level of achievement.
Warren speaks the truth and she speaks it to power. Too many lies are being told by our so-called leaders of late; truth is what we need right now and Warren delivers that in Spades.
I could debate any topic with you if we sat on opposite sides of the aisle, all I would ask is that the things we discuss and decisions we make are based on truth and verifiable facts, not bigoted xenophobic smears.
It's like when Trump accused Obama of being a Muslim; he isn't but why would it matter if he was? There's supposed to be no religious test of someone running for office.
I don't care whether Warren is half Martian, if she speaks the truth and represents the people who vote for her, she's an admirable candidate for any position of leadership.
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Yes, Warren made a mistake when she responded to Trump and went down the path of "proving her DNA." She got suckered into the mud but learned her lesson and got out. By all accounts, she is a very sincere person and warrior for justice. It's revealing that she can speak, write eloquent (law review) articles and yet teach her students at Harvard Law with passion, integrity and scholarly credentials. She is the real deal. She sees the system for what it is, increasingly a divide between the haves and have-nots and is willing to work to restore this country to (perhaps) a just place it has never truly been. Depending on one's political persuasion that can be either a truly wonderful or a truly frightening prospect.
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Would be great to see Mrs. Warren and her 1% friends on the left, donate their excess wealth. I’m sure she has a pension, golden parachute, so spread the wealth.
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@Paul
I see you’re working hard to capture the talking points provided.
Can you explain how “golden parachute” works in Elizabeth Warren’s case?
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@Kathy
No, it wasn't a mistake. The mistake was made by every Democrat.who responded, not by demanding Trump make the million dollar donation to a charity of her choice as he had boasted, but by attacking Warren for proving she was telling the truth.
Warren blew up the one attack Trump had, so half of the Democratic Party took his side!?.
Stop attacking the left. Attack the Party of Trump.
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Warren is all over the map with racial identity, is she a person of color, or not?
She is – for almost a decade, from approx 1985 to 1995, Warren cynically misused the rules to categorize herself as Native American, which helped her get on the short candidacy list for a coveted position as professor, first at U of P, then at Harvard Law School, where she was listed and promoted by Harvard for many years as Harvard's first female person-of-color law professor.
She is not - During her commencement speech Morgan State University on 14 Dec 2018, she stated that she is not a person of color.
She is - She recently took her DNA test and on 15 Oct 2018, she broadcast the results, and was thrilled that some Native American ancestry came up, although it was a drop in the ocean and spectacularly backfired on her because it was miniscule.
Identity politics was a losing policy in 2016, but Warren is still stuck on it. If the system is so rigged, she certainly used the system to her advantage. That should have been her message in her commencement address – how to beat the system.
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@Philly
Researchers have proven that Warren already had her position when she claimed to have native ancestry, and did not benefit from it.
She claimed to have a narive American ancestor, so Trump kept mocking her claim by calling her Pocahontas. He offered her $1,000,000 for the charity of her choice of she proved side had a native ancestor. She proved it and he reneged, as usual. But Warren is punished for telling the truth and proving it, while Trump is given a few pass, because everyone knows he's a liar.
Trump does nothing but identity politics all of the time and he won. Fighting against the hate of the Party of Trump is not identity politics. It is fighting for justice.
Warren did not use the system for her advantage. She is trying to fix the system so everyone has an equal shot, and so the mega rich cannot rob us all by manipulating markets and manipulating government.
No. I’d rather a message of hope (Obama), progress (Clinton) or aspiration(Kennedy). She might be able to capture a few additional votes by stoking the race issue like this. But it’s vote-pandering, just like the DNA test. And she’ll never beat Trump in the game he plays best.
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@MWR
I'm white as they come but Elizabeth Warren speaks the truth in saying that black, brown, and poor people face a rigged system in the USA.
It's NOT vote-pandering to say this, it's simply the TRUTH and is supported by a lot of data.
Truth seems to be a quality sadly missing from any messaging coming from the right these days.
I'll also bet you $100 that, if a nationwide poll were run today, Warren would wipe the floor with Trump.
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@MWR
Hope is what you have when you have no agency, no ability to change things. If you waste your time hoping, like Obama did spending six years hoping Republicans would do the right thing, instead of fighting for what is right, then you lose.
The Clintons made no progress. Everything Bill and Hillary did was Republican policy. And what did they get for helping Republicans pass their policies? Insults and investigations.
Clinton lost because she compromised away her values and principles. Americans don't vote for people with no principles. They vote for those that fight hard for their beliefs.
@Ted Morton
One simple test for a rigged system would be to ask: which groups have the highest per-capita earnings or longest life-spans?
In America, Asians earn more than whites on average and Hispanics live longer than whites.
Race in America is a complicated issue and requires a careful consideration of the evidence.
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It’s not what’s in your blood, it’s what’s in your mind that matters. Changing people’s mind set irrespective of their ‘roots’ is one of the biggest challenges we face world wide.
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No surprise here she will pay the race card and she will play the gender card.The us against them candidate with political instincts of HRC is Trump's hope for a successful reelection.We can do better than her.
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@GDK
Agreed. She's just another barking dog trying to distinguish herself from the rest of the pack.
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@GDK - The question is, even if you accept the premise, why is Trump lauded for it while Warren is vilified for it?
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@GDK
She is not playing the race card or the gender card. She is playing the fighting against racists and misogynists card. If you can't tell the difference, it says more about you than her.
1
Very disappointing. Divide and conquer is not the Democratic or populist way. Meanwhile Senator Warren has missed the mark on her audience - members who work hard to achieve their definition of success through education and merit. I am a Warren fan, I support her views on the financial system and who it serves. I support her views on healthcare. Her pragmatism and disciplined approach in her efforts and message in the Senate and talking shows. That is why the statements she made to this group as reported are so disappointing.
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@Bradley
Get used to it. Warren lacks substance and has made clear, not in word, but in deed, that she will say anything, to appeal to anyone, in order to advance herself. She's no populist or pragmatist, she's an opportunist. She's embraced identity politics because it suits her. Just like flipping real estate used to suit her in Oklahoma.
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@Bradley
Tell that to the doctors and lawyers of color, who are treated like "the help" in hospitals by peers and patients and board rooms by peers and clients, respectively, all over the country.
Education and merit get a person only so far. Passed over for career advancement, treated with less respect through countless slights, the "definition of success" is harder to achieve and enjoy.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was castigated for saying in the 1960s that poorer whites and people of color were pitted against one another for jobs and economic justice by corrupt bosses and corporate decision makers, who fed the rigged political system.
Sen. Warren is saying the same thing. This is not "divide and conquer" but "let's unite and fight back."
Sen. Warren's remarks are inspiring. She is telling the truth about America. Open your eyes.
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@Bradley
Disappointing? No. Her remarks are surprisingly perceptive for a white American. What she articulated -- the eternal racial double standard -- is what we who live in black skin experience every day of our lives. White people want to pbelieve that the centuries of oppression are diminished into nonexistence when we achieve educationally and professionally. Wrong. What black parents have said to their children over the ages still holds; you will have to work harder and be better than the white person in every way in order to be considered equal. To wit: imagine Donald Trump's political survival if his skin were black or brown.
3
Whether the nominee or not in 2020, it's refreshing to observe a white woman telling the truth about race in America.
She will be lambasted by conservatives, but doesn't care.
Ironically, she can say the things Obama could never say.
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I have known Elizabeth Warren, as a friend, for close to forty years. If I were asked to say only one thing about her, it would be, "What you see is what you get." She is, to use a native American figure of speech, as straight as an arrow.
As for suggestions that Warren somehow manipulated the system to give her advantages because she claimed to be native American: I used to teach law and I served time on Appointments and Admissions committees when affirmative action was at its peak.
The idea that anyone - student or faculty - would get any kind of preference for being 1/16th or 1/32nd anything is of course absurd. She made the ascent from Houston to Harvard the old fashioned way - by publishing highly rated law review articles in the top journals.
Truth be told, that kind of hiring is based almost entirely on publications, with lip service paid to teaching. Yet Elizabeth won teaching awards just about everywhere she taught, including being voted teacher of the at Harvard LS twice.
So let's drop this Trumpish poison about her ethnicity and look instead at the merits.
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@Tony Waters
Sure, that's why Harvard referred to her as their 'first woman of color'? She claimed minority status, not 1/32nd minority status. And she did it for an advantage that she was not entitled to, period. Her lame DNA test just highlights it all. Its not like she did the DNA test and then said 'look, i'm 1/256th Indian'. She said she was American Indian, and she said it when the facts did not, and do not, support her claim.
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@GregP
Your facts do not support your claim. Her DNA test shows that Elizabeth Warren does have at least 1 Native N American Indian in her ancestry; the WP wrote about it here
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/18/just-about-everything-youve-read-warren-dna-test-is-wrong/?utm_term=.36e8c0608b19
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@Tony Waters
Trump - or whoever the Republican nominee is going to be - isn't going to drop it. The damage is done and there's no "getting past" this kind of flub or controversy. The GOP destroyed John Kerry in 2004 by dragging him thru non-existent mud about his honorable service in Vietnam in the 1960s. There's no such thing in presidential politics as a huge ethical flub in recent memory that people "move past." The GOP will never drop Warren's claim about her ethnic status. She owns it now and the GOP is going to keep pounding her about it. She must not be the nominee because of this.
2
Your article should have mentioned, when bringing up Georgia, how Georgians lost an election to voter suppression. Stacy Abrams should be governor-elect. There’s more going on here than just getting minorities to vote, their votes need to be counted, fairly.
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It is easy to assert voter suppression in Georgia but there is no proof of anything except the state wants fair elections. I tire of those who make excuses and look for voter discrimination at every turn. There is no doubt that Ms. Abrams will be back. She is an impressive force with proven ability but voters may not forget her tirade and absence of graciousness after having lost a fair election. Vindictiveness may not translate into more votes.
4
How do you define r elections? Making it harder for minorities vote closing voting places in their neighborhoods? Disqualifying registrations w typos? A secretary of state refusing to resign when he became a candidate?
3
She couldn't be more wrong. But at least she's given the graduates a ready-made excuse for failure.
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This is another way of saying one person can change the world, a time-honored theme in commencement speeches. The rules do need changing, and Warren is encouraging the graduates to do so.
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@Stuart Browning
I suspect that, like me, you're white and have done well in life - good for us.
Unlike me, you seem to believe that all people have the same opportunities regardless of skin color or family wealth, they don't.
I wish these graduates well as they make their way in life. Elizabeth Warren is right to suggest that those who are of color or from poor families will face a rigged system; you are the one that's wrong.
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Please explain to me how she is wrong? It is no secret that the system of the United States has been rigged against minorities since Africans first arrived on its shores. Actually, you can go even further back and look at the treatment of Native Americans. From Jim Crow laws, separate and unequal schools, banks refusing loans to Black families, the redlining of neighborhoods, discrimination in hiring and promotion practices-please tell me how she’s wrong? Have improvements been made? Yes. Do we live in a nation where equal opportunity is given to all? Absolutely not.
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