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Superpredator: Bill Clinton's Use and Abuse of Black America

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Bill Clinton has always had a congenial relationship with African Americans, even being labeled "the first black president." Yet Clinton's presidency inflicted devastating harm on many black communities, from which they have yet to recover. Was Clinton a friend to black America? Or did his progressive rhetoric mask a ruthless opportunism? Was Clinton's attitude toward his black supporters "politically pragmatic" or "callously indifferent"? Superpredator is an in-depth look at Bill Clinton's treatment of black lives from Little Rock to Rwanda. Forcefully argued and meticulously sourced, Superpredator will change our view of America's 42nd president. Working with the Current Affairs research team, Nathan J. Robinson has produced a powerful indictment of Clinton's record on race.

307 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 7, 2016

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Nathan J. Robinson

28 books157 followers

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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Profile Image for Vannessa Anderson.
Author 0 books225 followers
April 17, 2018
Quotes That Peaked My Interest

The activists carried signs that read “Welfare reform increased poverty and Clinton crime bill destroyed our communities

They are not just gangs of kids anymore. They are often the kinds of kids that are called super-predators. No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way but first we have to bring them to heel. Hillary Clinton, Keene, New Hampshire, 1996

Though Clinton apologized to NAACP for his role in expanding the prison system saying “I signed a bill that made the problem worse … and I want to admit it,” he’s done nothing to reverse his previous decision but returned to defending it. But Bill Clinton is known to say one thing to the NAACP and another to white audiences.

Clinton used racially coded rhetoric to cast American children who are descendant of slaves as animals. Michelle Alexander, author and legal scholar The New Jim Crow

Cash and kill-requiring women to sign away their rights to talk about their affairs with powerful and wealthy males.

It’s Lord of the Flies on a massive scale, Chicago’s Cook County State Attorney Jack O’Malley said… We’ve become a nation being terrorized by our children… Already, the State of Illinois has introduced new laws to deal with this terrifying new crime bomb, ruling that children as young as 10 will be sent to juvenile jails. The State is rushing construction of its first kiddie prison to replace the traditional, less punitive youth detention facility to enforce the get-tough policy of jail cells instead of cozy dormitories.


My Thoughts

The Clintons were race baiters

The Clintons success is owed to their stomping on the backs of American Blacks.

The Clintons used Americans who are descendants of Freed Slaves as a diversion to hide their motives and deeds.

What I liked about Super Predator Bill Clinton’s Use & Abuse of Black America is how it exposed William Jefferson Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton and those who support the Clintons for the monsters and the terrorists they are.

What the Clintons did to Americans who are Descendants of Freed Slaves not only hurt those communities that hurt served as a domino effect to hurt all American communities and the Clinton’s behavior was not only despicable but unforgiveable and treasonous and they need to be brought to heel!

It’s just never stops! The White Supremacist politicians dream of ways of ensuring Americans who are Descendants of Freed Slaves keep reliving their holocaust generation-after-generation-after-generation!

What I Would Like to Know

The Clinton’s profit margin for the school to prison program.

A few of the Clintons Accomplishments

―Escalated the War on Drugs…doing more harm to Americans who are Descendants to Freed Slaves communities more than religion ever did

―played a central role in the incarceration binge in the Americans who are Descendants to Freed Slaves communities (more Americans who are Descendants to Freed Slaves were incarcerated on Bill Clinton’s watch than any other president in the History of the United States

―Clinton hired Dr. Joycelyn Elders (Arkansas Department of Health) because he thought she would toe the line and when she didn’t toe the line she became a hindrance. Clinton did not like that she introduced and promoted awareness of AIDS and teen pregnancy, K-12 sex education and health program and responded to a reporter’s question about masturbation. Clinton fired her for doing the job he hired her to do.

Trivia

―George W. Bush, for all his atrocities abroad, never signed any law that inflicted the kind of harm the Clinton’s crime and welfare policies did.

―Reagan’s welfare queen was actually a “welfare queen” in Chicago, a white woman who had bilked the government out of thousands of dollars, as well as being involved in kidnapping, extortion, and murder plots

―Thanksgiving evening 1915, William J. Simmons gathered fifteen men, and ascended the windy Summit of Georgia’s imposing Stone Mountain, just outside of Atlanta. Atop the mountain, they built an altar of sixteen boulders upon which they placed an American flag, a copy of the Holy Bible, and an unsheathed sword. Then, standing in the moonlight, they raised an enormous wooden cross and set it alight…. The Ku Klux Klan newly reborn … declared the beginning of a new Imperial Empire.

There is a wealth of information in Super Predator for those who don’t follow politics! For those who follow politics Super Predator will serve as a reminder as to who the Clintons actually are and how they destroyed communities of America!

Author Nathan J. Robinson research was excellent and greatly appreciated.
3 reviews1 follower
November 23, 2017
Solid, if somewhat thin, review of Bill Clinton's presidency and the absolutely disastrous policies he used to decimate the Black American community. As someone who was alive and very much politically active in opposition to these policies, it is good to see a text outline the broad strokes of just how insane and destructive those policies were.
The book could use a bit more depth, however. Overall tho, definitely worth a read, especially in this era when Hillary Clinton has somehow been branded as a feminist icon and friend of Black America.
35 reviews1 follower
January 14, 2019
This is an extremely well-researched book regarding Bill Clinton's career as president and afterward, in relation to African Americans, Africans, and Haitians. Clinton enjoys a somewhat favorable image among at least some African Americans, and has even been described as the "first black president". Robinson dissects his record and finds that if you look at the history of Clinton's actions and his statements, the reality is very different.

Robinson starts with his photo ops in front of black prison inmates in Clan country and goes on to his adoption of "tough on crime" and "welfare reform" policies which were incredibly punitive, and ended up with a lot of colored people in jail, and unable to access public housing or public assistance.
His drug policies involved vast sentencing disparities between cocaine and crack which also were punitive towards the black population. Clinton certainly talked a lot about fixing it towards black audiences, but always acting like it was out of his hands.

Clinton did appoint a number of African Americans to his government, but if any attracted political heat like his surgeon general he brutally dropped them. In his foreign policy towards Africa, the record shows that his administration was very aware of the Rwandan genocide from the beginning but did everything possible to avoid even calling it a "genocide" in order to avoid doing anything about it. Clinton has subsequently apologized but it is not sincere, as he acts as if he did not know and did not have the ability to intervene. After Kagame took over in Rwanda, Clinton routinely ignored the new regime's bad habit of murdering people and its poor human rights record post-genocide. During the Aids crisis, Clinton expended considerable efforts preventing generic drugs from being issued to suffering Africans on behalf of American pharmaceutical companies.

After leaving office, he was given responsibility for the assistance program for Haiti after the earthquake, which was given a lot of resources. The record here is equally disgraceful, as a lot of the money vanished, most programs ended up being little more than publicity stunts, and most involved handing out money to the Haitian elite or foreign investors for business ventures that went nowhere.

Robinson's conclusion is not that Bill Clinton hates colored people. By all accounts, he is quite friendly towards them. The author does a pretty deep analysis of Clinton's decisions to assess his actual goals, and what his principles are. Robinson argues convincingly that Clinton is a raging narcissist with a short attention span and the only prism in which he examines his actions is in how it makes him look and how it benefits him. His actions may have been positive at some point, or negative, but this is not motivated by any higher principle or objective. As it turns out, his political career has benefited some people and damaged others, and a lot of his actions were profoundly damaging to African Americans and Africans. These groups just had the misfortune of being expedient to throw under the bus, and Clinton never hesitated.
4 reviews1 follower
May 26, 2018
I'll write a proper review later, but for now, I implore everyone who still has Superpredator on your "to read" list to get on it.

We need more people correcting the prevailing (and false) narratives. For all the stomach churning and infuriating details, Robinson keeps your attention with his engaging voice, wry humor and powerful imperative: to set the record straight and amplify it above the deafening spin.

To further entice you for now, here's an adapted excerpt from Chapter 1: "Tough on Crime"

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/09/st...

And here's an interview with the author:

(Note: they forget to mention Rickey Ray Rector, the Arkansas inmate Bill Clinton had executed, was already mentally disabled before his botched suicide attempt. NJR does a beautiful job bringing him to life, tracing his early childhood (Ricky would "sit under a tree playing alone with sticks" while "other children ran around") to Ricky's difficulties in school due to a severe, undiagnosed learning disability, to his young adulthood: Ricky became increasinly detached and more "paranoid"... Also, because Robinson was already well-informed before starting the book, his answers to "what surprised you the most," are not representative of what most people will find the most eye-opening, but it's still a worthwhile watch. There isn't enough time to discuss a little from each chapter ("Tough on Crime"; "Welfare to Work"; "Black Appointees"; "Clinton in Africa"; "Clinton in Haiti"; "The Death of Rickey Ray Rector"; and "The First Black President") but you still come away with a sense of what to expect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ2fT...
Profile Image for Yvonne Shine.
6 reviews13 followers
September 18, 2018
Bill and Hillary Clinton are perfect examples of the very superpredators they labelled native black Americans, all while dazzling them with their "blackness." The author speaks of the tragedy of the lack of real black American politics that is almost solely emotional, based on visual symbolism. When the Clintons went Hollywood, we American descendants of chattel slaves bought the lie as propagated by Toni Morrison that WJC was 'the first black president. Dixiecrats that they are, the Clintons ensured the loss of generations of American DOS boys and men as repayment for their pathological, rabid support.

A very good read.

Profile Image for Tom.
451 reviews143 followers
September 9, 2018
Should be required for any course on 90s American history, and will forever change the way you see the Clintons.
Profile Image for LaVonda Redmond .
20 reviews
June 23, 2020
Bill Clinton Superpredator

This book was truly enlightening about Bill Clinton and his true political intentions.I never really liked him when he was president because he always did things to me that harm black people. He was great for smiling in your face and then stabbing you in the back all while he was still smiling in your face.I remember him executing the mentally disabled guy in Arkansas I thought to myself then he was the true super predator Not the 15 year-old kids that he was trying to accuse of being predators. He only use black people for his political gain And will have simply just thrown them under the bus if he could get political gain from that as well. He pretends that blacklivesmatter to him but they only matter if he can gain political farter from dealing with them. He has no conscience He's only concerned about winning and making sure that everybody likes him.Which to me are classic traits of a narcissistic person. Only difference between him and trump is that Trump is open with his bigotry and ignorance and Bill Clinton would smile in your face and embrace Racists then come to you as a black person and act liked he loved you when all the time he was just using you to win. If I ever met Bill Clinton in person I would be rude to him and probably cuss him out. He destroyed so many lives when he got rid of afdc. He took away women's rights to go to school and get an education so that they can take care of their children and don't have to be on any type of government program. All he care about doing was reducing the welfare rolls. Which only contributed to the problem of homelessness that we are now dealing with today. He was shortsighted and was not able to see beyond his own need and desire for political power. It was a fantastic book well worth the read.
25 reviews1 follower
August 1, 2020
Excellent deep dive on Clinton, who as it turns out is complete and utter scum (assuming you didn't already think so from his handling of Lewinsky and that he's probably a rapist). The critique is from the left, not the right. The title is a bit misleading, as it also goes into things Clinton did to non-American Black people and is not just focused on the criminal justice system.

A book like this, which came out in 2016 (perhaps hoping to capitalize on Hillary Clinton's run) and now 20 years after Bill was in office, may seem less relevant now. But I'd counter that liberals still tend to worship the Clintons and what they stand for, and Bill just gave an appalling speech at John Lewis's funeral. Even if that weren't the case this would still be a fascinating history lesson.

If anything it's almost too good a takedown of Bill, to the extent that a reader could come away thinking he was a unique sociopath, rather than the embodiment of a brand of politics that still dominates the Democratic Party today.
32 reviews
October 13, 2019
Wow....Just wow....

There were many things that years ago just didn't click for me. As a black liberal, this was informative yet disturbing to read. This book connected the dots for me. And the writer backs everything he states with his sources. Thanks for this. I read this with Kindle Unlimited but I may go ahead and purchase this book.
Profile Image for Ietrio.
6,949 reviews24 followers
April 26, 2022
Evil people would say this is precisely the essence of racism: a white man telling the dumb blacks what they can't understand without the superior white intellect. I'd say these people are ignoramuses. As a honorary black man, Robinson knows all about racism.
Profile Image for Marcus Johnson.
2 reviews
January 3, 2019
A must read

This is a very insightful look on the true legacy of Clinton. The author effectively pulls the wool off people’s eyes who were blinded by 42’s policies.
Profile Image for Leon Markham.
61 reviews2 followers
August 15, 2017
Bought this because, like so many people, I was trying to make sense of the most recent election and this was recommended to me. An interesting treatment of a topic I knew nothing of previously - and fwiw my sense is that it was written in good faith by someone with a good understanding of the facts. The style becomes somewhat painful after quite a short time, and the point being made could have been made in a magazine article, but I don't resent the time I spent reading it and I feel educated as a result...
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