Why is Bill Clinton fondly referred to as the First Black President?
9 Answers
Contrary to popular belief (which seems to be echoed in many of the existing answers), Clinton's moniker as "the first black president" wasn't pejorative and it wasn't created by racists. It was first used by Toni Morrison.
Now, not being black myself, I'm not the first person you should listen to for the following opinion, but I think many literary critics and scholars of African-American studies would agree that if any author alive today has the authority to speak about the black experience in America, it's Toni Morrison. (Read The Bluest Eye, Beloved, or Song of Solomon to see why.)
Here's what she said in a 1998 article in The New Yorker:
In part, "the first black president" reflects the fact that Bill Clinton, although white-skinned, has lived a life similar to that of many black men in America. But it's also largely a name that reflects the fact that he, as a successful white man, is nevertheless facing an environment similar to that faced by successful black men, where there is a systemic environmental tendency to demean their accomplishments and latch onto any of their failures, no matter how small. In the case of black men who rise out of poverty or troubled households, it's the system of employers or the business community or law enforcement, who all always treated black men as somehow being more worthy of suspicion or scrutiny; in the case of Clinton it's the system of Congress and (especially) the press, who both relentlessly dogged him for his perceived personal failings in a way no prior president had been dogged.
In short, it's a racial analogy to a now-famous comment made by Hillary Clinton earlier that year on The Today Show:
Now, not being black myself, I'm not the first person you should listen to for the following opinion, but I think many literary critics and scholars of African-American studies would agree that if any author alive today has the authority to speak about the black experience in America, it's Toni Morrison. (Read The Bluest Eye, Beloved, or Song of Solomon to see why.)
Here's what she said in a 1998 article in The New Yorker:
African-American men seemed to understand it right away. Years ago, in the middle of the Whitewater investigation, one heard the first murmurs: white skin notwithstanding, this is our first black President. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children's lifetime. After all, Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas. And when virtually all the African-American Clinton appointees began, one by one, to disappear, when the President’s body, his privacy, his unpoliced sexuality became the focus of the persecution, when he was metaphorically seized and body-searched, who could gainsay these black men who knew whereof they spoke? The message was clear: “No matter how smart you are, how hard you work, how much coin you earn for us, we will put you in your place or put you out of the place you have somehow, albeit with our permission, achieved. You will be fired from your job, sent away in disgrace, and—who knows?—maybe sentenced and jailed to boot. In short, unless you do as we say (i.e., assimilate at once), your expletives belong to us.”
In part, "the first black president" reflects the fact that Bill Clinton, although white-skinned, has lived a life similar to that of many black men in America. But it's also largely a name that reflects the fact that he, as a successful white man, is nevertheless facing an environment similar to that faced by successful black men, where there is a systemic environmental tendency to demean their accomplishments and latch onto any of their failures, no matter how small. In the case of black men who rise out of poverty or troubled households, it's the system of employers or the business community or law enforcement, who all always treated black men as somehow being more worthy of suspicion or scrutiny; in the case of Clinton it's the system of Congress and (especially) the press, who both relentlessly dogged him for his perceived personal failings in a way no prior president had been dogged.
In short, it's a racial analogy to a now-famous comment made by Hillary Clinton earlier that year on The Today Show:
The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for President.
Bill Clinton had an easy affability with all kinds of people, and he was particularly simpatico with blacks. He grew up poor in the South, and he had contact with blacks in a way that most whites didn't, which gave him an ease around black voters that white candidates couldn't usually match.
There was a story during his first campaign that on his first day at the University of Arkansas, he went straight to the black table in the cafeteria, put down his tray as if he belonged there, and joined the group with no self-consciousness. This was at the time when there was a book called "Why do all the black kids sit together in the cafeteria?" (Or something like that), about the development of racIal identity, so the story resonated. I have no idea of its veracity, but the fact that it was widely circulated and believed speaks to the way many black people felt that Clinton "got" them, their specific experiences and outlooks. They affectionately called him "the first black president," half as a joke. I suspect they had no idea how soon there would be an actual black president.
There was a story during his first campaign that on his first day at the University of Arkansas, he went straight to the black table in the cafeteria, put down his tray as if he belonged there, and joined the group with no self-consciousness. This was at the time when there was a book called "Why do all the black kids sit together in the cafeteria?" (Or something like that), about the development of racIal identity, so the story resonated. I have no idea of its veracity, but the fact that it was widely circulated and believed speaks to the way many black people felt that Clinton "got" them, their specific experiences and outlooks. They affectionately called him "the first black president," half as a joke. I suspect they had no idea how soon there would be an actual black president.
First, because he grew up in Arkansas, always had black friends, and played "black" music on his saxophone. Then when he was impeached over his affair with Monica Lewinsky, he had something in common with black leaders who'd had extramarital affairs and been excoriated for them, such as Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King, and Adam Clayton Powell.
Throughout the civil rights movement, it appeared that any character flaw in a black leader was seized upon by whites in order to discredit them, even though the white critics weren't paragons themselves. Not coincidentally, some of Clinton's harshest critics, notably Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde, and Robert Livingston, were hiding affairs of their own.
The perception that President Clinton was very in-touch with the black community in America, and had good ideas with their needs and values regarding to politics as well as cultural connections with them, led to people calling Pres. Clinton "The First Black President". I don't necessarily feel that way, but that's the idea what the saying conveyed.
Hmm. A couple of people here are either too young or were not politically active back then and could use some lessons on google search. Clinton was often called 'the first black President' not as a joke and not because he fit stereotypes (Fox News talking points notwithstanding) but because he seemed to have good relations with blacks. Here's some evidence: William J. Clinton, "Racism in the United States" (16 October 1995) . This includes a citation for the appellation.
