Rap singer Sister Souljah said Wednesday that Bill Clinton "absolutely" is a racist and accused him of posturing on racial matters "like a lot of white politicians."
Appearing on two morning television talk shows, Souljah responded to two questioners by saying Clinton was racist."Yes, absolutely," she said on NBC's "Today." "I think Bill Clinton is like a lot of white politicians: They eat soul food, they party with black women and play the saxophone, but when it comes to foreign policy they make the same decisions that are destructive to African people in this country and throughout the world.
"I am not fooled by people who posture, who pick up black babies and pat them on the head. That is not what is important to us as a race," she said. "I don't think we can continue to take candidates by default," she said.
Clinton, poised to accept the Democratic presidential nomination next month, had criticized the rap singer for remarks attributed to her before and after Los Angeles riots that he said were "filled with hatred."
On "CBS This Morning," Souljah was asked again whether Clinton was a racist, and she cited his remarks about being pleased to be able to stay out of the Vietnam War as evidence that he was.
"Bill Clinton will not fight in the war, but he as president would send black men to fight in the same war he wouldn't fight in. That's racism."
Asked whether she was a racist, the rap singer said: "I don't think black people have the power to be racist."
Clinton was defended on "Today" by Rep. Mike Espy, a black congressman from Mississippi, who said, "I know that as a governor he has been absolutely perfect, just about perfect, on racial issues.
"He's had a great record in Arkansas of promotions of black men and women to prestigious positions," said Espy. "There's no hint of racism anywhere in his history or in his record."
Clinton voiced his criticism of Souljah at a conference sponsored by Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition, invoking Jackson's anger.
"Bill Clinton lacks integrity and paints himself as a staunch patriot, a people's servant, a compassionate liberal, a family man, a pro-woman candidate," Souljah said at a news conference Tuesday. "He lacks integrity in all of those areas."
Clinton, speaking Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif., said Souljah's personal attack missed the point.
"That's what's wrong with this country, personalizing everything instead of discussing was it right or was it wrong. . . . All I can tell you is that I said what I believed, and a number of blacks have called me to say that they agree," he said.
The flap is over an interview Souljah gave to The Washington Post, in which she says her remarks were taken out of context.
The Post quoted her as saying, "If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?" Souljah said the remarks came in answer to a question about the mindset of a gang member before the Los Angeles riot.
"Rev. Jackson was the obvious choice for the vice presidential slot. But they have invented the Sister Souljah crisis to avoid giving a black man a powerful position that he has earned," she said.