Since the Democratic Party tries to win national elections by cobbling together a coalition of minorities (including union members, feminists and climate change fanatics), it came as no surprise when Hillary Clinton's campaign staff attempted to reach out to blacks by combining their logo with elements from the Kwanzaa celebration.
The result was the usual capital “H” with an arrow in the middle – ironically pointing right -- with the seven candles representing the Nguzo Saba, or principles, of Kwanzaa.
Unfortunately for Clinton, this effort to show a bit of cultural competency has backfired.
One reaction was an image combining the “H” with a picture of Clinton -- again pointing right -- and the words “promise u this fam: vote for hillary & nothing will be the same.”
That logo and an article on the incident entitled “Hillary Clinton Tried to Be Down for Kwanzaa & Black Twitter Let Her Have It,” can be found on the Clutch Magazine website.
Even though @awwwchris tweeted “Enough is enough! Hillary must be stopped,” the effort “spawned a hilarious hashtag: #NewHillaryLogo, which led very.@Philosavery to declare: “Join us in a lil game … and predict what sister Hillary's next logo will be.”
One entry again used the “H” logo containing the badly spelled words: “Vote for me blk ppl. Plz.”
Another response contained a picture of smiling black comedian Martin Lawrence, while yet another illustration showed a colorful shirt on one side and a black fist rising out of the second column of the “H.”
And as if that wasn't enough, one image created by a poster named Luiz displayed the words “u voted for 1 Clinton, now vote for … another 1. 'SHE' DA BEST!!!!!!!!”
“It wasn’t all fun and games, though,” the article continued. “Writer and anthropologist Victoria M. Massie broke down why Clinton’s Kwanzaa logo was so problematic.”
“Super questionable logos Hillary Clinton has used to secure black voters since announcing her candidacy this summer,” Massie stated before noting: “Maybe in 2016, Hillary Clinton will reach out to me through policy like an intelligent voter rather than pop culture & social media pandering.”
“To be clear, Hillary Clinton's appropriated the classic RUN DMC logo,” she stated, “put Rosa Parks on the back of the bus & made a kwanzaa candle holder.”
Massie's reference to Rosa Parks points to another time the Clinton campaign tried to appeal to black voters.
According to an article by David Mack, a news reporter on the BuzzFeed website, the Democratic front-runner's staff tried to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Parks' refusal to give up her seat for a while passenger in Montgomery, Ala., which he called “a potent symbol of defiance and a landmark moment in the struggle for civil rights.”
History often gets made on ordinary days by seemingly ordinary people -- December 1, 1955, was one of them. Thank you, Rosa Parks. -H
To mark the day, her campaign also changed the Clinton “H” logo to include an illustration of Parks, who was sitting on the left side of the image.
As you might expect, the artwork was not well received on the Twitter website.
“Rosa and her legacy are both above this,” @MsPackyetti noted, while @PEARLfectChassi was amazed that “No one on Hillary Clinton's team suggested that the addition of Rosa Parks was a TERRIBLE, AWFUL idea?”
“Hillary gotta fire whoever threw Rosa Parks on the logo,” @NifMuhammad responded. “Gotta do it tonight.”
Claiming to be “disgusted” by the image, @PhillyTheBoss stated that “Hillary could speak about it, tweet about it, release a statement. Cross branding your brand with Rosa Parks is classless.”
The most ironic reply came from @imfromraleigh, who declared: "You could've at least let Rosa sit at the front of the logo.”
And blacks aren't the only minority the Clinton camp had an outreach blow up in their faces.
On Saturday, as reported by Sam Sanders of National Public Radio, “Everyone agrees that Hillary Clinton is a grandmother. But some aren't so sure she's an abuela.”
“This week, Hillary Clinton's team put up a post up on her website called “7 things Hillary Clinton has in common with your abuela” (the Spanish word for grandmother). The Democratic presidential candidate “does things like worry about children everywhere and isn't afraid to talk about the importance of respecting women.”
Sanders added: “The post contains a picture of Clinton with Marc Anthony, the famous Latino singer,” but “some online thought it missed the mark. They even called it 'hispandering.'”
Could misfires like those listed above result in Clinton again losing the Democratic presidential nomination, as happened when Barack Obama prevented the party's 2008 convention from being a coronation of Hillary? Only time will tell.
