Clinton's Real Background
There are many news outlets that have characterized Clinton as though he were some menacing thug and that could not be further from the truth. How do I know this? I am his sister and grew up with him.
Let's be clear. Yes, my brother made some youthful mistakes. Yes, Clinton had a criminal record, but so do 30% of Americans by the age of 23. Yes, my brother smoked marjiuana. I don't know many 25 year olds that haven't. The only difference is, Clinton got caught and he didn't happen to live in Washington or Colorado.
Why is it that news outlets are highly interested in Clinton's criminal background and are incredibly quick to report that, but have no interest in his ACTUAL history?
It's because characterizing Clinton as a thug is much easier for lazy journalists. Portraying Clinton as a menacing thug is a much easier fit for a redundant and let's be honest - racist - narrative.
Clinton's actual history is much less amendable to the "menacing thug" narrative - and boring. Clinton and I both grew up in the suburbs - Arlington, Texas - and attended our local public schools until we moved to Dallas proper. Clinton grew up in a house on The Golf Club of Dallas, formerly the Oak Cliff Country Club, where his parents were former members.
Despite this, blog comments have outright stated that my mother was a drug addict and that Clinton and I come from a family of violence and public assistance. My mother is a former IBM executive, a U.S. patent holder and just recently finished her courageous fight with breast cancer. My step-father owned a very successful car dealership for many years. Both of Clinton's sisters are college educated and our family includes grandparents who are 3rd and 4th generation ranchers and farmers and uncles who are computer engineers, anesthesiologists and dentists. However, because Clinton is African-American, the assumption automatically is that Clinton comes from a broken, poor, uneducated family.
We briefly attended Bishop Dunne Catholic School but preferred public school and graduated from David W. Carter High School. After our high school graduations (Clinton in 2005 and me in 2003) we both we went on to college; Clinton to Texas Southern University and me, to Williams College. Shortly before he died, Clinton had decided that he was going back to the farm and ranch - a world he loved and knew best - and would follow his grandfather's footsteps and becoming a rancher. Clinton would've been a 5th generation rancher.
As someone that was reared with Clinton, the insinuations from news outlets that my brother is a thug are insulting and ridiculous. Because Clinton made youthful mistakes - that were regrettable yes, but at the end of the day, Clinton never robbed, raped, killed or physical hurt anyone. Does having a record mean Clinton's life is worth less? Are we really, as a country, saying that because Clinton had a record that he, defenseless, deserved to be shot 7 times??
A simple Google search will reveal that Clinton had two family violence charges. They both stemmed from intense arguments with girlfriends and at no point were they physically violent - a point that his ex-girlfriend and fiancée, Shauntavia Carson and LaCrystal Stanley, respectively, have emphatically emphasized. The first charge had even been dropped and Ms. Stanley was in the process of dropping the second when Clinton died. Both of these women are mothers and Clinton, having been a close relationship with his mother, his grandmother and both of his sisters, went to jail and took the charge rather than have them as single mothers, face the courts. Both LaCrystal and Shauntavia will attest to this. However, we were told by a journalist at The Dallas Morning News that they were uninterested in including that information. Why? It doesn't sell and it doesn't fit their narrative. It should be noted that this is also the same journalist who with no toxicology report, tried to gently convince me that Clinton may have been on PCP.
If that's the dialogue and discourse we're trying to have, that means that nearly 65 MILLION AMERICANS - that's one fourth of our national population - have lives that are diminished and devalued.
It's tragic that Clinton is being made to campaign for his humanity. It's tragic that Clinton has been added to that long and growing list of young, Black men who have been shot by defenseless - Trayvon Martin, Kimani Gray, Chavis Carter and others who remain nameless due to lack of resources and intimidation. Under NO circumstances did Clinton or any man - Black, White, Brown, Yellow, Blue, whatever - deserve be shot 6 times, UNARMED.
