By Jessy Han and Adam Bass for Daily Dose of Bass & Han
Jake Auchincloss and his White Male Privilege
From Boston. com
Jake Auchincloss, a Newton city councilor and a former Marine, was repeatedly the subject of both veiled and direct criticism from his peers during the virtually held debate — most notably toward the end of the event, when fellow 4th District candidate Ihssane Leckey suggested he should drop out after violating a pledge against taking campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry (which every candidate in the race had signed).
Cavell, who most recently worked as a lawyer in Attorney General Maura Healey’s office, also took issue with Auchincloss for urging Newton school officials in 2016 to not punish students who flew a Confederate flag outside Newton North High School. At the time, Auchincloss said officials were right to denounce the act but cited legal concerns about free speech and drew a comparison between the Confederate flag and a Black Lives Matter banner or LGBT flag.
Auchincloss has since apologized for the comparison, telling Politico last month that his privilege as a white male “allowed me to see this as a free speech issue.” During the debate Sunday, he reiterated that “the Confederate flag has no place near our school or near our children.” However, Cavell continued to rip Auchincloss for comparing the symbol of slavery to Black Lives Matter and LGBT flags.
Image from The Boston Globe: Clockwise, from top left: Becky Grossman, Jake Auchincloss, Alan Khazei, Dave Cavell, Ihssane Leckey, Christopher Zannetos, Natalia Linos, Ben Sigel, and Jesse Mermell. –Pat Greenhouse / The Boston Globe
–> It doesn’t seem like Jake is planning on returning his fossil fuel donation despite signing a pledge against taking campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry.
SCOOP: Auchincloss to be removed from fossil fuel pledge after failing to return or donate funds
From Jessy Han @hjessy_:
SCOOP w/@AdamBassWCCS
: Jake Auchincloss is being removed from the @NoFossilMoney pledge tomorrow, organizer Collin Rees says. Auchincloss failed to refund a donation from the exec VP of a Waltham fossil fuel company. The donation was first flagged by @CallaWalsh. #ma04 #mapoli
The group gives candidates seven days after notification to return a donation or make an equivalent donation to a climate justice organization. The campaign did neither.
Adam Bass @AdamBassWCCS
Fireworks in #MA04: Jake Auchincloss addressed being dropped by @NoFossilMoney, saying it has “no credibility” & suggested Ihssane Leckey’s self-funding was “largely derived” from energy trading. Leckey says she “never took a dime of dark money.” Leckey: “Jake, you should drop.”
FINAL QUESTION AND ITS AUCHINCLOSS. He was removed by the fossil fuel pledge. Why did he not return the pledge? AUCHINCLOSS: this pledge has lost credibility and attacks LECKEY. LECKEY INTERRUPTS “JUST STOP LYING JAKE.” Holy Shit.
Kylie R. Walters @k_r_walters
Auchincloss also failed to support a modest reduction in the NPD budget about 2 weeks ago.
Super PAC funded by Auchincloss’s parents officially rides into 4th District, spends $180K on ads backing him
Ben Miller @benwritesthings
Voters in my home district have a choice between @JakeAuch, who defended high school students flying the confederate flag and is running a Republican-lite campaign using daddy’s money, or @ihssaneleckey, “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.” #MA04
Sean Wash Your Damn Hands Roche @seanroche
I’ve got no objection to parental support. Comes in all forms. But, the pro-Jake Super PAC includes million-dollar Trump supporter — Bob Kraft — as a supporter. Do the math.
Jessy Han @hjessy_
Stephanie Murray @stephanie_murr
Hmm this is interesting – super PAC called “Experienced Leadership Matters” raised $89k this Q, lists address in Foxboro & raised $35k from parents of #MA04‘s Jake Auchincloss – Hugh Auchincloss & Laurie Glimcher – plus others like Bob & Jonathan Kraft docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/
Related:
As a Black student from Newton, I won’t vote for Jake Auchincloss
By Bennett Walkes
From Wicked Local Newton:
While growing up Black in Newton, I’ve dealt with all sorts of racial profiling and slurs. However, no individual has made me feel more unwelcomed, unvalued and unsafe in my hometown than Jake Auchincloss — now a candidate for Congress.
In September 2016, a group of students drove through Newton North waving a Confederate flag outside of the window. Coinciding with President Donald Trump’s bigoted and racist campaign, it was particularly unsettling to see this hate in my hometown. This hateful act targeted students of color like myself already facing discomfort in predominantly white spaces of learning. Later that year, only 35% of Black students in Newton high schools reported feeling connected to the school in comparison to 65% of white students.
As a city councilor, Auchincloss responded by filing a resolution stating that punishing students for displaying the Confederate flag is in conflict to Newton’s values of free speech. However, regulation of certain types of speech is allowed within Newton Public Schools. Meanwhile, this resolution stood well outside the jurisdiction of the city council, making it questionable why Auchincloss chose to insert himself in such an issue.
Rather than promote our schools’ values of equality, respect, safety and kindness, Auchincloss asserted his understanding — as a white man — that displaying a Confederate flag on school property is not a “substantial disruption” to the education of students of color. As someone who has been targeted by acts of hate speech including Confederate flags, I can attest that a school where students can commit such acts with no repercussions is not one conducive for learning. Auchincloss’ grandstanding on the importance of free speech over the feelings of safety for students of color is not only insulting but demeaning. His rush to defend students responsible for hate speech rather than understand the experiences and support the needs of students of color makes me question where racial justice would lie among his priorities as a member of Congress.
There is also this:
EMILY’s List sends out mailer criticizing two Dems on abortion in primary for open #MA04: Jake Auchincloss & Alan Khazei.
Jesse Mermell
@jessemermell
·
FACT CHECK: In 2017, @JakeAuch opposed a $15 min wage, spouting debunked GOP talking points.I’ve stood w/@RaiseUpMA & @PeopleforCSJ my entire career fighting for a higher minimum wage. #mapoli #ma04 #MA04Debate progressivenewton.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/2017-c
Dave Cavell @DavidFCavell
·
For weeks now, the Ed Board has been writing in support of Black Lives Matter and bold police reform. Their choice to endorse Jake, who has a history of insensitive, racist comments, completely contradicts that work. 2/Just 3 years ago, Jake compared the Confederate flag to a BLM flag and Pride flag. Last month, a Black student in Newton wrote that “no individual” has made him feel more “unsafe” than Jake Auchincloss. That alone should be disqualifying. 3/
For this racist behavior to be dismissed as “tone-deaf” is exactly the type of apologist rhetoric that has hindered progress in this country for so long. People of color have consistently been told that they should just get over comments like his. 4/
This endorsement is the product of a failed system that has gone unconfronted, even at home. Systemic racism looks like a white man with privilege making racist comments, never truly apologizing, and receiving an endorsement from one of the foremost publications in our country.6/
In their endorsement of former Republican Jake Auchincloss, the Globe Editorial board quoted a common Islamophobic trope that portrays Muslims as violent and is used to justify bombing Muslim countries.
This trope is invented by right wing war hawks
@DannyM33612501
Why would these morons from @BostonGlobe @GlobeMcGrory endorse a political HACK Jake Auchincloss @JakeAuch is it because his parents buy influence with their Superpac? No wonder we end up with morons in congress!
From Josh Miller-Lewis (@jmillerlewis)
lol looks like Jake Auchincloss is already rattled by @ihssaneleckey’s surge. Guess we’re heading toward a two person race between a former Republican and a bold progressive.
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