Sister Souljah moment

English

Etymology

Referring to presidential candidate Bill Clinton publicly criticizing activist Sister Souljah for her statements about the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Noun

Sister Souljah moment (plural Sister Souljah moments)

1. (US politics) A politician's public repudiation of extremism perceived to be allied or associated with them or their political party.
   • 2011 October 19, Robert Schlesinger, “The GOP Needs to Escape the GOP”, in U.S. News & World Report, volume 3, number 33, page 18:

     The embodiment of the no-compromise style the public disdains, Bachmann seems congenitally incapable of such a move unless it's a reverse Sister Souljah moment, where she castigates her party for being insufficiently beholden to its base.

   • 2012 September 17, Hardball with Chris Matthews‎^[1], Chris Matthews (actor), via MSNBC:

     Determined to get that office, to get that house, he's shown not a single "Sister Souljah" moment, not a moment of independence from the people to whom he's sworn his allegiance.

   • 2012 October 6, Ross Douthat, “It Could Be His Party”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     But this wasn't some sort of Sister Souljah moment, where Romney called out his fellow conservatives in order to curry favor with the center.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Sister Souljah moment.

Further reading

• Sister Souljah moment on Wikipedia.Wikipedia