In United States politics, a Sister Souljah moment is political jargon that describes a politician's public repudiation of an extremist person or group, statement, or position perceived to have some association with the politician or the politician's party. It has been described as "a key moment when the candidate takes what at least appears to be a bold stand against certain extremes in their party" and as "a calculated denunciation of an extremist position or special interest group." Such an act of repudiation is designed to signal to centrist voters that the politician is not beholden to traditional, and sometimes unpopular, interest groups associated with the party, although such a repudiation runs the risk of alienating some of the politician's allies and the party's base voters. The term is named for the political activist Sister Souljah.
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Famous quotes containing the words sister and/or moment:
“It is natural not to care about a sister certainly not when she is four years older and grinds her teeth at night.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
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