apmom wrote:
One group of people being able to relate to the same group better than another is not racism. It is NOT holding anything up as better only more in tune with the problems of their own.

That's not even close to what's being discussed, however.  This is one person being castigated for saying something, and someone else being celebrated for saying essentially the same thing. 

That an audience will be more receptive to criticism they think comes from one of their own is something entirely different. 

If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. - Federalist 51