Presidential Politics and Bigotry
Panelists: Racism, Sexism Too Often Ignored This Election Season
By Kaylee Porter, 5-30-08
As the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination drags on, overt instances of racism and sexism continue to surface.
People in Butte, Mont. saw one white supremacist holding a sign that said “fetch the rope” when Barack Obama visited, while anti-Hillary Clinton T-shirts bearing the slogan “Bros before Hos” are widely sold on the internet.
To address this sort of bigotry, the Missoula YWCA hosted a panel discussion Thursday afternoon entitled, “Racism and Sexism in the 2008 Presidential Campaign.” The panelists told a crowd of close to 50 people, the biggest problem is not the bigotry itself, but the lack of discussion about it.
“I think it is a huge failure of omission that the parties have failed to address these topics at all,” Panelist Diane Sands, a member of the Montana House of Representatives and well-known feminist, said.
“In many ways the more concerning issues is less the T-shirts, and putting Obama out as Curious George the Monkey or calling Hillary Clinton a bitch… it’s the lack of anyone saying anything about it,” she added.
Jay Stevens, a progressive blogger, discussed the treatment of the candidates in the media. Stevens said, despite Obama’s attempt to run a campaign in which race was not a deciding factor, many people tried to make it a central issue.
Stevens referenced an op-ed piece by David Ehrenstein, entitled “Obama the ‘Magic Negro,’” that painted Obama as an “inauthentic black man.” The article argued that Obama was simply there to assuage white guilt.
Ehrenstein concluded the op-ed by saying, “For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn’t project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him.”
There were a lot of flaws in the op-ed, Stevens said, because it failed to take into account that Obama is a man, “who’s written two memoirs and who became famous for possibly one of the most important speeches of the 20th century at the 2004 National Democratic Convention, The Audacity of Hope.”
Stevens said, however, the racism surrounding Obama’s campaign is not as overt as the sexism directed at Clinton.
“I would argue that extreme racism is not generally accepted in common discourse in the country where sexism still is,” Stevens said. “It’s been accepted to talk about Clinton in a certain way, calling her a bitch for example… A lot of progressives express their opposition to Clinton’s policy through this normal sexist language.”
This was the case on one of the blogs for which he writes, Left in the West. Stevens said the site initially had a lot of Obama supporters and because of the harsh Anti-Clinton rhetoric many people were chased away from participating. Having a variety of bloggers with different viewpoints is important though, Stevens said, and he encourages people to read the blogs and contribute their opinions. Stevens’ blog 4and20 blackbirds also discusses Montana politics.
Kim Abbott, of the Montana Human Rights Network said she is not surprised by the racism and sexism coming from the right wing because the country has always been led by, “white men of a certain age and certain economic status.”
What is surprising to her, however, is the way people within the progressive movement are marginalizing one another. According to Abbott, race and sex should not control how people vote.
“I can be a feminist and choose to support Barack Obama for reasons that are my own, and my feminist credentials shouldn’t be challenged for that,” Abbott said.
Everyone must address racism and sexism, she added, because regardless of where we stand, bigotry affects us all.
“When there’s sexism, which there has been in colossal amounts, inside the progressive movement, on the blog message boards, from the right wing media, in society at large, we have to stand up together and say no,” Abbott said. “I think this is a conversation we’ve been itching to have, we need to continue it and I agree with Diane and Jay that this should be just the start.”
Cindy Weese, the director of the Missoula YWCA, said she hopes to host another discussion about sexism and racism in the 2008 election. Nothing else has been organized yet, but once another discussion is scheduled the information will be online at http://ywcaofmissoula.org/
[End of article]
This is a most thought provoking article - in large part because I, a Pennsylvania white boy from what I thought was a very conservative region of the state, was stationed in the south (Albany, Georgia) during what proved to the last vestages of the official "Jim Crow" laws - when the town closed its parks and swimming pools rather than integrate them, when drinking fountains and restrooms were all identified as "Men's," "Women's," and "Colored," and the Civil Rights demonstrations led by Martin Luther King.
I've lived through the 60's feminist movement and the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment and it is obvious to me that both racism and sexism are rampant in this campaign on both sides.
Racism has been a big part of our political campaigns for over two hundred years. Racism and sexism came head to head in teh fight over passage of the fifteenth amendment (which eventually passed by picking race over sex) and women didn't get the vote for another fifty years.
They've never been subtle. They've never been spoken out loud. And, sadly, we will continue to find ways of avoiding addressing either for a long time.
Weren't there any white, purple, lavender, red, brown, black or plaid conservatives on the panel?
Let's face it, if Obama was a white guy, he'd be on the trash heap along with Gravel and Kucinich. So there is a racial element to all this, no doubt...but it's on both sides of the issue. It's unfair to lather about voting on basis of color or gender without acknowledging that people of color and/or gender clearly vote on that basis as a matter of routine. The vote results in many locations at many times make that clear.
You know what, you guys are really full of monkey shit.
Comment By Joe, 5-31-08Father Pfleger's video mocking Hillary Clinton.
Video clip of event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H11x6bMu4Y
Let's talk for a minute about "White Priviledge". This is from a site by Peggy MacIntosh:
"Daily effects of white privilege
I decided to try to work on myself at least by identifying some of the daily effects of white privilege in my life. I have chosen those conditions that I think in my case attach somewhat more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographic location, though of course all these other factors are intricately intertwined. As far as I can tell, my African American coworkers, friends, and acquaintances with whom I come into daily or frequent contact in this particular time, place and time of work cannot count on most of these conditions.
1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.
3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.
4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.
9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.
10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.
11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.
12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.
13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.
14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.
15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.
16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.
17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.
18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.
19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.
20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.
23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.
24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.
25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.
26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.
27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.
28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.
29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.
30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.
31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.
32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.
33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.
34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.
35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.
36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.
37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.
38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.
39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.
40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.
41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.
42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.
43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.
44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.
45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.
46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.
47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.
48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.
49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.
50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social."
My apologies for the long post, this just needed to be put out there.
Think about it, or not; after all, those who have white priviledge, don't have to think about this stuff. Therein lies the "priviledge"
Just who are the Democrats who believe it is 'acceptable' to call Senator Clinton a 'bitch'?
Guess what - they don't exist.
Anyone planning to vote tomorrow be prepared.
Obama campaign workers try to redirect Hillary supporters to different polls in order to keep them from voting. It is said they are very assertive so know your polling place and stand your ground.
Matt, if you're a woman, be it white or whatever, all that "privilege" you speak of goes out the window. When I was around 35, an African-American man told me, "There's plenty of time for women to get their rights -- after BLACK MEN get theirs." I've recently embarked on my 70th decade; will someone please tell me when that day will be here? Personally, I didn't believe then, and I don't believe now, that ANY group can achieve complete freedom while another group is still being asked to wait for theirs -- which is why I told the man who told me I could wait that he was playing right into the racists' hands.
Comment By Matt R., 6-03-08Connie, I only mentioned white privilege; male privilege is a whole different can-o-worms. I wish you would talk more about it; as I am a male, I am biased and would not be able to do that topic justice.
Comment By Sam, 6-03-08For a good discussion of 'privilege,' racism, and sexism, you may want to read this article (When Disadvantages Collide) from the Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/01/AR2008060101557.html
The article failed to mention the sexism that is tearing our country apart by destroying families. That sexism is the blatant misuse of power that the family courts use to financially motivate custodial parents to leave the other parent of their child/children. To make matters worse, the financial motivation is greater if the custodial parent figures out a way to make sure the non-custodial parent has no "parenting time" or "visitation" at all.
Think about it... what is the first question asked when someone gets divorced? "How much child support/alimony did you get/have to pay?" Next is "Did you get custody of the kids?"
Until the financial motivation to divorce is deleted from our family courts, we will continue to suffer from the worst form of child abuse on the planet... a child not being able to be raised by both parents.
Ask any politician to publicly comment on the subject. Talk about being ignored!