“Do you want to live in fear?”
That’s the video accompanying Soldier4Hillary’s current essay, one of several she’s authored over the past few months.
If being a female Clinton supporter has been a trip through hell, being a black female Clinton supporter has been a permanent assignment to Dante’s lowest circle. An old beloved friend of mine, a lifelong feminist and Democrat like me, is an African-American woman who worked on Clinton campaign outreach in the black community. What she has been subjected to “would curl your processed hair right back to its natural state” (that’s her joke, not mine). I don’t write about it here on the blog because it’s not my story to tell, and besides, I get so angry thinking about what she’s been through that I can’t really write about it effectively anyway. Every time I try I just end up with something like &*()%*^%%$%$#%$#%$#&*^!!!!!!!. Suffice it to say she’s been harassed, screamed at, verbally abused, physically assaulted, threatened with death, and told more times than she can count that she’s either a traitor or mentally ill or both. (And always, always, she’s a “ho” and a “bitch” and a “cunt” and much worse.)
For black women like my friend, the notion that Barack Obama is the feminist choice and embodies political empowerment is, to put it mildly, bull fucking shit.
Of course most African Americans see things quite differently, and I sympathize genuinely with the pride and excitement Obama inspires in the black community. But that’s not the whole story. As my friend said once to me in an email, “Ain’t I a black woman?”
6 Responses to ““Do you want to live in fear?””
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Perry Logan says:
The primaries have revealed a deep and ugly vein of misogyny in the Democratic Party–particularly among progressives. We’re not a viable party until this problem is dealt with.
July 19th, 2008 at 8:00 am EST -
Alikatze says:
I’m not entirely sure how to fight back against monolithic “movements” that have captured so much of the public’s imagination (e.g. Obamamania). Even Glenn Greenwald over at Salon plans on voting for Barack because he’s “afraid” of a McCain presidency. When that’s as far as intelligent, creative, trusted people are willing to go, how the hell do the rest of us make a difference??
No, I don’t want to live in fear, but, at this point, it seems to me that my best bet is to stop blindly going along with “the Party,” and start voting my conscience (which, on most matters political, seems to follow the Green platform). Of course, I also support Hillary, I speak out against what happened to her and I strongly oppose people like Obama and McCain (and those local & state officials of mine who have gone from Democrats to Republican Lite-ers). Is there anything else that I can do? …That any of us can do??
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GRL says:
PUMA has been such a great source of support during these trying times!! And Germany is helping out, too!
And, now this latest salvo…
John Edwards is Back…With, Of All Things, the “Fear Card”
http://preview.tinyurl.com/5kpu4uThis would be funny if it weren’t so SAD…
and all so predictable…He teams up with the DSCC for this thing. UGH!…includes a thank you to PUMA for all the support in putting up with this litany of phony fundraising letters….and a tip on what to do with this sort of thing, in a constructive way…
I also reference SNAKES and dogs in this post…in very different ways!
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MountainSage says:
I can’t imagine how difficult this primary season has been for Black women. It’s sad that the Obama supporters have acted like thugs in their treatment of your friend.
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Greenconsciousness says:
And the beautiful poem, Still I Rise, given to the Hill by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.Rise, Hillary, Rise. ~ Maya Angelou
I put the whole poem here:
http://www.greenconsciousness....../dust.htmlI searched the Hill’s crowds and saw them - burst into tears –all through the left’s identity divisions and the real injustices perpetrated by the white political system and its’ white politicians they stayed true to their own souls and the sisterhood. My heart ached for those WOC. I needed them and was encouraged to see they wanted us too. Understood the power that feminism had to effect change for all women from its’ victories. I want to reach out to them — always there like Guardians of Power strong for women — So much harder for them and the sexism and tolerance for it they walk through everyday.
The truth is there is no hope for any of us in this patriarchy unless we are all together. Hillary caused us to overlook our differences. That was her greatness and why no one can substitute for her. For many good reasons I am totally against illegal immigration and want to stop LEGAL immigration for a while. Hill is not good for me on this point. But I could trust her to find the way through my fact based objections and do what is good for our union and our democracy. THERE IS NO OTHER PERSON ON THIS EARTH I CAN TRUST that way. That is what we have lost. The person who could really unify us in the Beloved Community again. That is why my rage against the men behind the empty suit is feral and unquenched.
I recently tried to post on RD the need for PUMA to organize for Dem primary reform (after the election it will be too late) (see: http://www.democratinexile.com/ ).
RD trashed me because she thought I was green party. But think. The likelihood of starting a third party is zero without the Hill and she doesn’t look like she will do it. So where will all our feminist voices go to be heard now that the elite’s storm troopers for patriarchy have taken over the democrat party? When can women stand united in our common cause? If we do not reform the party so all votes count how long do you think those green checks in your Seneca Falls box will remain?
RD seems to think electing progressive women will be enough as if the politicians will be our voices. Maybe she thinks the PUMA movement will move to reform after the elections. I think unless the party is reformed now while they need us, after the election, especially if BO wins, women will all have to seek their own cover and our hands will lose their grip on one another.
BTW The Seneca Falls box is genius and should become a banner of some sort.
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ea says:
For your consideration…
McKinney Speech at Green Party convention 2008.
McKinney’s speech starts about 16 minutes or so into the clip. Sorry, I did not note the time exactly.
