In this presidential election, the mass media (mainstream and blogosphere alike) are focusing on the race versus gender card in the Democratic contest. May I start out by stating that this discussion is nothing but a days worth of manure from an industrial hog farm. Black men and women are voting for Clinton and white men and women are voting for Obama and vice versa. Have we not yet learned that people cannot always be reduced to their demographics?
I would also like to make it clear that feminism, or the effort to secure equal and equitable rights and opportunities for women to live and work in society free from discrimination and fear, is a civil rights concern. I do not claim to be a "feminist", at least not in the burn-your-bra, all-men-are-oppressors form. But the overall goals of feminism to allow women to choose to go to school, to play sports, to work in any field they choose, to choose whether or not to get married and to whom, or whether or not to have children and how, to vote, to travel and even check into a hotel without a husband are exactly the same goals that non-whites and other marginalized groups have sought. The feminism versus civil rights discussion is another truckload of chicken litter that serves no one but people who profit from divisiveness.
For me, this also isn't about substance versus charisma. I am a policy wonk. There's nothing I appreciate more than a well crafted policy. The books on my Amazon wishlist are policy books. I regularly seek out critical evaluations of policies in areas that I don't even work in just out of curiousity (guess what - Amber Alerts don't work).
The reason why Clinton is losing favor with people is not because she's all steak and Obama is all sizzle, as some have implied. This assertion is simply offensive. Obama has substantive policy proposals as well, some of which I don't entirely agree with and some of Clinton's proposals need either more work or a reality check. Also, Clinton does have her own charm. She's a powerful person who has survived personal and political attacks for most of her public life. There's a steadiness, steeliness, and a level-headedness that I might otherwise find attractive in a presidential candidate in these times. And despite everything I say below, if she is the nominee, I will vote for her.
With that said, Clinton's problems are in part related to her messaging. Obama's message about hope is attractive right now because people in this country are suffering or they are in a position to legitimately fear suffering in the very near future. Clinton has summarily dismissed this message as worthy of public discussion. That very dismissal is what makes her unattractive to me. I read somewhere that if you take away people's hope, you may be taking away the only thing they have. By dismissing the importance of hope in this day of economic insecurity and war you are dismissing the nature of humanity.
Even as someone who believes very strongly in the role of policy wonks and the technocracy in politics, I believe even more strongly that policy decisions should be made based on values that recognize people's essential humanity. We can't get decent immigration laws passed because our leadership has failed to see immigrants has human beings who deserve the same opportunities to work, go to school, play sports, live in a safe community, and do all of those other things that civil rights activists have fought for. We can't seem to put enough money in our urban schools for the same reason. We can't even get the president or the CIA to say that torture is wrong (not just illegal) because "terrorists" are apparently not human beings. Clinton's failure to see the importance of hope in society tells me that she does not necessarily see the humanity in the policies that she fights so hard for.
Showing posts with label Clinton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clinton. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Why I might vote for Obama
I realized the other day that I have become inclined to vote for Obama, despite some reservations I have about some of his positions, because I have become more conscious of the racism in this country. When I lived in California, I was a member of the largest non-white group in the state and the large demographic group in So.Cal. Almost everyone I went to school with at CSULA was non-white. Everyone I worked with was Latino and, if I wanted to move up in my profession, others would see me as white and I would still be Latina. Granted, I lived in L.A. during the governorship of Pete Wilson, which I see now as the beginning of the contemporary wave of anti-Latino sentiment. But I don't think I felt the level racism that his policies embodied because when I looked around, I saw my people everywhere. They were definitely in low paying janitorial jobs at my college and they were picking strawberries in Ventura County. But they were also reporters on the news, they were sitting on the city council, they were teachers, doctors, lawyers and business owners.
Moving out to the East Coast where I was truly in the minority really opened my eyes to this thing called racism and the issue of race relations. It also made me more aware of my white skin privilege. Here people took it for granted that I was white and would say things to me or in front of me that they would never say in front of my darker skinned parents or my long-haired, mustachoed, Mexican American husband. Moreover, many white people here are so racist they don't even see the racism in their words and deeds. In California, white racists owned their racism. Here, they don't see the prejudice in making assertions about who deserves to have access to a college education, to be able to get health care, to be provided the same rights in the criminal justice system, to even be in this country. And pointing it out to them just makes them either really uncomfortable or really angry. They aren't racist. They have friends who are brown. They give scholarships to brown people all the time. They don't necessarily want too many them sitting on the board of directors of local organizations, but they are happy with providing them with social services and other benefits. We aren't racist, they say, because we give them free after school tutoring and basketball uniforms.
I also think my experience with a friend's campaign for the state legislature this last summer reinforced to me that we have a long way to go to improve race relations. This became clear not just because the campaign brought out the racism that I already knew existed in this neighborhood, but because of the blindness to racism among these white "progressives" who were assisting us. These folks, although clearly understanding and sympathetic to the issue of racism and prejudice, had also clearly never seen it. They not only did not know how to handle racist comments when confronted with them, they still could not get themselves to see that people still do believe these things. Whenever confronted with it, it was treated as a fluke and not a norm. In fact, it is the norm in this neighborhood and in many others. It may be more overt here and more subtly pernicious elsewhere. But racism and prejudice is alive and well and I see that more clearly today than ever before.
I suppose I hope that if Obama were to be elected president, maybe, just maybe, it might start to change the way white people think about non-white people. Maybe they would see us as less of a threat. Maybe they would be willing to open up their neighborhoods, their loan funds, and their play groups to us. Maybe the teachers, school counselors, and administrators will be less likely to write so many of us off. Maybe, just maybe, it might inspire black and brown folks to believe that things could actually be different for them. Maybe the lack of hope that pervades our brown and black neighborhoods would ebb just enough so that there is one less excuse for believing that doing well in school is "acting white", one less excuse for the drug dealing, gun slinging, gang banging way of life. Maybe the apathy will subside just enough to get people out to vote and involved in their local schools, local non-profit organizations, or at least involved with their neighbors.
Yes, it is a vote for the symbol. But, no more so than voting for Clinton because she is a woman. When there is little difference between candidates on the issues, don't we then vote on ideology? Don't you then vote for the person who symbolizes, and hopefully will put into action, a world that you would like to see made into reality? Obama symbolizes the hope that maybe this country can get past the specter of race so that brown and black peoples can finally have the freedoms and opportunities promised to us.
Moving out to the East Coast where I was truly in the minority really opened my eyes to this thing called racism and the issue of race relations. It also made me more aware of my white skin privilege. Here people took it for granted that I was white and would say things to me or in front of me that they would never say in front of my darker skinned parents or my long-haired, mustachoed, Mexican American husband. Moreover, many white people here are so racist they don't even see the racism in their words and deeds. In California, white racists owned their racism. Here, they don't see the prejudice in making assertions about who deserves to have access to a college education, to be able to get health care, to be provided the same rights in the criminal justice system, to even be in this country. And pointing it out to them just makes them either really uncomfortable or really angry. They aren't racist. They have friends who are brown. They give scholarships to brown people all the time. They don't necessarily want too many them sitting on the board of directors of local organizations, but they are happy with providing them with social services and other benefits. We aren't racist, they say, because we give them free after school tutoring and basketball uniforms.
I also think my experience with a friend's campaign for the state legislature this last summer reinforced to me that we have a long way to go to improve race relations. This became clear not just because the campaign brought out the racism that I already knew existed in this neighborhood, but because of the blindness to racism among these white "progressives" who were assisting us. These folks, although clearly understanding and sympathetic to the issue of racism and prejudice, had also clearly never seen it. They not only did not know how to handle racist comments when confronted with them, they still could not get themselves to see that people still do believe these things. Whenever confronted with it, it was treated as a fluke and not a norm. In fact, it is the norm in this neighborhood and in many others. It may be more overt here and more subtly pernicious elsewhere. But racism and prejudice is alive and well and I see that more clearly today than ever before.
I suppose I hope that if Obama were to be elected president, maybe, just maybe, it might start to change the way white people think about non-white people. Maybe they would see us as less of a threat. Maybe they would be willing to open up their neighborhoods, their loan funds, and their play groups to us. Maybe the teachers, school counselors, and administrators will be less likely to write so many of us off. Maybe, just maybe, it might inspire black and brown folks to believe that things could actually be different for them. Maybe the lack of hope that pervades our brown and black neighborhoods would ebb just enough so that there is one less excuse for believing that doing well in school is "acting white", one less excuse for the drug dealing, gun slinging, gang banging way of life. Maybe the apathy will subside just enough to get people out to vote and involved in their local schools, local non-profit organizations, or at least involved with their neighbors.
Yes, it is a vote for the symbol. But, no more so than voting for Clinton because she is a woman. When there is little difference between candidates on the issues, don't we then vote on ideology? Don't you then vote for the person who symbolizes, and hopefully will put into action, a world that you would like to see made into reality? Obama symbolizes the hope that maybe this country can get past the specter of race so that brown and black peoples can finally have the freedoms and opportunities promised to us.
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