Saturday, February 16, 2008

Saying Sexism is Worse than Racism is Like Saying Chattel Slavery is Worse than the Holocaust

TwitThis


I will never forget being in undergrad when we were
reading Beloved.


Someone began drawing a parallel
between Chattel Slavery
and the Holocaust.

Our professor responded cautioning us against making
that comparison saying
that the risk in comparing my
unjust pain
to your unjust pain only serves to undermine
what
both groups of people suffered.

She went on to emphasize that ultimately, this line of
thinking
isn't productive. I have been thinking of this
incident every sense I saw droves of white women and
Black women with Hillary '08 t-shirts on Election day.
I thought, it's one thing to vote for her
its another to be running around with the T-shirt on.

I soon rethought that standpoint.

I am a news junkie, so I have been following the media's
coverage of how the public is viewing this election.

I don't think as a woman that I should be expected to vote for
Hillary, or that as a Black person, I should be expected
to vote for Obama.

That entire line of thinking is racist because white
people
are never questioned on whether they are
going to vote for one candidate or the other because
they are WHITE like said candidate.

Maureen O'Dowd wrote recently asked the question, who is
the bigger boogie man, Racism or Sexism. Personally, I
collapse the two, which makes for easy and interesting
conversations.

Elaine Sirkis, 77, an Obama supporter, confided that
she just isn’t sure she’s ready for a woman president
.
Betty Conway, 83, a Hillary supporter, confided that
she just isn’t sure she’s ready for a black president
.

As Conway walked away, Sirkis smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry,” she told Berman sweetly about her friend. “She’s a bigot.”

We’re not just in the most vertiginous election of our lives. We’re in another national seminar on gender and race that is teaching us about who we are as we figure out what we want America to be.

It’s not yet clear which prejudice will infect the presidential contest more — misogyny or racism.

Nowhere in this article is that fact that the ism's tend
to travel in package, intertwined and codependent.

My issues with Hillary largely stem from the fact that
she
made a Faustian deal in tolerating her husbands philandering
in exchange for a chance at the white house.
I understand that all politicians make deals, and this was hers.
I also understand that we all have our demons, yours truly
included,
so I hesitate to point a finger at her, without turning
a mirror on myself. That being said, it was truly out of pocket to hear
this horrible joke repeated in O'Dowds column about her.
The joke goes: “Obama is just creaming Hillary. You know, all these primaries, you know. And Hillary says it’s not fair, because they’re being held in February, and February is Black History Month. And unfortunately for Hillary, there’s no White Bitch Month.”
The joke undermines what Obama has achieved, Black history
and how it has historically been marginalized in this country
and IT is is downright hostile
and verbally violent
towards Hillary.


It reminded me of an incident a month ago, where a white
person made a comment to me about
"those butch looking women" that she see's in the hallway.

I responded, poker faced and changed the subject
as it was neither the time or place to say something.

I did make a mental note to view the person as someone
who wouldn't be beyond calling me that black b-tch when
I wasn't around.

My rationale is that if you talk about one group
then it is likely that you will talk about another.

=====
=====

How do you deal with people when they casually
say outta pocket shit about brown folks?

Haitians? Lesbians? Country Folks?
Black men? Hillary? Obama?

Model minorities in general?

Why do people like to have "who has it worse" discussions?

Its as if the election has unleashed folks willingness
to say sh-t that they would normally leave in the
privacy of
their homes.

So much for "Post Racial America".


=====
=====

8 comments:

Dame said...

"they are WHITE like said candidate.”"

That’s because its Supposed to be implicit that they never think like that….they are above such trivial (read: tribal) thought


“Nowhere in this article is that fact that the ism's tend
to travel in package, intertwined and codependent.”

“My rationale is that if you talk about one group
then it is likely that you will talk about another.”

Even a atheist can respect that gospel


“Why do people like to have "who has it worse" discussions?”

Because nomatter how counterproductive those conversations are, you can separate them and compare em..and one often is worse or has had more horrid effects then another

Also its due to the fact some peoples pain is always pushed aside and discredited for a more acceptable example..


“How do you deal with people when they casually
say outta pocket shit about brown folks?”


Ummm I try to get them to see the error of their ways, or break down how from a logical standpoint they sound like a damn fool…
To be honest tho…I get more brown on brown/yellow white degrading speak around me than white on /non black…

“Its as if the election has unleashed folks willingness
to say sh-t that they would normally leave in the
privacy of their homes”

Yes it has, but as you stated its not what people say but what they don’t say the is the truly interesting and insidious aspect of peoples core..


oh yeah i hate you for getting me addicted to google reader :)

Model Minority said...

oh yeah i hate you for getting me addicted to google reader :)
===========

man.

number one work time suck.

Anonymous said...

How do you deal with people when they casually
say outta pocket shit about brown folks?

--------------------

Same deal. Poker face. Woooo saaaahh (c) Bad Boys 2, and keep it moving.

===========================

Why do people like to have "who has it worse" discussions?

---------------------------

Because sometimes (most of the time?) it's easier to talk about it, and compare, than to fix it.

==========================

Sidebar: M. Dot, keep doing you. Your blog is a great read.

Big Man said...

Good talking point and you handled it well. I had to check myself on some sexist comments that were creeping into my own writings about Hillary. I wrote about it over at my blog in a post about being a hater.

I think people have always compared suffering. You know, "your headache ain't as bad as my toothache" and whatnot. Also I think black folks tend to feel like their suffering has been marginalized and downgraded throughout history.

Finally, sexism and racism do often travel together. But, that doesn't mean they're married. You can be one without being the other.

www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com

neo said...

I think we're all guilty of saying underhanded stuff about each other (all groups included) all a matter of checking ourselves 'cos its easy to get mad when one group is acting funny and say for instance dunno why crackers doing bla bla bla..you get the point..

LOL @ Haitians: ppl talk about them? Lemme not even think about what they say about my ppl..

the truth is we like to think America has advanced in racial relations and individual outbursts (See Imus and Dog the bounty hunter) remind us of where we truly are. Successfully hiding racism and bringing it out only when necessary.

Model Minority said...

Sidebar: M. Dot, keep doing you. Your blog is a great read.
========

Blood.

Thank you.

Sometimes I write and I be like "dude why you are putting all your personal business out there" or "nobody is tripping off that obscure sh-t" but its like man..... I get so much out of it....and there is nothing like feeling vulnerable on the reg. You know?

Model Minority said...

LOL @ Haitians: ppl talk about them? Lemme not even think about what they say about my ppl..
======

oh.

Ya peoples at the TOP of the list.

LOL. Right behing Osama and Castro, lol.

Anonymous said...

WHAT THE HELL. Of course sexism is worse than racism, God, I thought everybody agreed with me on that. Discriminating women is discriminating half of the human race, it's a disguisting machochistic habit that has plagued mankind since the very beginning. Sexism causes much more problems, MUCH more problems in this world than racism.

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