Racism vs. Sexism

I am kickin’ myself in the pants for not posting this a couple months back, because now it is the major talking point of every news outlet. Several weeks ago I had begun a post about two issues that severely affect the potential for equality in this country; sexism and racism. Since it is the talk of the news these days, I’ll give my synopsis of how I view it from a political perspective, in light of the Democratic Presidential Nomination.

There is a long history between fighting discrimination against minorities (largely led by Black people) and Women in this country. I’ll start by pointing towards two very famous Americans, Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. We all know Douglass as that great Black abolitionist and thinker who sported a signature hair-style. Likewise, we know Anthony as the lady who raised the issue of inequality towards Women, which ultimately earned her a spot on a piece of American currency. Many of us, however, are unaware that Douglass and Anthony were close friends and viewed their struggles for equality as one-in-the-same. Indeed, in many of her early writings, Susan B. Anthony made it clear that both Women and “the Negro” were being inhumanely treated, under-represented, and unlawfully disenfranchised by America.

A huge shift in their relationship occurred in 1869 when the 15th Amendment was debated, and supported Black Men’s right to equality, but not Women (incidentally, several States still haven’t ratified this Amendment…how shameful). Douglass was in support of the Amendment, but Anthony took offense to it. Thereafter, she largely spoke only on the behalf of Women since men, even Black men and her friend Douglass, seemed not to care for Women’s rights to equality.

It is well known that Women did not “earn” the right to vote until 1920 (with the passing of the 19th Amendment), and Black people until 1965 (despite the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the 15th Amendment of 1869).

Today it is also well known that Women earn roughly 0.75 cents to every dollar that a man makes for doing the same job. Likewise, Blacks and other racial minorities are significantly encumbered by a system of social inequality (though not the only factor, but in my opinion the major factor) that punishes them longer for crimes that the majority population is also guilty of, often limits how high in the ranks one can climb at the job, and has left many behind with respect to education (among myriad other things).

“So who is more discriminated against?” many are now asking as a result of the race between Obama and Clinton for the Democratic Presidential nod. What I once thought was an incredibly great thing, a Black person and a Woman truly being considered for the nation’s highest office, has now turned my glee into disappointment. I suppose the only good thing is that this race has pulled the sheets off of some very ugly social realities we have in this country, and hopefully it will elicit action to truly resolve them.

I first had the idea to write on this topic back in January when Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primary over Obama, whom many thought would win the Primary by double digits. The day after, I was watching Chris Mathews show, Hardball, on MSNBC. He had a guest on the show that I hold in the highest esteem for his incredible intellect and understanding, Michael Eric Dyson. Because Clinton won despite all the polling, Mathews and Dyson were vehemently trying to make the case that Obama lost because people are racist (or vote on racial lines), but wouldn’t dare admit their racial bias to a pollster. Now as often as I agree with Dyson, I recall thinking that he was totally off-base this time. There were numerous factors that could’ve caused the incongruence between the polls and the actual vote. In fact, it is my opinion that age was the greatest factor, with youths favoring Obama heavily. It just so happened that the NH primary occurred during the Winter break for many of the college students, so I imagine that had enough of an effect to give Clinton the victory (the same in other States, like Texas, where spring break may have played a role).

The case that Mathews and Dyson made that day became symbolic of how the remainder of the contest was going to play out in this sense; at any turn that race could be injected as a possible reason for opposition to Obama’s candidacy, it would be injected. It was at that time, back in January, that I began to point out to many people in my circle that there are many well known “race-police” (Jackson, Sharpton, Dyson, etc), but not many “gender/sexism-police” (can you even name one…I can’t).

I think it’s great that we’ve moved into an era where someone can’t just make racist remarks without backlash. Indeed I am certainly one who could be classified as a race-policeman. When someone makes a statement that is racist, or unnecessarily racially charged, I will call them out. But it cuts both ways for me racially, whether that’s for or against racial minorities. Furthermore, it cuts all ways for me: what’s wrong to say about racial minorities is wrong to say about Women; unfair treatment toward minorities is unfair treatment for Women too, in cases that are congruent (have to put that caveat on there so people don’t accuse me of saying that issues that face minorities are the same as issues that face Women or the Disabled or whatever…there is much overlap, and I’m referring to issues within the overlap).

Specifically speaking, there are people who have racial problems, and who have and will continue to be against Obama because of his skin color. Likewise, there are people who are against Clinton because she’s a Woman.

So we’ve moved from racism being the accepted reality, to it being lawfully unacceptable but publicly and privately accepted, and finally to it being lawfully and publicly unacceptable, while being privately practiced. There’s still work to be done on that last front, but there has been progress. Unfortunately Women are still one step behind. This primary season has made it clear to me that it is still publicly acceptable to be sexist against Women.

I always thought that we’d see a White Woman be President before we’d see a Black man be President. Of course I don’t know how this race will turn out, but I am rethinking that notion now. I have made the point countless times how sad it is that women are maligned in society, even here at this site, but I didn’t realize how accepted it was for Women to be so publicly discriminated against…I thought it was mostly private and institutionalized, not public and overt. I was wrong.

Many would still contend that race is the greater of the two evils. I would contend that depending on the arena, one or the other may be more explicit. Having done my research and looked through History, I would contend that Politically, Women may have it harder than Blacks. But you don’t have to take my word for it…

...the great Black Woman politician who ran for the Democratic Nomination for President of the USA in 1972, Shirley Chisholm, said the following in a 1969 speech before the House of Representatives:

“As a black person, I am no stranger to race prejudice. But the truth is that in the political world I have been far oftener discriminated against because I am a woman than because I am black.

Prejudice against blacks is becoming unacceptable although it will take years to eliminate it. But it is doomed because, slowly, white America is beginning to admit that it exists. Prejudice against women is still acceptable. There is very little understanding yet of the immorality involved in double pay scales and the classification of most of the better jobs as "for men only."

By the way, I would recommend reading her entire speech. She makes numerous valid points about inequality toward women that are, sadly, largely true today even though she made the speech almost 40 years ago. (http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/equal/)

I guess my point is that many in the media have indeed discriminated against Clinton, for whatever reason, but have been enabled by our lack of concern for the tone we take toward Women. The same types of statements made regarding her would rarely, if ever, be accepted if leveled at a Black person like Obama. And even now that she points out the incongruent treatment, many in the media are saying that she’s “just crying” because she’s losing instead of considering the wealth of evidence out there that is consistent with her point.

As a reader of this blog, don’t you join the chorus of media personalities that dismisses her point as her just being a cry-baby. Sexism is real too, and we’ve seen far too much of it in this campaign for it just to be overlooked.

-Maelstrom

Just look at how Clinton has been portrayed in all areas of our society during this race

DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER:

I absolutely DO NOT endorse the anti-Obama rhetoric or the comments posted for these videos. I just want you to consider some of the media comments within the videos that demonstrate the points I've made above!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QUmbjoEp2lU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bacxWGk88L0&NR=1

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vjG-jdybbIg