the battle to be the first

During every Black History Month celebration of my childhood, we were always provided lists of "black firsts"; the first African-American Supreme Court Justice -Thurgood Marshall, the first African American woman to venture into space-Mae Jameson, and the first African American to win a Nobel Peace Prize- Dr. Ralph Bunche. This list goes on and on, and hopefully on Super Tuesday (February 5th aka Brooklyn Sista's birthday) we will be talking about another black first - the first African American Democratic Presidential candidate.

However, another Senator is trying to make history as well; Hillary Clinton is vying to be America's first woman president. While Jamaica, Pakistan, Liberia and Chile have all embraced female leadership, we have lagged behind. The United States remains as mysgonistic as it is racist, and both have an uphill battle ahead of them. But it cannot be denied that our country is in store for some seismic changes, as people co-sign on the prospect of having either an African American or a woman as Presidents.

But as all politics are personal and these two candidates are being pitted against each other as both of their camps court the woman and the black vote respectively. Women ralled around Sen. Clinton in her surprising win over Sen. Obama in the New Hampshire primary, although the polls showed Obama leading with a 10-12 percentage point lead ( we won't go into how polls don't effectively account for racial prejudice just yet). And in the upcoming South Carolina primary, where African Americans make up 50% of the Democratic base, the Obamistas are out in full force, billing their boy as the embodiment of "the Dream" of our ancestors and MLK.

This proud moment in our nation's history, in which we have the opportunity to look at ourselves differently, has been marred by a little bit of "who has it worse" type mudslinging. Peep Gloria Steinem's New York Times op ed peice in which she argues that, "Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life..." Ms. Steinem has seemingly forgotten the restivive forces of race and socio-economic status. She has also forgotten how race and gender intersect, leaving black women to contend with the crushing realities of instituionalized racism and sexism. Perhaps Alice Walker should pay Steinem a visit and remind her of the tenents of womanism. Even if Sister Walker does hammer home the need for feminist theory to be more inclusive of women of color, to honor our contributions and to recognize our struggles, interests of the feminist and civil rights movements have not always converged and in many ways have shut black women out.

So what is the woman of color to do? The same thing as every other concerned citizen. Educate herself on the issues and come to an educated decision on who she will be voting for come Primary Day.

Big Fairy Tale

The perennial favorite of black America has lost many cool points from your favorite Brooklyn Sis.

In lieu of HRC's (that's Hillary Rodham Clinton to you) win in New Hampshire, I've decided to do what little I can do help further Sen. Obama's campaign. And to that end, its time to keep things all the way live about the Clintons and the former President's disgraceful display while on the stump. While addressing a member of the press, good ole Bill decided it was the perfect time to get at Obama for daring to be a viable candidate. In his tirade he all but called Obama, boy, chalking up his candidacy to a "big fairy tale", i.e - a black man who believes he actually has a shot as President must be dreaming.
Indeed, Sen. Obama is dreaming. Dreaming of an America that can make good on its promise of racial understanding, in which a black candidate isn't counted out because he is seen as "unelectable" on account of his race.

rock the vote, pt. II

In my English class, "The Weary Blues: Mourning in African American culture", we discussed the tradition of the messianic figure in black politics, aka the Chosen One. And I'm not talking about Neo. Nat Turner, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., most of our black political leaders have died in the line of duty. And now as we move closer to primary season and the fight for votes gets even more heated among the Democratic hopefuls, a lot of black folk have been asking themselves - does a vote for Barack mean the kiss of death, literally?
When the news constantly purports stories that black people aren't coming out in droves for Obama, they are missing a large piece of the story. It isn't that we're crazy and hard to please (well...), its more complicated than that. Many of us still think of Clinton as our brother from another mother, so we're down for the next best thing - Hillary. And we are also sending a message to his campaign that he has to earn our votes, meaning our blackness doesn't necessitate pulling the lever for him. Most importantly, many of the older generation are legitimately concerned for his physical well being. We have a 400 year history with crazy racist zealots, hankering for some Negro blood. But I hope we don vote based on our fears, but rather on our findings of the candidate most willing to fight for our needs. We have to stop worrying about the racist factions within our nation and worry about ourselves.
In the meantime, I'll be zipping up my fly BaRack the Vote hoodie, and hitting the streets in support of my legislative homie.