Racism Wanes and Sexism Thrives, Roland Burris and Caroline Kennedy Show
By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Politico.com ran a story with an intriguing headline: "In Politics, Does Race Trump Gender?"
The story continued as follows:
How come Roland Burris has had such an easy time getting to the U.S. Senate while Caroline Kennedy has had such a hard time?
Could it be that the race card trumps the gender card in U.S. politics?
...
Once supporters of Roland Burris made his appointment to the Senate all about race, the deal was done, though it took a few days for Senate leaders to wake up to the fact.
At a news conference in Chicago, Rep. Bobby Rush, who represents a district on the South Side of Chicago, said that the mere criticizing of Burris was akin to lynching.
One could go on forever parsing differences, and they are many, between Roland Burris and Caroline Kennedy. First and foremost, she had the class not to play the gender card, and Burris lacked the class to stay away from playing the race card. Second, Burris is replacing Barack Obama, the only African-American in the U.S. Senate. There are 17 female members of that exclusive club.
But to go back to the original question, whether being a member of a minority race is a bigger boost in politics than being female, the answer is an undeniable yes. Are Americans more racist or sexist when it comes to politics? If nothing else, the November election showed us with laserlike precision that sexism is still alive and well in politics, in business, and in society at large while racism is, we all hope, breathing its last.
- Read more by Bonnie Erbe.
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Tags: sexism | Caroline Kennedy | Roland Burris
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Reader Comments
white women and racism
To 'race vs. gender' wow you took the words right out of my mouth!! Erbe is just another clueless,arrogant,self-absorbed,thoughtless,whiny,privileged white female who can't see past her privilege or the b.s. that comes with it when articles like this claptrap are written! And racism coming to an end?! What fantasy land trip for Erbe assured that STUPID staement! What a crock if she and other privileged spoiled white females want to piss about Shrillary for the REST of their lives ok but how DARE you sit there and make assinine comments with absolutely NO regard for those truly affected?! Funny sexism NEVER is an issue to combat for the Erbes and Ferraros et al when women of color are the targets like say Michelle Obama or ask gee how do you girls of color put up with dealing with racism AND sexism no it's more of the same CRAP that we see from selfish,bratty white women whose own agenda must come before all and which leads to bulls##t cloumns such as these.
Race Does Trump Gender
Yes, race trumps gender in this country. Obama rode to the White House via affirmative action while the more qualified woman was thrown under the bus. We have a long way to go, baby.
Race vs. Gender
Gender is certainly not the same as race in politics or in the workplace. White women have won that hands down and by any measurement.
Erbe is simply not posing a serious question when viewing the gains in all sectors of by "women". What is really going on is her lingering wistful attitude that Clinton did not win the democratic party's nomination.
Never have there been so clear a division based on race than in the last election cycle as to the attitudes of white women.
Further, in the private sectore where are the women of color in management and leadership roles, even though they are graduating from college and graduate schools in numbers suggesting a disproportinate participation in American higher education over similarly situated men?
When Erbe raised the issue as she did directly and indirectly throughout the election cycle, she clearly was not interested in Black women. Black women certainly did not benefit the most from Title VII nor did non-white males benefit in the same degree as the women, like Erbe. The refusal to acknowledge that Title VII passed because "women" were included as a congressional throw away group by a white male. The assumption by most thinking people of the inclusion of that protected class was clearly not one of race.
To the extent that Erbe handled the issue during the past two (2) years of her shows that I viewed, the handling of race vs. gender clearly delivered the respect to "white" women while racial issues were reacted to in a visibly hostile manner when women of color dared to disagree with slanted questions posed to put them on the spot and in conflict with Erbe's point of view.
An example was Erbe's rude treatment of Dr. Jones-DeWeever in a pre-election exchange on To The Contrary. Erbe was almost rotating her head and spewing green pea soup when the highly accomplished spokesperson for one of the earliest groups representing women of color had the temerity to state an opinion that was not in accord with Erbe's view as host.
Erbe forgets history. Race vs.gender is as old as slavery. Recall the freed slave, Harriet Tubman. However, attitudes laid bare in parts of the country continue to express and adhere to a legacy of white supremacy and a presumed subordinate status of any woman of any color without regard to education or experience.
To wrap this up, Erbe -- if your own men are not respecting you (after all they are YOUR fathers, brothers, husbands and sons) what makes you think that women who don't look like you even get a hearing with THEM.
Perhaps women who publicly revel in their redneck attitudes, like Palin, get the point of the last election cycle then we can all move on to live the best lives that we are all capable of living.
However, I tend to doubt it. Stiff necked people are not generally amenable to change or progress. I just hope that the backsliders who are clearly NOT open to progress do not pull the rest of us down with them.
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