Friday, June 6, 2008

To White Women For Hillary Threatening to Vote McCain

The following is by Tim Wise. It's not a coincidence that his last name is "wise." He is a brilliant antiracism activist and the author of "White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son." This comes from http://www.timwise.org/. Emphasis, where used, is mine.

Your Whiteness is Showing:An Open Letter to Certain White Women who are Threatening to Withhold Support From Barack Obama in November

By Tim Wise

June 6, 2008

This is an open letter to those white women who, despite their proclamations of progressivism, and supposedly because of their commitment to feminism, are threatening to withhold support from Barack Obama in November. You know who you are.

I know that it's probably a bad time for this. Your disappointment at the electoral defeat of Senator Hillary Clinton is fresh, the sting is new, and the anger that animates many of you--who rightly point out that the media was often sexist in its treatment of the Senator--is raw, pure and justified.

That said, and despite the awkward timing, I need to ask you a few questions, and I hope you will take them in the spirit of solidarity with which they are genuinely intended. But before the questions, a statement if you don't mind, or indeed, even if (as I suspect), you will mind it quite a bit.

First, for those of you threatening to actually vote for John McCain and to oppose Senator Obama, or to stay home in November and thereby increase the likelihood of McCain winning and Obama losing (despite the fact that the latter's policy platform is virtually identical to Clinton's while the former's clearly is not), all the while claiming to be standing up for women...

For those threatening to vote for John McCain or to stay home and increase the odds of his winning (despite the fact that he once called his wife the c-word in public and is a staunch opponent of reproductive freedom and gender equity initiatives, such as comparable worth legislation), all the while claiming to be standing up for women...

For those threatening to vote for John McCain or to stay home and help ensure Barack Obama's defeat, as a way to protest what you call Obama's sexism (examples of which you seem to have difficulty coming up with), all the while claiming to be standing up for women...

Your whiteness is showing.

When I say your whiteness is showing this is what I mean: You claim that your opposition to Obama is an act of gender solidarity, in that women (and their male allies) need to stand up for women in the face of the sexist mistreatment of Clinton by the press. On this latter point--the one about the importance of standing up to the media for its often venal misogyny--you couldn't be more correct. As the father of two young girls who will have to contend with the poison of patriarchy all their lives, or at least until such time as that system of oppression is eradicated, I will be the first to join the boycott of, or demonstration on, whatever media outlet you choose to make that point. But on the first part of the above equation--the part where you insist voting against Obama is about gender solidarity--you are, for lack of a better way to put it, completely full of crap. And what's worse is that at some level I suspect you know it. Voting against Senator Obama is not about gender solidarity. It is an act of white racial bonding, and it is grotesque.

If it were gender solidarity you sought, you would by definition join with your black and brown sisters come November, and do what you know good and well they are going to do, in overwhelming numbers, which is vote for Barack Obama. But no. You are threatening to vote not like other women--you know, the ones who aren't white like you and most of your friends--but rather, like white men! Needless to say it is high irony, bordering on the outright farcical, to believe that electorally bonding with white men, so as to elect McCain, is a rational strategy for promoting feminism and challenging patriarchy. You are not thinking and acting as women, but as white people.

So here's the first question: What the hell is that about?

And you wonder why women of color have, for so long, thought (by and large) that white so-called feminists were phony as hell? Sister please...

Your threats are not about standing up for women. They are only about standing up for the feelings of white women, and more to the point, the aspirations of one white woman. So don't kid yourself. If you wanted to make a statement about the importance of supporting a woman, you wouldn't need to vote for John McCain, or stay home, thereby producing the same likely result--a defeat for Obama. You could always have said you were going to go out and vote for Cynthia McKinney. After all, she is a woman, running with the Green Party, and she's progressive, and she's a feminist. But that isn't your threat is it? No. You're not threatening to vote for the woman, or even the feminist woman. Rather, you are threatening to vote for the white man, and to reject not only the black man who you feel stole Clinton's birthright, but even the black woman in the race. And I wonder why? Could it be...?

See, I told you your whiteness was showing.

And now for a third question, and this is the biggie, so please take your time with it: How is it that you have managed to hold your nose all these years, just like a lot of us on the left, and vote for Democrats who we knew were horribly inadequate--Kerry, Gore, Clinton, Dukakis, right on down the uninspiring line--and yet, apparently can't bring yourself to vote for Barack Obama? A man who, for all of his shortcomings (and there are several, as with all candidates put up by either of the two major corporate parties) is surely more progressive than any of those just mentioned. And how are we to understand that refusal--this sudden line in the proverbial sand--other than as a racist slap at a black man? You will vote for white men year after year after year--and are threatening to vote for another one just to make a point--but can't bring yourself to vote for a black man, whose political views come much closer to your own, in all likelihood, than do the views of any of the white men you've supported before.

How, other than as an act of racism, or perhaps as evidence of political insanity, is one to interpret such a thing?

See, black folks would have sucked it up, like they've had to do forever, and voted for Clinton had it come down to that. Indeed, they were on board the Hillary train early on, convinced that Obama had no chance to win and hoping for change, any change, from the reactionary agenda that has been so prevalent for so long in this culture. They would have supported the white woman--hell, for many black folks, before Obama showed his mettle they were downright excited to do so--but you won't support the black man.

And yet you have the audacity to insist that it is you who are the most loyal constituency of the Democratic Party, and the one before whom Party leaders should bow down, and whose feet must be kissed?

Your whiteness is showing.

Look, I couldn't care less about the Party personally. I left the Democrats twenty years ago when they told me that my activism in the Central America solidarity and South African anti-apartheid movements made me a security risk, and that I wouldn't be able to get clearance to be in some parade with Governor Dukakis. Yeah, seriously. But for you to act as though you are the indispensible voters, the most important, the ones whose views should be pandered to, whose every whim should be the basis for Party policy, is not only absurd, it is also racist in that it, a) ignores and treats as irrelevant the much more loyal constituency of black folks, without whom no Democrat would have won anything in the past twenty years (and indeed the racial gap favoring the Democrats among blacks is about six times larger than the gender gap favoring them among white women, relative to white men); and b) demonstrates the mentality of entitlement and superiority that has been long ingrained in us as white folks--so that we believe we have the right to dictate the terms of political engagement, and to determine the outcome, and to get our way, simply because for so long we have done just that.

But that day is done, whether you like it or not, and you are now left with two, and only two choices, so consider them carefully: the first is to stand now in solidarity with your black brothers and sisters and welcome the new day, and help to push it in a truly progressive and feminist and antiracist direction, while the second is to team up with white men to try and block the new day from dawning. Feel free to choose the latter. But if you do, please don't insult your own intelligence, or ours, by insisting that you've done so as a radical political act.

8 comments:

Tami said...

Wow...just WOW! I really liked this bit:

"So don't kid yourself. If you wanted to make a statement about the importance of supporting a woman, you wouldn't need to vote for John McCain, or stay home, thereby producing the same likely result--a defeat for Obama. You could always have said you were going to go out and vote for Cynthia McKinney. After all, she is a woman, running with the Green Party, and she's progressive, and she's a feminist. But that isn't your threat is it? No. You're not threatening to vote for the woman, or even the feminist woman. Rather, you are threatening to vote for the white man, and to reject not only the black man who you feel stole Clinton's birthright, but even the black woman in the race. And I wonder why? Could it be...?"

Well, I really liked the whole thing. But to me, the statement above is the crux of the hypocrisy. If you claim to be a progressive and feminist, how the hell do the words "I'm voting for John McCain" leave your mouth. I can see looking for a progressive third-party candidate to make your point. But, like Wise said, it is this bit that proves reveals the lie behind the whole movement.

Thanks for finding this!

K. said...

Hey, if the shoe fits...

I'll be passing this one along.

K. said...

A friend of mine has been at war with her sister over all this. The sister told my friend the other day that she was angry about the outcome. My friend's question was simple: Why?

What killed Clinton from the beginning was her vote for the war and then her refusal to disavow it. Did she have to deal with misogyny? Sure, just as Obama had to deal with racism. But the war vote is what turned so many people off, especially since it seemed to be out of expediency.

Jane Hathaway said...

Thanks for finding and posting this. It's great. -- sw

K. said...

Was that person really a Hillary supporter or did he/she just say he/she was? Hillary Clinton lost to a better candidate with a better strategy. He took full advantage of her vote supporting the war. It has to gall the Clintons that they were outmaneuvered, but they were. End of story.

My neighbor just related a conversation she had with her mother-in-law, who said most white people when they get into the voting booth will not be able to vote for a "colored" man. Now, her son says of this woman that she's vote Republican if Jesus Christ ran as Democrat and Hitler ran as a Republican, so you can get an idea of who her friends are!

With all due respect to your mother, she's kidding herself. She's caught up in this weird conservative psychology of accusing liberals of racism for merely up the topic. What's more, they see to believe it.

BTW, don't miss the link on my blog today to the Phoenix New Times article about McCain.

Keep up the great work!

NOLA radfem said...

Hi, K.

Here is the first blog from the person I've quoted at barackobama.com, the one who later responded to me. This sounds to me like she was a Hillary supporter:


From Clinton To Obama: Revised : Hope to not offend
By Angelia from Gulfport, MS - Jun 7th, 2008 at 6:33 pm EDT

Yes I have done it! I am backing Senator Clinton's decision to back Obama, he will get my vote for 2008. I am however not changing or adding "Hussein" to my name.

I am pleased with Hillary's decision to support Obama, I know that between the two of them they will have the ability to bring great our country to the once great nation we had been. I would like to urge Obama to consider Hillary for VP as it will mean many more supporters for him. Lets face it with both of them in the Whitehouse they can't possibly lose.

Now I only wish that many Obama supporters would grow up and concentrate on the issues at hand and stop Hillary bashing. As I have read through many of the blogs here I can see that many of you thank Hillary for her support, but a few of you have still managed to get your little comments in. Now let me ask you this, do you think that Hillary supporters are pleased to back Obama when his own supporters cannot quit the childish games?

Time to stop worrying about Hillary and help Obama get that vote to the Whitehouse, we need him, he is our best possible chance to cleaning up the Republicans mess. Come on now we are all adults lets band together and act like it.

I want to thank, Dwight, Terri and all the others that helped me heal through the saddness of my candidates convening and showing me that Barrack Obama will be the next great president. I would also like to urge Clinton supporters to Vote,

Barrack Obama, we will stand behind you, please promise to stand behind us when you take office.

NOLA radfem said...

I too worry about how many white people are NOT going to vote for Obama once they are in that voting booth. It makes me literally ill to think about it.

Yes, my mom is...I dunno...losing it. She raised me to be a liberal, as did my aunt. Somehow, though, when it comes to race and racism, they still don't get it.

K. said...

You and your readers may appreciate this commentary:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/08/johnmccain.gender