Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: identity politics

  1. #1 | Top
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    life
    Posts
    52,794
    Thanks
    13,341
    Thanked 22,579 Times in 15,814 Posts
    Groans
    249
    Groaned 1,951 Times in 1,862 Posts

    Default identity politics

    Why one conflicted Southern black voter just can’t decide
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...mepage%2Fstory
    On the Saturday morning 10 days before the Georgia primary, Jackson — tall, curvy, hair she’s recently vowed to stop chemically processing — puts on her sneakers and goes for a walk with her niece.

    “Bernie is saying things that I wish we could pull off,” says the niece, Madinah Al-Uqdah, a college student who has been enamored of Sanders since a rally several months ago. His support for affordable tuition “was a big deal to me.”

    “It is hard not to admire Bernie,” Jackson agrees as they power-walk through a landscaped park.

    “Yes. And he gets his money from the people. I think that says a lot.” Al-Uqdah says she also appreciates Sanders’s consistency of position. “I’ve seen 10-year-old videos with the same message.”

    “He’s been consistent. I’ll give him that.”

    “And that’s important!”

    Jackson is proud of the way that her niece, an extroverted music major who was recently crowned Miss Morris Brown College, is following the election. The two of them each watched a town hall meeting that aired a few nights before. Jackson took notes on Sanders’s performance on her smartphone, and she tries to remember them now. “He said he was arrested at 22 for fighting segregation. He said race relations will be better under him than under Obama.”

    She can believe that. Minority politicians are always under scrutiny, she thinks, afraid to be seen as focusing too much on their own people’s issues. Sanders wouldn’t be under that same scrutiny. Would Hillary? Was it possible that Hillary, as the first female president, would somehow end up doing less for women?

    “I don’t feel like I owe my vote to her,” Jackson explains to Al*Uqdah. “But I feel that, if I have a qualified person who reflects my gender, it’s hard not to make history.” What if, she says, she threw away that chance and didn’t get another one in her lifetime?

    “That could be problematic,” Al-Uqdah admits. But if Clinton isn’t the nominee this time around, she says, there will probably be another woman next time.

    “Hmm,” says Jackson. This young optimism is what gives her pause about Sanders. Her niece has spent most of her cognizant life in a world with a black president, and Jackson worries that this has skewed Madinah’s concept of what is possible. Madinah, at 19, has never experienced someone telling her that she should hire a white male business partner to make some of her clients more comfortable. Jackson has.

    They start back for home, up a slope they have deemed “Cardiac Hill” and as Jackson picks up the pace Al-Uqdah complains that her legs are starting to cramp.

    “Now you’re ‘feeling the burn,’ aren’t you, Miss Bernie? Feel the burn.”

    Pulled in two directions

    For Jackson, it was always supposed to be Hillary. It was supposed to be Hillary even back in 2008, until Barack Obama entered the presidential scene. But even then, when she decided to switch her support to Obama, Jackson told herself that Clinton would be the presumptive nominee the next time around. She would have another chance to vote for a woman then........
    Last edited by anatta; 02-25-2016 at 08:28 PM.

  2. #2 | Top
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    life
    Posts
    52,794
    Thanks
    13,341
    Thanked 22,579 Times in 15,814 Posts
    Groans
    249
    Groaned 1,951 Times in 1,862 Posts

    Default

    ^... it goes on and on as she's torn between what she likes about Bernie, and her 'duty' (my words) as a black woman for Clinton..

    America self-Balkanizes along really dumb self imposed identity lines.. Not all Americans, but it's a far too common mindset.
    Far too common "reasoning" for whom get's our political support.

    When I hear CRAP like "she'd be the first woman" same as I heard "He'd be the first black man"; I want to set my hair on fire -
    (60ish year old balding head that it is) - and run screaming into the night desperately seeking sanity.

    How did we ever get to the point we look to POTUS to reflect our sexual/gender identities?
    It's a gross disservice to those of us who reason out what the next POTUS's capabilities as POTUS ( not as man or woman or white or black)
    would be the best match for our nations needs. And it's the herd mentality, instead of taking individual responsibility for your ideas.

    E Pluribus Unum
    Last edited by anatta; 02-25-2016 at 08:41 PM.

  3. #3 | Top
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Posts
    18,634
    Thanks
    17,467
    Thanked 5,105 Times in 3,823 Posts
    Groans
    19,214
    Groaned 3,543 Times in 3,270 Posts

    Default

    Klan wives do vote with their grand wizard

Similar Threads

  1. Identity Crisis
    By ohiodem in forum General Politics Forum
    Replies: 30
    Last Post: 10-12-2010, 10:55 AM
  2. Positive Ethnic Identity
    By Hermes Thoth in forum General Politics Forum
    Replies: 24
    Last Post: 03-09-2009, 09:36 AM
  3. Kathianne's Identity Issues
    By Hermes Thoth in forum Off Topic Forum
    Replies: 25
    Last Post: 12-23-2008, 03:21 PM
  4. Identity theft
    By tinfoil in forum Off Topic Forum
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 09-12-2008, 11:06 PM
  5. Secret Identity Revealed!
    By jollie in forum Current Events Forum
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 04-23-2008, 01:47 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Rules

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •