I'm Black and for Hillary.Get Over it.

[metta 0]

Source

I'm Black and for Hillary.Get Over it.

By Tara Roberts | TheRoot.com Enough with the dirty looks. Race is not the overriding feature of my identity.

AFP/Getty Images Hillary Clinton is greeted warmly at Temple University in Philadelphia last week.

March 18, 2008 -- I am a Hillary Clinton supporter. There, I said it.

And I'm tired of the dirty looks I get when I out myself. Why is it so surprising that someone like me – a black, educated, progressive chick – would put my support behind Hillary Clinton?

Oh, I know. I'm black, so, of course, I should support Barack Obama for the number one position in the country.

My good friend recently rolled her eyes in exasperation because she'd been patient with me, waiting for me to come to my senses, but suspected that I'd still not yet hopped over into the Obama camp.

Just before Super Tuesday, as I broke bread with another friend, she sucked her teeth and shot me an incredulous look when I admitted to backing Hillary.

placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')

The other day I attended a candlelight banquet for Morehouse College, where actor and MC of the evening Hill Harper took a few minutes to remind the distinguished crowd of Atlanta's finest luminaries that he and Barack went to law school together and that he would be happy to accept money that anyone wanted to donate. He got laughter, resounding applause, and I imagine a few checks slipped into his open palm. Somehow, I suspected that if I got up on stage and offered to take checks for Hillary, I'd hear the crickets chirping in the background.

What's funny to me, though, is that before Barack entered the race, many friends and family were excited about Hillary, thrilled, actually; they believed that she was our beacon of hope, that she represented profound change. But now that Barack has entered the building, these same people have turned against Hillary and put her down, even though her positions and beliefs have not changed.

Quite frankly, I'm tired of dealing with friends, family and co-workers who cannot believe that I've fallen for the supposed race lies of the Clinton machine, that I can't see how they are manipulating this race and treating our brother – this bright light, this brilliant man – so poorly.

It's interesting that these outraged critics rarely reference the gender lines that have been crossed, the attacks Hillary has endured from opponents and the press for the past 16 years. She's been attacked for her hair, her clothes, her facial expressions, her mannerisms…John McCain even joked that she'd had sex with Janet Reno to produce Chelsea – what's up with that??? And most of us remained silent at these barbs.

I would even dare say that some of us most likely agreed with the assessments and snickered behind our hands. It's never okay to be racist in our world, but, unfortunately, it's still 'normal' to be sexist. I don't know how that level of unchallenged scrutiny and scathing criticism might develop into survival tactics when called to deal with the press and opponents now. Frankly, it amazes me that Hillary is still standing with her shoulders straight in the face of it all.

Now, in case you're questioning, I do have race pride. No question about it. I am absolutely connected to the beautiful, soulful energy of African-American culture. But I hate that I just had to say that. I hate that all black Clinton supporters are somehow expected to qualify their blackness, as if we are naïve at best and traitors to the race at worst. Hillary's national co-chair, Sheila Jackson Lee, had to do it, too. She said on the Tavis Smiley Show, "I did not leave my blackness at the door. I am still a sister. I shout in the church. I love the Lord. And I love my people."

I'm tired of race being the overriding defining piece of my identity, of black women's identities. Like Sojourner Truth said years ago, "Ain't I a woman?" Doesn't that side of me deserve attention too?

I've traveled this election's campaign trail on assignment – Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – and I've been moved, touched and inspired by the new fervor for politics everywhere, but I've also been saddened. I met two young gentlemen from George Washington University who'd volunteered for the Obama campaign in South Carolina. One, very eloquent and smart – the kind of guy you'd be proud to introduce to your parents, told me plainly that black women will always be seen as black before they are seen as women. He was a gender studies major with a concentration in black feminist theory; he shook his head and said gravely, "Race will always trumps gender."

But why? Why am I asked to always put one before the other?

Hillary's politics and global intentions are dead-on. And I believe that having a woman in the most powerful position in this country is a step in the right direction of creating the world I dream of. So, again I say this loudly and proudly, I'm a Hillary supporter - through and through.

Page 2

Edited March 24, 2008 by metta

[Jesse and Hema 2]

She's black... but also a CHICK!!!

[natty bumppo 297]

So ?

[Jesse and Hema 2]

So ?

She makes a big deal about not voting strictly on a racial similarity with one candidate... Thus, she enforces the idea that people vote for candidates they have demographic similarities with, then proceeds to state that she (a female) is voting for the woman!!

Instead of supporting the candidate that was the same color as her, she supports the candidate that is the same gender as her.

Doesn't seem like she has a point worth making to me. If she endorsed McCain, she'd have something worth claiming "shock value" about.

Edited March 24, 2008 by Jesse G

[natty bumppo 297]

So ?

She makes a big deal about not voting strictly on a racial similarity with one candidate... Thus, she enforces the idea that people vote for candidates they have demographic similarities with, then proceeds to state that she (a female) is voting for the woman!!

Instead of supporting the candidate that was the same color as her, she supports the candidate that is the same gender as her.

Doesn't seem like she has a point worth making to me. If she endorsed McCain, she'd have something worth claiming "shock value" about.

Again ... So ?

[Jesse and Hema 2]

Again ... So ?

I'm just saying that a black female supporting a female candidate instead of a black candidate is no big deal. It still potentially makes her one of the demographics-following sheep she tries to mock in the article.

I'm not spelling it out any further. Just my opinion.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So ?

She makes a big deal about not voting strictly on a racial similarity with one candidate... Thus, she enforces the idea that people vote for candidates they have demographic similarities with, then proceeds to state that she (a female) is voting for the woman!!

Instead of supporting the candidate that was the same color as her, she supports the candidate that is the same gender as her.

Doesn't seem like she has a point worth making to me. If she endorsed McCain, she'd have something worth claiming "shock value" about.

I see what you mean.

[Krikit 1,165]

And I'm tired of the dirty looks I get when I out myself. Why is it so surprising that someone like me – a black, educated, progressive chick – would put my support behind Hillary Clinton?

She's black... but also a CHICK!!!

So ?

She makes a big deal about not voting strictly on a racial similarity with one candidate... Thus, she enforces the idea that people vote for candidates they have demographic similarities with, then proceeds to state that she (a female) is voting for the woman!!

Instead of supporting the candidate that was the same color as her, she supports the candidate that is the same gender as her.

Doesn't seem like she has a point worth making to me. If she endorsed McCain, she'd have something worth claiming "shock value" about.

Funny how we each see things differently. I did not, in any way, read into her statement the way that you did. In fact, when you consider the entire article in context, it is, indeed, focusing on race. However I did read "progressive chick" as an oxymoron.

[mc2000ch 0]

Again ... So ?

I'm just saying that a black female supporting a female candidate instead of a black candidate is no big deal. It still potentially makes her one of the demographics-following sheep she tries to mock in the article.

I'm not spelling it out any further. Just my opinion.

it will be better if we keep our opinion to ourselves

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Okay, I'm over it.

[Alex+R 0]

Yay. And I'm a chick voting for Obama. Even though for me my gender is a bigger deal than any other part of my identity.

[Ban Hammer 13,656]

Yay. And I'm a chick voting for Obama. Even though for me my gender is a bigger deal than any other part of my identity.

misogynist!