White Female Mourning vs Black Victory

Last night while I was enjoying the giddiness of the victory of my chosen candidate after a long, long battle, two events took place that amazed and dazed me. The first one was a statement made by a commentator on CNN and the other was an email I received from someone I know who also closely follows politics. It got me thinking about just how racial ignorance must be bliss for some in the white community and how some of them make statements that they don't think are offensive, when actually they are.

I was listening to CNN while cleaning my house since I'm throwing my daughter's graduation party this weekend when I heard one of the commentators giving out historical tidbits about why this election was so significant historically and racially. The one fact that floored me was how in 1808 the Slave Trade ended and here we are 200 years later with our first African American nominee for President. He said it like it was this amazing thing, just 200 years ago this happened and look where we are now! Because of the delivery I felt sort of offended and confused. Was I supposed to be happy about this because my former Social Studies teacher kicked in gave me about 156 years worth of reasons why this wasn't such an awesome fact. I would love to hear someone one talk about the 156 out of the 200 years when we didn't have either the legal or protected right to vote. Although I'm sure he didn't mean for it to sound the way I took it, I can't imagine anyone can honestly think that is amazing. If it were a Black person up there I'm sure we would have had a different tone to that statistic. I think it would have gone more like, and isn't it interesting that it has taken 200 years to get to this place in history. Same fact, completely different connotation.

My second foray into the racial fray of this election came when I checked my email at midnight. There I found a message from a Baby Boomer generation, white woman. She sent this email to me, and our friend who is a Mexican woman. She conceded that the primary was over and she will support Obama, but she cried when he won because her mother and other women her mother's age may never get to vote for a woman for President. She asked us to give her a few weeks to mourn the loss and to not be too enthusiastic about our victory in her presence. WHAT!!!? Are you flippin serious?! So now I can't just go to bed I have to say something. My mind was like, oh no she didn't but I knew I couldn't just snap. So I sat there and thought about how to intelligently address this email that was sent to me by someone who is not uneducated but definitely suffering from racial ignorance. So for those of you that are going to be faced with the same White woman mourning issues here is a piece of how I addressed the issue.

"I don't know if this will help but I never thought that voting for either candidate simply because of their race or sex was the right thing to do. Hillary is has admirable qualities that have nothing to do with her gender and Obama's message and achievements transcend race."

"It may sadden you to think that your mother and other women her age won't get to vote for a woman but, that wasn't a great reason to vote for her anyway. But if we are using their race and gender as qualifiers then maybe it will help to think about all of those older Black men and women that lived under Jim Crow and fought and struggled under segregation while being disenfranchised to an extent that White women have never had to deal with in this country. Those people will now have the opportunity to say they can vote for and African American for President. Amazing because up until 1964 many of them couldn't have voted with out fear of retaliation and death IF they could get past the poll taxes, literacy test and grandfather clauses. I am happy to think that my parents who marched and protested during the Civil Rights Movement, will now have the opportunity to see the fruits of their labor by being able to see the first African American Presidential candidate It is sweeter because my father is 68 years old and lived in the South he didn't have the protected right to vote until 44 years ago while your mother did. I think it is nice that we can now say that Dr King's Dream is coming to pass and people looked past the color of his skin and voted for him based on the content of his character. "

I hate quoting Dr. King but since there are only about 3 Black people deemed acceptable by society to get a mention in high school US History and I couldn't think of an appropriate quote from Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass right then I had to use Dr. King. It makes no sense to me. So a woman didn't win but history was made in a big way last night. Can't we as a nation celebrate a national victory together. Why does it have to be seen as the defeat of White women in favor of a Black victory? I guess for the same reason some of those same women hate Oprah now because she is supposed to stand for women above all else. Ignorant of the fact that maybe she isn't just a woman but she has other things about her that make up who she is and one of those things is race.

This racial ignorance falls along the same lines as Dr Watkins protest of the Axis of Ignorance. People want to have us and Senator Obama denounce our leadership because they don't like what they have to say. But the problem isn't what is being said it is why some of our leaders feel those things need to be said in the first place? Instead of shooting the messenger and denouncing the message why not find out why the message exists in the first place. It isn't like people of all educational levels and socio-economic backgrounds in our community aren't listening to and agreeing with the message. Why is that? Could there actually be something that rings true for many of us in Reverend Wright's and Father Pfleger's sermons? I am tired of my leaders being marginalized because of ignorance and editing. I'm tired of being told that because I agree with 85% of what they say that I'm a racist and I shouldn't listen to them. Who are they to tell me that I should ignore my history and live in a blissful little world where all is well because it makes them feel better to not have to deal with their part in my racial reality.

But even though I get a little fired up and militant about these issues I want to find a way to fix things instead of making them worse. Most of these people who make ignorant comments are people I have to interact with everyday so how do I make my point and not make them feel stupid in the process? I really don't think most of them know that some of the things they say are ignorant. So I'm not going to get mad and defensive and give them a reason to marginalize me too. But I won't allow an ignorant statement to go by without comment. Counter with some much needed history to explain and educate them. It will be more than most of them have gotten in their formal education.

It is interesting that Obama supporters were classified as educated white collar where Hillary supporters were considered uneducated and working class. I have seen this dynamic in action repeatedly. We are going to need them all to win in November. Now we are going to have to welcome these disappointed souls into our struggle as we try to win the election. Let's take this time to rise above and do a little W.E.B. DuBois Talented Tenth teaching across racial lines to see if we can make some more history and break down some more barriers. Maybe we can help alleviate some of the racial ignorance that abounds and in so doing have a dialog about race and history and commonalities. Maybe we can look at it as combating the Axis of Ignorance one viewer at a time on a personal level. Whatever you decide to do when confronted with the racial ignorance, whether it is in the media or in your personal life, don't let their ignorance and mourning take your Black victories and leaders away from you.