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Sunday night while deep in the throes of procrastination I happened upon the following article from CNN: "Gender or race: Black women voters face tough choices in S.C."
For these women, a unique, and most unexpected dilemma, presents itself: Should they vote their race, or should they vote their gender?
No other voting bloc in the country faces this choice.
Democratic analyst Jehmu Greene says, "We've all wanted the day to come where there was a black person in the White House, where there was going to be a woman in the White House. I don't think we imagined it would be having to decide one or the other."
My curiosity beat out doing actual work and since I am a black woman voter I clicked through and read.The first perusal was met with many a 'hmm' due to the rather sweeping - though innocuous - generalizations about black women as a voting bloc. The repeated 'hmm, interesting' quickly faded and turned into general annoyance. And let me put a disclaimer here that I can only speak on this from where I sit. I am not about to be the voice of all black women everywhere. That said I will admit to being intrigued by CNN's willingness to explore this demographic a little more thoroughly. I'll even - ever so briefly - give them the benefit of the doubt since having a white woman and a black man being the statistical frontrunners (they are) of a Presidential race is historical and for those who are not black women, it maybe seem as if we have this great choice to make: Do we vote with our race or do we vote with our gender? Yes. I can POSSIBLY understand that. But then the more vexed I became for surely they weren't suggesting that this very important election was the first time that black women felt as if they had a role in the political process. Basically the more I thought about it, the more I started to appreciate my apparently brand spanking new enfranchisement and this 2008 election was my big coming out party. What do I wear?
I know I am being flippant about this because as a black woman, a black woman who is only voting in her second presidential election (do the math), a black woman who has voted in every primary and Midterm Election by ABSENTEE ballot - which are known for low turnouts and interest - the more aggravated I become. Some readers, also black women, responded to CNN with quick wit and aplomb - or at least more than I could muster at the time - about how this particular article gave the impression that when thinking of this election, black women wake up each day and think "Race, gender, race, gender. Who gives a rat's ass about the economy?! Race or Gender". The following, from a woman named Tiffany said it far better than I ever could:
An e-mailer named Tiffany responded sarcastically: "Duh, I'm a black woman and here I am at the voting booth. Duh, since I'm illiterate I'll pull down the lever for someone. Hm... Well, he black so I may vote for him... oh wait she a woman I may vote for her... What Ise gon' do? Oh lordy!"
Tiffany urged CNN to "pull this racist crap off" the Web site and to stop calling Hillary the "top female candidate."
"Stop calling Barack the "Black" candidate," she wrote.
Many readers were upset that the story did not delve beyond a cursory mention of the issues.
Greene says women, including herself, face pressure to vote their race. In the African-American community, there is a perception that race trumps gender, she says
The biting wit! The sarcasm! Be still my heart and if I had half a mind to respond so quickly with such gumption, I probably would have but I was still sitting and thinking about how I will ever make such a TOUGH decision. This isn't to say that I've never heard the argument among blacks as to the whole white woman/black man conundrum but only in a historical context. And for the record this conversation was held in a wine bar. Also let me put to rest the whole notion that we black women only discuss politics and current events each Saturday while getting our hair done. WE, as a collective do not. You know that old adage "When
