CW Political and Social Thought

Sexism Has No Place in American Society

For all that's wrong with Hillary, I have to offer a clear denunciation on what happened today at a rally in New Hampshire. [Read the story here] Sexism has no place in American society. Just as it would be immoral and repugnant for anyone (to attempt) to degrade Obama on account of his paternal heritage, there is no tolerance for people who want to take women back a hundred years. Of course, I know that I am preaching to the choir here, but there is no denying that there are possibly millions of men and women in the United States who believe that women are not fit to lead, to challenge, and to be as equal as men, particularly in religious circles that still foolhardily teach that subordinate Eve came from the rib of Adam! But as well there is a bigger question here. The question of the perception of women; as sexual objects, as strictly child bearers, as air-heads, as docile domestics, as pushovers, and as innately, both physically and intellectually, inferior to men; all these issues confront women. Obviously, women have made great strides since Betty Friedan produced her book, The Feminine Mystique, in 1963, but she exposes what I believe is still an agitation among many women, a revealing glimpse into one facet of the struggles that women face even in 2008.

Excerpts from Chapter 1 of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique
"The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century in the United States. Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night--she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question--"Is this all?"...

The suburban housewife--she was the dream image of the young American women and the envy, it was said, of women all over the world. The American housewife--freed by science and labor-saving appliances from the drudgery, the dangers of childbirth and the illnesses of her grandmother. She was healthy, beautiful, educated, concerned only about her husband, her children, her home. She had found true feminine fulfillment. As a housewife and mother, she was respected as a full and equal partner to man in his world. She was free to choose automobiles, clothes, appliances, supermarkets; she had everything that women ever dreamed of...

For over fifteen years, the words written for women, and the words women used when they talked to each other, while their husbands sat on the other side of the room and talked shop or politics or septic tanks, were about problems with their children, or how to keep their husbands happy, or improve their children's school, or cook chicken or make slipcovers. Nobody argued whether women were inferior or superior to men; they were simply different. Words like "emancipation" and "career" sounded strange and embarrassing; no one had used them for years. When a Frenchwoman named Simone de Beauvoir wrote a book called The Second Sex, an American critic commented that she obviously "didn't know what life was all about," and besides, she was talking about French women. The "woman problem" in America no longer existed...

Just what was this problem that has no name? What were the words women used when they tried to express it? Sometimes a woman would say "I feel empty somehow . . . incomplete." Or she would say, "I feel as if I don't exist." Sometimes she blotted out the feeling with a tranquilizer. Sometimes she thought the problem was with her husband or her children, or that what she really needed was to redecorate her house, or move to a better neighborhood, or have an affair, or another baby. Sometimes, she went to a doctor with symptoms she could hardly describe: "A tired feeling. . . I get so angry with the children it scares me . . . I feel like crying without any reason." (A Cleveland doctor called it "the housewife's syndrome.") A number of women told me about great bleeding blisters that break out on their hands and arms. "I call it the house wife's blight" said a family doctor in Pennsylvania. "I see it so often lately in these young women with four, five and six children who bury themselves in their dishpans. But it isn't caused by detergent and it isn't cured by cortisone."...

"If I am right, the problem that has no name stirring in the minds of so many American women today is not a matter of loss of femininity or too much education, or the demands of domesticity. It is far more important than anyone recognizes. It is the key to these other new and old problems which have been torturing women and their husbands and children, and puzzling their doctors and educators for years. It may well be the key to our future as a nation and a culture. We can no longer ignore that voice within women that says: "I want something more than my husband and my children and my home." [1]

The Lynching of Mary Turner in My Hometown in 1918

"Her body was cut open and her infant fell to the ground with a little cry, to be crushed to death by the heel of one of the white men present."  - On the lynching of Mary Turner

For the last year or so, I have been researching my family's history in Virginia and southern Georgia. For the most part, this journey has been very rewarding, finding a newspaper article on my great, great, great grandfather who was born into slavery in the 1850s, discovering an extended relative who was one of the first Black principals in Central Virginia, and uncovering Native American ancestors. Unfortunately, I have also confronted the brutality and racism that defined the world in which they lived. Such was the case in Valdosta, GA in 1918.

Lynching has a long and a very depressing history, the history of which I can't even begin to describe in this entry. What I can say, however, is that experts have approximated that the number of African Americans who were lynched between the 1890s and 1930s averaged 103 per year and were often perpetuated by lynch mobs. As early as 1880, Brooks County, a county formed in 1858 from a portion of Valdosta, had developed a reputation for racial violence.

Brooks County, named after South Carolina congressman Preston Brooks, established a reputation second to none in Georgia for race violence. During the era of lynching, 1880-1930, the county established a ...reputation for mob violence on an unprecedented scale; there were at least twenty-four confirmed victims of lynchings. In December 1894, a mob lynched five men in a single incident. Lynchings were carried out on a regular basis, with mobs taking lives in August 1898, January 1901, July 1909, June 1911, March 1913, November 1917, and May 1918. There were more lynchings in Brooks than any county in Georgia; Fitzhugh Brundage has suggested that the county was the most mob-prone county in the entire South.( n10) It should come as no surprise, then, that the single lynching incident that claimed the most number of lives in Georgia, in May 1918, occurred in that county. ("Killing Them by the Wholesale" by Christopher Meyers)

It was in this historical context that Mary Turner, eight-months pregnant, became one of the most gruesome cases of lynching, racism and lawlessness in the United States. Responding to her husband's lynching, which supposedly involved his complicity with the murder of a white man, papers reported that Turner's statement about her husband's lynching being "unjust" "only inflamed" the white mob which had already claimed eight Black lives. Descriptions of Mary Turner's lynching are some of the hardest writings to stomach.

"The mob tied her ankles together and hung her to a tree head down and gasoline from automobiles was poured over her. Turner's clothing was burned off of her body. A member of the mob produced a sharp knife and her stomach was laid open; her unborn child fell to the ground. Hundreds of bullets were then fired into Turner until she was barely recognizable as a human being. Both Turner and her child were buried about ten feet from the tree, the grave marked by a whiskey bottle with a cigar placed in the neck." (Meyers)

"Mary Turner was pregnant and was hung by her feet. Gasoline was thrown on her clothing and it was set on fire. Her body was cut open and her infant fell to the ground with a little cry, to be crushed to death by the heel of one of the white men present. The mother's body was then riddled with bullets." [1]

The white residents of Valdosta, Georgia decided to teach her a lesson for being uppity enough to be vocal about her pain. A mob found her tied her upside down to a tree, doused her with gasoline and burned her alive. One of the crowd members took a knife and split her belly open letting the baby fall out. Another member of the crowd smashed the baby’s head with his foot. Then the crowd took out their guns and filled the burning body of Mary Turner with bullets. The Associated Press wrote that Mary Turner had made unwise remarks about the execution of her husband. [2]

"...a man stepped forward with a pocketknife and ripped open her abdomen in a crude Caesarean operation. 'Out tumbled the prematurely born child,'" White wrote. "'Two feeble cries it gave - and received for the answer the heel of a stalwart man, as life was ground out of the tiny form. [3]

Gladly, Valdosta has come a long way from Mary Turner, but unfortunately, two recent story coming out of Valdosta show me how far Valdosta still has to go.

Valdosta Court Refuses to Admit Muslim Woman for "Security Reasons"

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today criticized officials in the Valdosta, Georgia, municipal court for denying a Muslim woman entrance to the courtroom because she refused to remove her head scarf. 20-year-old Aniisa Karim had come to court to challenge a speeding ticket, but was denied entry on the basis of security concerns, security guards told her....Read More

White Students Hang Black Doll From Tree

Three white students painted a doll black and hanged it from a schoolyard tree, prompting calls from parents and the local NAACP that the FBI should investigate the act as a hate crime....Read More

Everyday Prejudice/ Racialism v Racism

After an Asian-American friend told me that her Korean parents would disown her for marrying a Black man, though they perhaps would not be averse to her marrying a white man, that got me to thinking, "What are some of these social rules, norms, and perceptions that govern race relations and serve as a barrier to racial peace?" I scoured the Internet to find out.

Against Chinese Americans

"One in four Americans has "strong negative attitudes" toward Chinese Americans, would feel uncomfortable voting for an Asian American for president of the United States, and would disapprove of a family member marrying someone of Asian descent, according to a landmark national survey." [1]

Against Black Americans

"Here is a list of reasons why we should discriminate against Blacks, starting with the most obvious down to the least obvious. Blacks hate us. Every Asian who has ever come across them knows that they take almost every opportunity to hurl racist remarks at us....Contrary to media depictions, I would argue that Blacks are weak-willed. They are the only race that has been enslaved for 300 years. It's unbelieveable that it took them that long to fight back. Blacks are easy to coerce. This is proven by the fact that so many of them, including Al Sharpton, tend to be Christians..Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Christianity the religion whites forced upon them? [Kenneth Eng, Asian Week National, 2]

Against White Americans

That white perceptions of the extent of racial bias are rooted in a stupendous miasma of ignorance is made clear by a number of salient facts. First, as will be shown below, there is the statistical evidence indicating that equal opportunity is the stuff of fiction, not documentary; and secondly, the simple truth that white perceptions of racism's salience have always been splendidly naive. Indeed, as far back as 1963, before there was a Civil Rights Act to outlaw even the most blatant racial discrimination, 60 percent of whites said that blacks were treated equally in their communities. In 1962, only 8 years after the Brown decision outlawed segregation in the nation's schools (but well before schools had actually moved to integrate their classrooms), a stunning 84 percent of whites were convinced that blacks had equal educational opportunity. In other words, white denial of the racism problem is nothing new: it was firmly entrenched even when this nation operated under a formal system of apartheid [3]

Against Asian Women and White Men

"Interracial marriages between Asian women and white men is still predatory, purely paternalistic, if not outright capitalistic. Few white men are initially attracted to an Asian woman because they are beautiful by definition, nor because they know them personally and wish to know them better. They are specifically attracted to them because of the supposed stereotypes, cultural, sexual, anatomical—which is incredulously outrageous—regardless if these stereotypes are viewed as negative or positive. In the Asian community, especially among college students and young professionals, this subject is probably the most contentious. Both sides argue for and against, but in my opinion as an Asian male, the reasons for white males to "score" with Asian women is the reason why the practice should actually fall under the protection of federal Civil Rights Laws. Bottom line: If the white male's perspective regarding Asian women were to be totally publicized, it would be found objectionable to all—except maybe to themselves, of course." [4] 

Against Hispanic Americans

"A substantial and growing portion of the population gets more in goods and services from the government than it pays in taxes. When considered on top of the economic problem the cultural and political problems outlined by Huntington become even more serious. We can not afford - either economically or culturally - to continue on the current path on immigration policy. We need to deport the illegals, stop Hispanic immigration, and put both the need to maintain the existing culture and the advantage of much higher skilled and talented immigrants as key factors in determining who is eligible to immigrate to the United States." [5]

Against Middle Easterners

After the September 11th attacks, I have found myself paying much closer attention to fine details. Surveying my surroundings as if it's not only my responsibility, but a natural instinct. Some would say that it's racism, and others would say it's merely a reaction to a tragic event in American history. I must admit that I pay no more attention to Middle Easterners during my daily life than I do any other, but when it comes to suspicious activity, my level of awareness sky rockets, and I immediately feel a sense of urgency [6]

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Racialism versus Racism

What is racialism? And how does it differ from racism? Many people may wonder what I mean in the header of this page by "racialist". Racialism and racism do share similar assumptions, namely that generalizing groups of people is valuable to understand the nature of racial relations and the inequality within the American context, however racialists fundamentally believe that race and racism are solely the product of social engineering, not of inherent qualities of people. In other words, in commenting on active and passive white supremacy and white male privilege, this is not an attack on white inferiority in that whites are heartless human beings who can't see pass their own white identity. Instead, in suggesting that white supremacy underlies social rules and norms, I hope to capture the extent to which contemporary Americans are victims of a prior social order that depended on placing races within a hierarchy. Moreover, our actions, specifically in terms of political representation, media representation, and employment, often mimic these traditions. In some respects, we are oblivious to the ways that we continue to pass the torch of white privilege, but in other respects, we consciously take on the spirit of this anachronistic practice. For instance, political parties often deliberately overlook women and minorities in canvassing for a party candidate because those individuals may pose a threat to the overall success of the  party in a particular district.  Since  white men were the traditional ruling class, and in some ways still is, people often struggle with their own prejudices with a female or minority candidate even for female and minority voters, but  notice this approach assumes that the rules of a prior social order are somehow pertinent to political success today. And of course, the rules are. So the best way to excite change is to cast doubt on the assumptions about the old social order that are blatantly racist and sexist. This is in no way saying that all white men are evil or that there is a conspiracy against women and minorities, only that institutions and rules that were established in a prior period continues to gain ground within the current American milieu, despite the growing resolve to try to undermine the prior order. In essence, racialists don't just hammer at the wall, they want to shake the ground on which it rests.

 

We Can No Longer Ignore the Issue of Race

I talk a lot about racism on my website, but never did I think that someone could be tortured, held in captivity, sexually abused, humiliated, and be forced to eat dog and rat feces all because they were black. In commenting on Megan Williams' ordeal in West Virginia authorities are saying this...

"At one point, an assailant cut the woman's ankle with a knife and used the N-word in telling her she was victimized because she is black, authorities said. They said the young was also forced to eat dog feces..."

"Her captors, all of them white, choked her with a cable cord and stabbed her in the leg while calling her a racial slur, poured hot water over her and made her drink from a toilet, according to criminal complaints."

I have said time and time again that the white population in this country does not want to talk about race because they are afraid of what they might see in the mirror. Whites like to think and would like for everyone else to think that the United States is the freest nation in the world, but it is the freest nation in the world if you are Caucasian. If you are Black, even educated, you face a lifetime struggle in fighting for your rights to be heard, represented, and respected. I can't say that I am altogether surprised by what happened to Megan Williams, though the manner in which she was treated was comparable to being a slave in the deepest part of the Deep South.

As long as whites treat the issue of race as being a 'Black problem', they will never truly understand democracy, humanity, and freedom because in order for their freedom, humanity, and justice to be realized they must release themselves of their own white supremacy and hatred against everyone who is not white.

I am not just talking about the more overt forms as with Megan Williams, but I am talking about the subtle forms, like using affirmative action as a scapegoat for their own desire to preserve the greatest gifts of this country for whites. Affirmative action is not an automatic ticket to higher education or employment, nor should it be, but the mere use of race as one factor is being manipulated to mean that minorities can't even get into a college without allegations of not working hard enough, being smart enough, or deserving enough. Whites also have a way of ignoring minorities in how they contribute to the character of this nation.

They don't care much about Black history or culture, neither does their ignorance excite them to put up a book, or watch a movie, or start a conversation with a person of color. I once discussed this issue with a white student who was entering into the teaching field with a focus on American history. In encouraging him to read various books on minority history, he dismissed my gesture by saying that he does not have have time being that he's a new teacher, but as soon as he's comfortable in his subject matter, he'll "look into it". This is the nature of being white in America. 

Whites are so secured in their notion that this nation belongs to them that any other groups' attempt to claim ownership is disposable, sneered at, and ridiculed.

To them, the notion that Blacks have made an indelible mark on this country seems fabricated, if not down right stupid. If my remarks seem hyperbolic, then just a white person, "What does it feel like to be white."  More than likely they will look confounded, but deep inside they will know that whiteness in this country is power: power to dominate, power to inflict, and power to conquer.

It is with this power that  those white West Virginians virtually enslaved Megan Williams.

Here are the facts as reported in various news stories

1. 20-year-old Charleston, W.Va., resident Megan Williams, a black woman, was allegedly abducted, held captive for at least a week and tortured by six white individuals from Logan County, W.Va. Black Missing

2. A prosecutor said police are investigating the possibility that the victim was lured to the house where she was attacked by a man she met on the internet, but Carmen Williams insisted that wasn’t the case. “This wasn’t from the Internet,” she said. ABC NEWS

3. On September 12, 2007 six white residents of Logan County were arrested and charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding, and battery against Megan Williams, who is Black and Mentally Challenged. It is also reported that the defendants allegedly repeatedly used racial slurs while forcing Megan to eat human feces, rat feces, and drink urine while trapped at the Logan County, West Virginia residence. Send 2  Press

4. Frankie Brewster, 49, and her son Bobby Brewster, 24, are accused of kidnapping, sexual assault and malicious wounding. Karen Burton, 46, George Messer, 27, Alisha Burton, 23 and Danny Combs, 20, are charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding. SKY.COM

5. Authorities say they held a 20-year-old black woman for about a week at their mobile home, where she was tortured, sexually assaulted and forced to eat rat droppings. Court TV

A Trip to the Home of Thomas Jefferson

Today, my boyfriend and I took a trip to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. I can't really say that I am a big fan of Jefferson. Besides it being my third trip, I went along because my boyfriend was insistent upon going because he hadn't taken advantage of it when he was a student at the University of Virginia. I too was a student, but have no real fondness for the founder of my alma mater. Let me say a thing or two about Jefferson. While Jefferson was a very intelligent man, he borrowed many of his ideas. For example, as I was told by a tour guide, his inspiration for Monticello resulted from a trip he took to France, presumably during his stay as Secretary of State. Only after his return did he add many of the most notable features of Monticello. In terms of his political theory, he heavily borrowed from John Locke, except that Jefferson never authored any book spelling out a particular democratic vision. Much of what we know about Jefferson's political theory comes to us through letters. Another misnomer is that Jefferson invented all sorts of gadgets like clocks, writing machines, and the like. The fact is that Jefferson didn't invent anything. All the strange things that you see in his house were ordered from a nineteenth century version of a JCPenney's catalog.

Of course, my biggest grip against Jefferson is that he was a man who folded under pressure when it came to the most pressing moral issue of his day, the issue of human rights for enslaved persons. While he did have some encouraging things to say about the issue...

"Nobody wishes more ardently to see an abolition, not only of the trade, but of the condition of slavery; and certainly, nobody will be more willing to encounter every sacrifice for that object." --Thomas Jefferson to Brissot de Warville, 1788. [1]

"Do not mistake me. I am not advocating slavery. I am not justifying the wrongs we have committed on a foreign people... On the contrary, there is nothing I would not sacrifice to a practicable plan of abolishing every vestige of this moral and political depravity." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 1814

He was from cradle to grave beholden to his white supremacist ideology. And we should idolize him why? Even on his plantation, he didn't bother to educate him slaves, unless of course it meant teaching them how to make nails, cook food, or plow his crops. There is also the issue of Sally Hemmings. Like many white plantation owners, Jefferson thought of  the Black female body as not only a  machine that  replenished his labor force, but a sexual object of which he could claim ownership. I don't detest the man, it's just that we should not venerate him the way we do.

Pictures from My Visit to Monticello





Learn More about Blacks on Jefferson's Plantation
Peter Fossett
 Isaac Jefferson

Lucy

The Democrats Are Ready for Battle

I think that the Democratic presidential candidates demonstrated tremendous competence and passion tonight. Though they have had several debates in the past few months, with this being their first official party debate, they have finally conveyed that their approach to the War in Iraq, social security, healthcare, gay rights, racism, classism, and gender equality is a winnable platform. In fact, I found myself jumping up and down and applauding at the screen. This is a very exciting time for our country. We are not only reaching a milestone in terms of the type of representation (i.e. Obama, Clinton, and Richardson) but for the first time in a long time, I feel that the issues that I care about as a Black gay man are being represented on the national stage. The Democratic Party  is bringing about a change in the character of American politics in such a way that I and church-going Jimmy Bob of Kalamazoo, Michigan can rally around a party without engaging in a tragic and bitter face-off of who's the better American.

I really appreciated that Edwards was honest about his struggle with gay marriage because I feel that that agitation really resonated with most Americans. I was raised in the church, though I have no qualms or unanswered questions about my sexual orientation and my faith, but I fully understand that most Americans, especially those of the evangelical wing, have not come to terms with the issue of gay rights. As well, the candidates' candor about slavery reparations was very refreshing. I am no advocate of reparations, but the candidates, especially Obama, handled this question without conceding the legacy of white supremacy. Obama felt that investing in education and housing were better substitutes and I wholeheartedly agree with him. The candidates' response to health care could have put a smile on anyone's face. In fact, Clinton's passionate appeal to common decency and respect reminded me that she's not so cold and aloof as she leads on.

Overall, I think that the Party offered enough diverse views to cast a net over a sufficient number of potential voters while maintaining a relatively cohesive face and positive outlook.

Then again, the election is over a year away!

Let's not forget that.

Shooting, Flooding, and Rapping. Oh My!

Our nation is preoccupied with a lot of issues right now. Foremost is the tragedy in Blacksburg, which is hitting home for me because I attend the University of Virginia. There's also the flooding that's going on in the Northeast, as well as the fallout from Don Imus.

It's a very stressful time, but I don't think that one issue is more important that the other. While the media will largely concentrate on the shooting spree at Virginia Tech, we need to take this time to appreciate the complexity of American society. We are lulled into complacency and simple mindedness when things run smoothly or predictably. And it only takes one incident for us to begin to realize that our nation has problems that need to be addressed. I don't believe that Don Imus, or the flooding in the Northeast, or the school shootings are isolated incidents.

These events force us to think more deeply about the state of our nation.