An Open Letter to Certain White Women Who Are Threatening to Withhold Support from Obama in November

Your Whiteness is Showing

By TIM WISE

This is an open letter to those white women who, despite their proclamations of
progressivism, and supposedly because of their commitment to feminism, are
threatening to withhold support from Barack Obama in November. You know who you are.

I know that it's probably a bad time for this. Your disappointment at the electoral
defeat of Senator Hillary Clinton is fresh, the sting is new, and the anger that
animates many of you--who rightly point out that the media was often sexist in its
treatment of the Senator--is raw, pure and justified.

That said, and despite the awkward timing, I need to ask you a few questions, and I hope you will take them in the spirit of solidarity with which they are genuinely
intended. But before the questions, a statement if you don't mind, or indeed, even
if (as I suspect), you will mind it quite a bit.

First, for those of you threatening to actually vote for John McCain and to oppose
Senator Obama, or to stay home in November and thereby increase the likelihood of McCain winning and Obama losing (despite the fact that the latter's policy platform is virtually identical to Clinton's while the former's clearly is not), all the
while claiming to be standing up for women...

For those threatening to vote for John McCain or to stay home and increase the odds of his winning (despite the fact that he once called his wife the c-word in public and is a staunch opponent of reproductive freedom and gender equity initiatives, such as comparable worth legislation) , all the while claiming to be standing up for women...

For those threatening to vote for John McCain or to stay home and help ensure Barack Obama's defeat, as a way to protest what you call Obama's sexism (examples of which you seem to have difficulty coming up with), all the while claiming to be standing up for women...

Your whiteness is showing.

When I say your whiteness is showing this is what I mean: You claim that your
opposition to Obama is an act of gender solidarity, in that women (and their male
allies) need to stand up for women in the face of the sexist mistreatment of Clinton
by the press. On this latter point--the one about the importance of standing up to
the media for its often venal misogyny--you couldn't be more correct. As the father
of two young girls who will have to contend with the poison of patriarchy all their
lives, or at least until such time as that system of oppression is eradicated, I
will be the first to join the boycott of, or demonstration on, whatever media outlet
you choose to make that point. But on the first part of the above equation--the part
where you insist voting against Obama is about gender solidarity-- you are, for lack
of a better way to put it, completely full of crap. And what's worse is that at some
level I suspect you know it. Voting against Senator Obama is not about gender solidarity. It is an act of white racial bonding, and it is grotesque.

If it were gender solidarity you sought, you would by definition join with your
black and brown sisters come November, and do what you know good and well they are going to do, in overwhelming numbers, which is vote for Barack Obama. But no. You are threatening to vote not like other women--you know, the ones who aren't white like you and most of your friends--but rather, like white men! Needless to say it is high irony, bordering on the outright farcical, to believe that electorally bonding with white men, so as to elect McCain, is a rational strategy for promoting feminism and challenging patriarchy. You are not thinking and acting as women, but as white people. So here's the first question: What the hell is that about?

And you wonder why women of color have, for so long, thought (by and large) that
white so-called feminists were phony as hell? Sister please...

Your threats are not about standing up for women. They are only about standing up for the feelings of white women, and more to the point, the aspirations of one white woman. So don't kid yourself. If you wanted to make a statement about the importance of supporting a woman, you wouldn't need to vote for John McCain, or stay home, thereby producing the same likely result--a defeat for Obama. You could always have said you were going to go out and vote for Cynthia McKinney. After all, she is a woman, running with the Green Party, and she's progressive, and she's a feminist. But that isn't your threat is it? No. You're not threatening to vote for the woman, or even the feminist woman. Rather, you are threatening to vote for the white man, and to reject not only the black man who you feel stole Clinton's birthright, but even the black woman in the race. And I wonder why? Could it be...?

See, I told you your whiteness was showing.

And now for a third question, and this is the biggie, so please take your time with
it: How is it that you have managed to hold your nose all these years, just like a
lot of us on the left, and vote for Democrats who we knew were horribly inadequate--Kerry, Gore, Clinton, Dukakis, right on down the uninspiring line--and yet, apparently can't bring yourself to vote for Barack Obama? A man who, for all of his shortcomings (and there are several, as with all candidates put up by either of the two major corporate parties) is surely more progressive than any of those just mentioned. And how are we to understand that refusal--this sudden line in the proverbial sand--other than as a racist slap at a black man? You will vote for white men year after year after year--and are threatening to vote for another one just to make a point--but can't bring yourself to vote for a black man, whose political views come much closer to your own, in all likelihood, than do the  views of any of the white men you've supported before. How, other than as an act of racism, or perhaps as evidence of political insanity, is one to interpret such a thing?

See, black folks would have sucked it up, like they've had to do forever, and voted
for Clinton had it come down to that. Indeed, they were on board the Hillary train
early on, convinced that Obama had no chance to win and hoping for change, any change, from the reactionary agenda that has been so prevalent for so long in this culture. They would have supported the white woman--hell, for many black folks, before Obama showed his mettle they were downright excited to do so--but you won't support the black man. And yet you have the audacity to insist that it is you who are the most loyal constituency of the Democratic Party, and the one before whom Party leaders should bow down, and whose feet must be kissed?

Your whiteness is showing.

Look, I couldn't care less about the Party personally. I left the Democrats twenty
years ago when they told me that my activism in the Central America solidarity and South African anti-apartheid movements made me a security risk, and that I wouldn't be able to get clearance to be in some parade with Governor Dukakis. Yeah, seriously. But for you to act as though you are the indispensible voters, the most important, the ones whose views should be pandered to, whose every whim should be the basis for Party policy, is not only absurd, it is also racist in that it, a) ignores and treats as irrelevant the much more loyal constituency of black folks, without whom no Democrat would have won anything in the past twenty years (and indeed the racial gap favoring the Democrats among blacks is about six times larger than the gender gap favoring them among white women, relative to white men); and b) demonstrates the mentality of entitlement and superiority that has been long ingrained in us as white folks--so that we believe we have the right to dictate the terms of political engagement, and to determine the outcome, and to get our way, simply because for so long we have done just that.

But that day is done, whether you like it or not, and you are now left with two, and
only two choices, so consider them carefully: the first is to stand now in
solidarity with your black brothers and sisters and welcome the new day, and help to push it in a truly progressive and feminist and antiracist direction, while the
second is to team up with white men to try and block the new day from dawning. Feel free to choose the latter. But if you do, please don't insult your own intelligence, or ours, by insisting that you've done so as a radical political act.

------------ --------- --------- --------
Tim Wise is the author of: White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son (Soft Skull Press, 2005), and Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and
White (Routledge: 2005). He can be reached at: timjwise@msn. com

Spoken Words

ORISA SHANGO, BAPTIST WOMEN

Spiritual Miss Priscilla, Orisa Shango!
Drumming from de tent on de hill some days…. ago
Red, green, white, yellow and black flags planted in de corner of she yard
Spiritual Mother Sparks, Baptist, Orisa Shango?
Bells not drums pilgrims numbers 1, 2 and 3 morning down on de ground
Spiritual Miss Lapump, Baptist, Orisa Shango?
She smell of the sweet sent of florida and kananga water mixed with marigold, white rose and red and white lavender
Spiritual Mother Prince, Baptist, Orisa Shango?
With purple and yellows cords wrapped around de waist of she brown gown
A pointer, a nurse, a healer and a spiritual mother who went down on de ground Spiritual Miss Doralyn, Baptist, Orisa Shango?
Dressed in white and I know it must be Sunday for she going to church to today to pray
Spiritual Mother Millie, Baptist, Orisa Shango?
Ah hear bells and drums on de road and pilgrims singing to go
Six o'clock Sunday morning baptism on the road to go or Miss Priscilla Orisa shango?

Copyright 2006 Dr. Marilyn J
Monday, December 18, 2006

I LOVE MY NATURAL BLACK HAIR

The tight curls in my short or long natural black hair
Corn rows, cane rows, china bumps, twist, braids, afros and locked hair
Mammy, granny, aunty, sister and nennen comb my natural black hair
Squares, triangles, circles, rectangles with middle part and side part in my hair
They said no hot combs, relaxers and curlers for my natural black hair
But pony-combs, butterfly-clips and beautiful bow ribbons can stay in my hair
I love my natural black hair

There is no room for chemicals with lye to relax my natural black hair
No wait for hot-combs and curlers on stove burners to straighten my hair
Straightened hair prevents me from celebrating my natural black hair
I remember hair days on Saturday when all girls got together to do our hair
Little girls sit for greasing, plaiting and talking about our natural black hair
Big girls speak to us about who is next as they comb through our hair
I love my natural black hair

I AM

I am who I am
For my skin, hair and nose give me away
Though my name means nothing
My daughter's name means something
Makeda dear, I love you
Your name is the expectation of a queen
You are beautiful, intelligent and understanding
A gracious queen and competent ruler
You hunger for truth and wisdom
I see myself in you
The same way my mother saw herself in me
The same way my grandmother saw herself in my mother
The same way my great grandmother saw herself in my grandmother
The same way my great great grandmother saw herself in my great grandmother
Their skin hair and nose gave them away
My grandmother's name gave her away
She was Ma Oshun and not Ma Azoon
As I reclaim her Yoruba name

Work in progress

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN!!!

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Wears a burgundy French roll, 3-inch heels and a split up her thigh to
work and makes it look professional.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can wear the hell out of spandex.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can raise a doctor, a world-class athlete and an A+ student in an
environment deemed by society as dysfunctional, broken, underprivileged and disenfranchised.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can heat a whole house in the winter without help from the gas company.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can work full time while finishing school, raising respectful and
intelligent children, be active in the PTA, be the pastor's secretary, and the choir president and a make it all seem effortless

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can make a $1.00 out of 15 Cents

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can go from the boardroom to the 'hood and "keep it real" in both
places.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can slap the taste out of your mouth.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can put a Black man and his non-Black date on pins and needles
just by walking into the room.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can live below poverty level and yet set fashion trends.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can fight two struggles everyday and make it look easy.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can make a child happy on Christmas Day even if he didn't get a darn
thing.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can be admired and fantasized about by men of other races and know that when she does cross over it's done out of sincerity, not a political move.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can be 75 years old and look 45!

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can make other women want to pay plastic surgeons top $$$ for physical features she was already born with.

ONLY A BLACK WOMAN
Can be the mother of civilization.

Anonymous

A LIVING AFRICA

Africa lives in me
In you
In our children
And in all of us

Africa lives in our Black sisters
Our Black brothers
Our Black mothers
And our Black fathers

Africa lives in our drums
In our music
In our words
And in our songs

Africa lives in our clothes
In our wood
In our imagination
And in our community

Africa lives in the Caribbean
In the Americas
In Britain
And in Europe

Africa lives in books
In our language
In our art
And our dance

Africa lives in our dreams and visions
In our spirit world
In our soul
And our ancestors

Africa lives in our perms
Under our weaves
In our locks
And curls

Africa lives in our names
In Adanna (Father’s loving daughter)
In Makeda (Beautiful, Queen of Sheba)
And Fela (Warlike)
Africa lives in the color black
For the earth
Liberation
And freedom, freedom, freedom

Marilyn Patricia Yearwood Copyright ©2002

MY AFRICAN CARIBBEAN CANADIAN AGENTIAL POWER

OUR REPARATION

TAKE-THE-BLACK-OUT?

THESE ARE THE VOICES OF WOMEN WE CONSIDER NUBIAN SISTAHS

TO OUR COMMUNITY

Blackness is not a hair style. It is not a dashiki. Judge my blackness by the jobs that we have, by the money we are able to generate in the community in advance of the support services. Judge my blackness by that - Bertha Knox Gilkey

I don't care what diplomacy dictates. We have to stand up for our communities, to fight for them in new and different ways - Maxine Waters, Assembly Woman

I think that if Black people don't work to get into a position where we can do something about our image and preserve what's true, it won't be done - Vinnette Carroll, Broadway actress, Theatre Producer and Director

TO CHANGE

I cannot change the world, but I do not have to conform - Marva Nettles Collins

It's essential that we understand that taking care of the planet will be done as we take care of ourselves. You know that you can't really make much of a difference in things until you change yourself - Alice Walker