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Saturday, September 12, 2015

For Melissa Harris-Perry Race Matters but Gender Doesn't

I was shocked by her attitude on her show this morning. She basically gave a raspberry to Hillary''s whole campaign under the guise that women don't need to see a women President to believe they can be one themselves.

It's baffling as she does seem to think that the fact that President Obama was a Black man was very important of itself-besides his positions on this or that issue.

But for Perry and some of her guests, Hillary's gender is irrelevant. She feels that Hillary is 'too privileged'-and too white you wonder?-to be an inspiration to American women.

I find this a shocking dismissal of feminism. What she is saying is that only race matters, not gender. She is saying that Hillary as a woman has suffered no discrimination or unequal treatment. That is a stunning claim when you review her treatment over a 24 year period.

If Perry feels that a  successful, white woman she suffers no discrimination it is perversely inconsistent of her to claim that President Obama as a black man did.

I mean is Perry essentially saying that gender discrimination is less important than racial discrimination? I guess we can argue who gets to be the most discriminated.

Maybe she feels that a white woman is more privileged than a black man-though you can also argue it the other way; black men actually had the right to vote over 50 years before white women did; ok, I know of course about Jim Crow, etc. but  at least the law was on the books.

I find these games of Who has been most oppressed a waste of time.

What led me to write this post now was that I see that many on Twitter-including many black folks-are shocked by Perry's attitude.

You know you can argue that in some ways Madonna was right. Imagine that huh? I mean she was mocked mercilessly for when she claimed that gay rights are way ahead of women's rights.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/11/madonna-gay-rights-out-magazine_n_6847108.html

Yet, the more I think about it, she may have a point. At at time when we've seen some very rapid advances in gay rights-gay marriage, transgender rights, etc.-women in many parts of the country still don't even have access to safe, affordable abortion is this is their choice-or even safe, affordable bight control.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/planned-parenthood-abortion-the-war-is-over

And as even Donald Trump knows, Planned Parenthood does a lot more for women than just abortions or birth control. The attack on PP is a frontal assault on women's healthcare.

Yet, Perry thinks we don't really need a female President all that much. We did the important thing, had a black President and that's enough with the milestones.

Between her attitude and the attitude that Madonna get-and the relentless attack on women's choice and healthcare across this country-I'm starting to think the Material Girl was dead right.

People pooh pooh and mock gender issues in ways they'd never dare, regarding racial issues or LGBT issues.

P.S. I say this is a biracial man. Is the main reason Perry feels no empathy for Hillary because she's white? I think it's a fair question. If this were a racial question there's be no reluctance to even ask the question.

Does Ms. Perry realize that whatever she may think of white women, she has a large white female audience which is pretty upset right now.

Not only white women are upset-as I'm obviously not a white woman and there are number of black folks that have made this same point.

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