Letters to the Editor

• Sean Bell

  [Read the article: Keith Olbermann apologizes for his Clinton remark]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  Joan writes: "I admit I get pulled sharply off balance by the nauseating sexism that has pervaded Clinton's coverage." Fair enough. But should we conclude that the lack of posts about issues of race means that while sexism raises her ire, racism doesn't really bother her?

  As many of us who read other news sites know, the police officers who killed Sean Bell were acquitted yesterday of all charges. Sean Bell was an unarmed black man who was leaving his bachelor party the night before his wedding. The police officers shot him over 50 times. One police officer even took the time to reload his gun so he could continue shooting.

  Many letter writers have asked why it is that black people are voting in overwhelming numbers for Obama. Other posters have insisted it is because blacks are racists. As a black voter who also voted for Obama in my primary, I would posit that it's because we are desperate for any evidence that America is not as racist as a whole as our personal experiences would have us believe. When was the last time an unarmed white woman or even an unarmed white man was killed by the police? We want to feel that Americans are moving forward, that things are in fact getting better.

  Here we have two candidates with similar positions on issues, with similar voting records, both have pros and cons, however one represents tangible proof that progress is being made, while the other is willing to throw black voters under the bus if it helps her get the nomination.

  For many white women, this election has been the first time that they have felt how oppressive sexism really is in America. As a black woman, I empathize. But at the same time I find it hard to muster the same outrage when what they are feeling during this election (those feelings of injustice, of outrage, that feeling that if she could just get someone to understand things could get better), is what most black people in America feel everyday of their lives.

  I am not trying to perpetuate the sexism vs racism debate that Joan found so useful last month but now seems to want to abandon. I am trying to make the point that you can't be outraged by one and then pretend not to notice the other. This week alone, Sean Bell's killers were acquitted. A full 19% of PA voters were willing to admit that race was a factor in deciding who to vote for and the vast majority of those voters were Hillary supporters. Ed Rendell who previously had said he didn't think PA voters were ready for a black candidate is now saying that race had no effect on this election. Bill Clinton, who has received more unearned support from black voters than any other living politician, accused Obama of "playing the race card" on him and then denied that he had said it, accusing a reporter of trying to ignore the issues. And the media and Hillary supporters are calling even louder for the super delegates to ignore the results (and in particular the voices of black voters) of the last 4 months of primaries, and the results of the next 2 months of primaries and just appoint Hillary the nominee.

  Meanwhile, there has been no mention of issues of race on Salon for weeks. I'm not denying that sexism is real and that it needs to be confronted, but so is racism. While Joan has every right to complain about Hillary's sexist treatment, it hard to believe that she in fact wants to be "one of the people who, at the end of this race, facilitates Democrats coming together" when she refuses to acknowledge either through the articles posted on Salon or in her own blog that racism is also an issue in this election.

  Permalink Saturday, April 26, 2008 05:04 AM