Letters to the Editor
adam wannabe
Published Letters: 20 Editor's Choice: 1
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Journalists and racial stereotypes
[Read the article: Obama and race in California]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My wife made an observation last night in response to the pundits who were showing their split pies of racial, gender, age, and economic demographics in Florida: "When Obama is talking about transcending barriers, is it really helpful that jounalists continue to talk as if someone's ethnicity or gender or religion DETERMINES their choice? Why do they keep trying to pigeon-hole everyone?"
I have to think she is right. Journalists, perhaps unconsciously, are reinforcing stereotypes. We have taught our daughter not to describe someone by the color of their skin or to make assumptions about anyone based upon stereotypes, and yet but journalists do it constantly (under the guise of "exit polling").
Who is a Latino? Who is "black" or "white." Who is "asian" ? Obama is trying to move us beyond the stereotypes that will hopefully be anachronisms, the descriptors of the past. If he is successful in helping us cross this threshold, our country will become, even more than it already is, an example to the world of the success of mixed heritage and mutual tolerance.
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Race...
[Read the article: Obama and race in California]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In reference to a previous blogger, I'm not sure how Obama is "distancing" himself from South Carolina merely by embracing his whole family. That he is "mixed race"--and that the country is becoming increasingly multiracial--is just a demographic fact, something of which to be proud. Like Obama has suggested, where else does this happen as much as in America?
Obama's message of reconciliation--though he might have difficulty reconciling with the Clintons as with his own Jungian shadow, a certain coldness--is an inspirational message. It may be a reaction formation, a compensation, naive, disingenuous. 7 years of Bush may have made cynics of us all but why deconstruct someone's apparent good motives into something so calculated? Perhaps he is simply drawing us a picture of his world, our world, and saying we should love it as he does.
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Barra's cheap shot
[Read the article: Irène Némirovsky's life after death]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Allen Barra has apparently not read the fine biography of Irene Nemirovsky, "Irene Nemirovsky: Her Life And Works" by Jonathan Weiss, in which many of Barra's insuations are addressed. Nemirovsky's mother was apparently quite egocentric at the expense of neglecting Irene, while her French-spoeaking nanny was quite loving, which may have contributed to Irene's early ambivalence about her own heritage and her attraction to all things French. After being forced when she was still a child to move with her family from Russia and eventually settling in France, Irene tried to find herself as a Francophile. Weiss leaves little doubt that as Irene matured, an evolution of sensibility and cultural identification took place with her own Jewishness, such that her depiction of Jewish characters became far more sympathetic to the point that it is apparent that Irene had reconciled with herself. Weiss portrays this quite effectively. It is easy for someone like Barra to sit in judgment. The truth is far more complex.
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backlash election
[Read the article: Which Democrat can beat McCain?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Polls show that voters want hope and optimism and a positive campaign. In times past, a "swift boat" scandal--however false-- could sink a candidate. This time it is the reverse: whoever LAUNCHES a swift boat attack risks defeat by a wave of backlash. So, picking a candidate won't be as rational a process as deciding who is more likely to defeat John McCain in the general election. Unfortunately, many democrats don't seem to care about that. They just want THEIR candidate to prevail, come what may. This is in part due to the minimal difference on issues between the candidates.
Controversial anti-Hillary comments by pundits Chris Matthews and David Schuster, the call-to-feminist arms op-ed by Gloria Steinem (that essentially said that women have been oppressed longer than African-Americans), the racially- tinged sound bites by Bill Clinton, etc. have led to backlashes that have been huge factors in crucial primaries. It seems that the eventual candidate will be whomever benefits from a larger backlash in her or his favor.
If I wanted McCain to win, I would be loving the current democratic civil war since it is likely to fracture the democratic party. Regardless of whether Obama or Clinton win, huge voter blocks will feel disenfranchised, thereby weakening the nominee.
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Mr. Rodriguez begs the question
[Read the article: Hillary Clinton, the first Latina in chief?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was hoping to get some insight from reading this article but instead it begged the question Mr. Rodriguez intended to answer. Based on identification politics, it is understandable why African-Americans would vote for Obama or women for Clinton. But based on either issues or identification, Rodgriguez didn't help me understand why Latinos would support Clinton or vote against Obama.
On the face of it, Mr. Obama seems to have views on immigration that are more progressive. Recall Hillary's position as stated in the last debate that if illegal immigrants pay a fine as well as back taxes that they should be given legal status. Recall Obama's statement that he doesn't endorse the scapegoating of illegal immigrants by working class African-Americans vying for the same jobs. Recall also his statement that immigrants "come here to work, not to drive," whereas Hillary has changed her opinion on driver's licenses to one that is more punitive. And yet the majority of Latinos are voting for Hillary, regardless of gender.
Probably some polling needs to occur in order to understand the phenomenon of Latino support for Hillary, whether it is based on ethnic facotrs or other variables. Short of a scientific analysis, all we are doing is guessing--and guessing usually leads to the projection of prejudices.