Donny Hathaway is singing Someday We’ll All Be Free behind a montage on this video. Listen while you read. Wish we had more Donny…
While some white women, men, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders discuss their pain surrounding the “unlevel playing field” for Hillary; we need to be reminded of a few fun facts.
There has been one black woman senator in the history of this country (Carol Moseley Braun). There have been four black men. There have been three governors, all male. Downplaying the devastating undertow of racism has not worked. The Clintons’ race game went way too stank for many people, and running such a great campaign against such a rich and influential white, took an enormous amount of organization, brain, and brawn. Don’t hate. Appreciate.
Gender and sexual preference discrimination affect everyone. You might think that your male and/or heterosexual ass is safe from pain, but you aren’t, if you have any friends or family. I like that Obama is against DOMA (the Defense Of Marriage Act, that puts federal brakes on states’ abilities to confer marital rights to lesbians and gays), and that his Loving v. Virginia strategy will eventually allow marriage between consenting adults. His constitutional law professorness is showing, huh? I come from (and am married to someone who came from) miscegenation. Huh? you say. In other words, we are both the byproducts of what is indelicately known as Jungle Fever. And you’re not? Are ya sure?
Names4things’ old ass remembers when it was illegal for whites and blacks to marry. Why? Because it was only 1966. So, having seen how Obama talks to Christians and others about their homophobia, and knowing that it’s based on the same type o’ bullshit the anti-miscegenation laws were writ– I think we’re good to go.
But I don’t want people to think that because he has provided such an inspirational platform, that our cases with each other will magically disappear. I like that he wants us to go back to the table on all of them. And while I don’t want to fight, I sure as hell wanna win. And we can’t, if we don’t use the past to correct the future. Take plenty cleansing breaths and maybe have some prunes. That usually works for me.
