Wednesday, November 05, 2008

We Hold These Truths . . .


[Tom Toles, Washington Post, 5 Nov. 2008]

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gender equality is the springboard to attaining all forms of equal rights in this country. Women consititute more than half the population and represent people of every race, color, creed and sexual preference; just like the other half does. Yet,it is interesting how disconnected we Americans still are to the existing intrinsic necessity of gender equality. This cartoon was posted on November 5 and it is now November 20 and I'm the first person to make any comment.

Our history confirms that men of every color have always attained equal rights in this country before women of any color. Well, at least the woman in the cartoon is approaching the White House. Let's hope the path doesn't have too many more stumbling blocks before she gets there.

Anonymous said...

Okay, I was just told I jumped the gun on this one. The figure in the cartoon represents Obama, not a woman holding a briefcase with the symbol for "female." One step at a time I guess. Barack Obama is a very good indicator that a female president will someday soon be a reality. Until then, I give my full support to our very promising President Elect.

dcat said...

Anon --
It's pretty tough to privilege gender over race in the American narrative of shame. no one denies the ongoing need for gender equity. But white women were always active agents in the apparatus of white supremacy. And women-qua-women were never enslaved because of gender, were not the victims of systematic lynching because of gender, and never had to deal with anything as systematic in law and mores as Jim crow. Women who faced these monstrosities absolutely were burderen by the dual bonds of race and gender, but they nonetheless faced them because they were black.

The idea that man of any color have achieved equal rights before women of any color is preposterously ahistorical. History confirms no such thing, a debate I am more than happy to have.

dcat