In my opinion, however, it appears that Barack Obama has resolved his struggle around his identity as a bi-racial black person in a white world (In his self-reflective book “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance”) in a manner that Hillary Clinton has not, as a woman in a sexist world. Do I think she is emblematic of all women of our generation on this? No, I think this speaks of her. Just as Barack’s self-reflection speaks of him (not of all black or bi-racial people in America).
As a woman of color, I have enjoyed (?!) a particular vantage point on the often confusing and often painful experiences of race and gender, and of racism and sexism in America. When I said that I thought Barack Obama appears to be more comfortable in his own skin, this was not simply an allusion to a metaphorical self, but to his internal work to actually find comfort and a sense of peace as an oppressed person fighting injustice in America while not internalizing the hatred.
I don’t think, for me, this choice is about allegiances to the difficult struggles of gender or race (because I am one person born to both, just as I can’t split myself in two, these issues are indelibly entwined). I am a little confused by how the MSM can portray this as a struggle between “blacks and women” when, as Sojourner Truth said, “Aint I A Woman?” – another way to marginalize African American women who vote for Obama. I know the MSM loves this “women vs blacks” formulation because they are populated by rich white men who enjoy seeing oppressed groups fighting against each other. For me, as a woman, as a feminist, as a person of color, this choice remains about the merits of one person versus another, Hillary Clinton versus Barack Obama, it’s about policy and judgment issues, it’s about how each manifests her/his own internal struggles with oppression and privilege in a manner that I feel offers insight on how each might lead our country through the very formidable struggles ahead.
