Perhaps it is too harsh to ridicule someone who comes from a troubled background, but to be honest, I think Alice Walker is more than a little bit of an airhead. I've read plenty of crap from her just like this. Much of what she writes is this sort of bathos undergirded with New Agey vacuity. I can't stand reading this woman any more.
At 04:09 PM 4/1/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Lest We Forget: An open letter to my sisters who are brave. >By Alice Walker > >http://www.theroot.com/id/45469 > >Some excerpts: > >When I joined the freedom movement in Mississippi in my early twenties >it >was to come to the aid of sharecroppers, like my parents, who had been >thrown off the land they'd always known, the plantations, because they >attempted to exercise their "democratic" right to vote. I wish I could >say >white women treated me and other black people a lot better than the men >did, >but I cannot.... > >I am a supporter of Obama because I believe he is the right person to >lead >the country at this time. He offers a rare opportunity for the country >and >the world to start over, and to do better. It is a deep sadness to me >that >many of my feminist white women friends cannot see him. Cannot see >what he >carries in his being. Cannot hear the fresh choices toward Movement >he >offers. That they can believe that millions of Americans -black, >white, >yellow, red and brown - choose Obama over Clinton only because he is a >man, >and black, feels tragic to me.... > >[T]his does not mean I agree with everything Obama stands for.... > >I want a grown-up attitude toward Cuba, for instance, a country and a >people >I love.... I want an end to the on-going war immediately.... I want >the >Israeli government to be made accountable for its behavior towards the >Palestinians.... But most of all I want someone with the >self-confidence to >talk to anyone, "enemy" or "friend," and this Obama has shown he can >do.... > >It is hard to relate what it feels like to see Mrs. Clinton (I wish she >felt >self-assured enough to use her own name) referred to as "a woman" >while >Barack Obama is always referred to as "a black man." One would think >she is >just any woman, colorless, race-less, past-less, but she is not. She >carries >all the history of white womanhood in America in her person; it would >be a >miracle if we, and the world, did not react to this fact. How >dishonest it >is, to attempt to make her innocent of her racial inheritance.... > >We have come a long way, Sisters, and we are up to the challenges of >our >time. One of which is to build alliances based not on race, >ethnicity, >color, nationality, sexual preference or gender, but on Truth. >Celebrate >our journey. Enjoy the miracle we are witnessing. Do not stress over >its >outcome. Even if Obama becomes president, our country is in such ruin >it >may well be beyond his power to lead us toward rehabilitation. If he >is >elected however, we must, individually and collectively, as citizens of >the >planet, insist on helping him do the best job that can be done; more, >we >must insist that he demand this of us. It is a blessing that our >mothers >taught us not to fear hard work. Know, as the Hopi elders declare: The >river >has its destination. And remember, as poet June Jordan and Sweet Honey >in >the Rock never tired of telling us: We are the ones we have been >waiting >for. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [email protected] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
