It seems fitting that today, on the actual birthdate of Martin Luther King Jr. that I comment on the craziness that is the Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama otherwise known as the gender card vs. the race card. A million other bloggers whom I respect have commented on it and as a Latina woman, I guess it’s my turn. I’ve been silent on the issue not because I prefer one of the two candidates over the other but rather because I’m tired of the same bullshit that I deal with on the regular getting played out on a bigger level. Many White women in the feminist movement have long invited women of color to their table without ever coming to ours. Case in point, old school feminist Gloria Steinem’s assertion in a oft debated NYT editorial:

Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House.

Really? Clinton seems to think so by apparently trying to give more play to a white man in the civil rights movement then one black man or rather a whole movement.

Need something more concrete? A few years ago when there were attacks at the Puerto Rican Day parade by some Latino/Black young men against white women AND women of color. Guess who was contacted by NYC NOW because they needed a Latina face/voice to back them up and make it look like it wasn’t a race thing (look we have a Latina!) guess who was never contacted by NYC NOW again?

So where do I fall? Personally, I haven’t endorsed anyone and I never have. I’m concerned about Obama on the immigration issue as I am about Hillary (can we say voting for border wall? Walls are powerful physical symbols) pero when it comes down to it- I’d trust a man of color over a white anything- man/woman/ freaking ice cream! (yes bad joke and comparison). But history and practice has shown me that I am looked at as a Latina first and as having a vagina second and most of the time the two cross (abuela’s special operation- for example). Peeps need to note that.

Liza over at Culture Kitchen reminds us how often feminists (read white feminists) view oppression in terms of male/female with race/color playing a secondary, if even that, role.

Via / NYT, Washington Post, Culture Kitchen, the Village Voice