I recently participated in a trivia game involving questions about
presidential politics in the U.S. At the end of the game it occurred to me that
except for President Obama there were very few questions about the
participation of African Americans or women in the presidential election
process over the past 300 years.
At first I was discouraged. I thought, like so many who rely on main
stream media, that this was because of the dearth of such participation but
then I pictured a couple of women standing in front of me, reminding me that
just because we don’t get talked about doesn’t mean we aren’t there. We’ve been
told over and over that Presidential Politics in the U.S. has always been “all
old white men all the time.” We’ve been told it so often that we have started
to believe it. That’s not quite the entire story.
I’ve been "advised" that I should support
Hilary Clinton even if I have reservations because she’s our first, best shot
at getting real female participation in the presidential election process and
getting a woman in the White House. While she might be our best shot to date
she is by no means the first.
It’s way past time that we as African Americans and/or women reclaim our
place and our history as participating citizens in this democracy of ours. It’s
time for us to deny and deconstruct the myth that we’ve been kept down by our
circumstances. We always have been and
continue to be vital members of the election process not only by our votes but
by actually running for and winning offices. We need to reclaim our herstory for
our sisters and daughters so that they know it can be done because it has been
done and so that they don’t think they are going it alone.
My challenge to anyone reading this during this seemingly endless presidential
election cycle is this – name one woman or African American in the 300 year
history of presidential politics who made a significant impact and or was on
the ballot somewhere in these 50 United States. I’ll even let you cheat a little if you name
one person who fits both categories. Come on, you know they’re out there. We’ve
been there all along. Let’s make it known.
