{"id":53,"date":"2007-12-03T14:16:12","date_gmt":"2007-12-03T18:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=53"},"modified":"2007-12-03T14:16:14","modified_gmt":"2007-12-03T18:16:14","slug":"identity-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=53","title":{"rendered":"Identity Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Identity politics may not make a whole lot of sense, but it sure makes choosing a Presidential candidate<\/a> easier.<\/p>\n

The dozen or so Spelman College women had come together in a basement classroom, after hours, to hash over a choice unimaginable just a few generations back.<\/p>\n

Fliers posted across campus summed up the thrust of their conversation: “Should you vote for Barack Obama because of your race, or should you vote for Hillary Clinton because you are a woman?<\/p>\n

With Democratic primaries quickly approaching, black women throughout Atlanta and across the nation are asking each other that question. They are debating it as they post blogs, meet for political round tables, host fund-raisers and whip out their checkbooks.<\/p>\n

It’s an ongoing discussion that, for many black women, stirs visceral emotions as they weigh their racial and gender identity.<\/p>\n

At Spelman that evening, Shayna Atkins, 19, cut to the chase, pointedly asking her peers: “Would you feel like a sellout if you didn’t vote for Barack?”<\/p>\n

“Maybe if it were 1963,” shot back Marquise Alston, another 19-year-old who is a Clinton supporter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Spelman College<\/a> is an historically black liberal arts college for women.) <\/p>\n

So, according to this mindset, black women have never had any candidate that would speak for them. Ever. Amazing, then, that a bunch of white guys overturned segregation in public schools and gave us Brown v Board of Education<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Identity politics is only skin deep. How about choosing a candidate based on, oh let’s say, their ideas<\/i>. Not the color of their skin but the content of their character? Well, we can at least dream.<\/p>\n

[tags]Hillary Clinton,Barack Obama,Democrats,identity politics[\/tags]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Identity politics may not make a whole lot of sense, but it sure makes choosing a Presidential candidate easier. The dozen or so Spelman College women had come together in a basement classroom, after hours, to hash over a choice unimaginable just a few generations back. Fliers posted across campus summed up the thrust of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,9,18,21,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democrats","category-doug","category-government","category-liberal","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t