We're all prisoners of who our parents and grandparents were, where we grew up, what language we spoke, where we went to church, what tribe we belong to. But sometimes, we can be liberated by that experience as well. Growing up white and Catholic in suburban New York in the 1960s and 70s was not exactly like putting down roots in Selma, but I do remember words residing in the common parlance then that would deeply offend today. And I do remember certain paths in life being essentially closed to women and to African-Americans - paths that lay wide open for my ambitions. That experience informs how I think today.
That was then. As Johnny Thunders said, now is today. And over the last two weeks or so as a black man beat out a white woman and was in turn beaten by that very woman in fair turnabout, the fissures of identity politics reappeared on the smooth plaster ceiling of our imagined American reconciliation. And two questions have been asked aloud to which there is no explicit answer: are we a post-racial society, as some suggest - and are we ready for a woman president?
I don't know, but as the media tarts up supposedly racial tensions between the two leading Democratic candidates, I was pleased to see the contenders themselves step up today in a joint attempt to cool those embers. I give Senator Barack Obama a great deal of credit for this statement - it serves his own campaign and the American electorate very well indeed:
Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton have historically been on the right side of civil rights issues. They care about the African American community.… That is something I am convinced of. I want Americans to know that is my assessment.
The Clinton campaign, somewhat unfairly accused of having some kind of strategy about raising the spectre of race (both the Clintons' record and their own political self-interest argue strongly against it), posted its own conciliatory comments.
We differ on a lot of things. And it is critical to have the right kind of discussion on where we stand. But when it comes to civil rights and our commitment to diversity, when it comes to our heroes - President John F. Kennedy and Dr. King – Senator Obama and I are on the same side.
And in that spirit, let's come together, because I want more than anything else to ensure that our family stays together on the front lines of the struggle to expand rights for all Americans.
As Digby noted, "This has the strong feel of a negotiated truce." And that's a good thing. Maybe we can get them both on the ticket, after all. One of my favorite political analysts, Chris Bowers, has a great post up about identity politics today and he argues that we're all blinded at times by identity. But he also argues that a black-feminist battle on the left helps no one but the Republican nominee. Ain't that the truth.
