How did white women win the vote, Mrs. Palin?
Sarah Palin may have shown last night that she was chosen as Vice Presidential running mate to John McCain primarily for her penchant for mockery. Because next to personal descriptions of herself and her family, that's what she did in her address to the Republican National Convention, with a light dose of policy here and there.
I could write off most of it as just a bunch of politicking without much substance, and get a kick out of her obvious ability to deliver a line. But then she got to her mockery of community organizing, and I all of a sudden realized I actually was finding out something about Sarah Palin.
Community organizing, at its most basic level, is about bringing ordinary people together so that they can have more power to make their voices heard. Heard by decision makers, that is.
Palin, through her disparagement, is telling us that she's been the kind of elected official who ignores or even opposes the work of grassroots community groups. Because I simply refuse to believe there are no community organizers in Alaska.
Which means that she would most likely have ignored or opposed the work of those who were in the trenches of community organizing work leading to some of the United States most seminal social change movements.
Does Sarah Palin think that African American's got rid of brutal Jim Crow laws because all of a sudden white people had a light bulb go on?
Does she think the eight hour work day came into being because employers all of a sudden felt guilty?
Does she really think she gets to vote, as a white woman, because white men all of a sudden thought it was only fair?
And what about the everyday efforts that happen in communities across America today to make our communities a better place? Such as neighborhoods fighting to clean up toxic waste sites in their back yards? Or efforts to expand health care to low-income people? Or to end domestic violence? Or efforts to shift our country to a greener future through creating renewable energy sources?
All of these efforts depend on a lot of people, mainly anonymous people when it comes to the history books, who spend countless hours organizing their communities. They're community organizers.
And John McCain would have us believe a person who doesn't value this community work is a good elected official? That such a person could be President?
From the beginning of his campaign, Barack Obama has highlighted his time spent as a community organizer prominently. He could instead highlight his background as president of the Harvard Law Review and as a professor of constitutional law. But he doesn't. I like to think this is because he's most proud of his background as an organizer. It's most certainly something that makes me respect him.
Sarah Palin, plus Rudy Guiliani and the rest of that gleeful Republican crowd joining in the mockery last night, might want to examine their own history and look around their own communities a little more closely before parading their ignorance for the entire world to see.
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About Marjorie Childress
Marjorie Childress lives and works in Albuquerque. She is one of the voices behind m-pyre, a local blog founded in 2004. She has a graduate degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of New Mexico, and works for the SouthWest Organizing Project. She primarily writes about land ...
Comments:
Posted 09/04/2008 23:08 with
You’re just freaking out. Get real. Sarah Palin could have lambasted my career field (which is considered fairly elite) in the same situation and I would agree with her that what I do is not the right kind of experience that qualifies me for president. She was in no way mocking you or community workers. She was simply responding to critics that say her experience is inadequate. She was absolutely correct in pointing out her “limited” experience is far above that of obama/biden combined. You’re either too easily offended or grasping for straws on another angle to put down America’s next VP. Maybe you’re just jealous.
Posted 09/05/2008 08:50 with
I really don’t think the author is “just freaking out.” Palin’s speech at the convention was mostly just politics but there were a few things that one could pick out. Politicians lie, cheat, break the law, and generally do anything they can get away with to get elected. But, after you filter out the obvious political crap, the real person is there to see. I saw Sarah Palin that night and she doesn’t represent me.
Posted 09/18/2008 15:13 with
I agree, the author is not freaking out. It’s sad that, this so called culture war is coming back into play,further dividing America into imaginary red and blue states, the true color wars. Sarah Palin does not represent me, and her divisive speech made my stomach turn. I was sad to see her belittle Obama’s experience, yea, she can deliver a line…a line filled with as much venom as it lacks substance, and her interview with Gibson, further proved that she is essentially unprepared for the job. How sad, that McCain felt so desperate that he had to pick her without doing more research, like uhm, can she carry on an intelligent interview without reverting back to a repetitive speech with punchlines. As for jealously, if I was the author I wouldn’t be jealous of anyone that feels the need to leave their family when her time,affection,and nurturing is probably needed the most to play blow up doll for the republicans. Palin should of said “thanks, but no thanks”, my family needs me more right now.