Why I voted for Obama
When I was younger, and people would ask “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I would answer, “happy,” “in love,” or “the first female president of the US.” Cute at the time, a little tiring at age 20.
Now, I fear the phrase, “So what do you want to be when you grow up?”
Aside from being condescending, I don’t know how to answer it. The problem complicates itself when I admit that I’m a Women Studies major. I’m not pre-Law, pre-Dental or an engineer. I’m not even an English major. So what then, do I do?
Did you know that the United States has a history of eugenics and forced sterilization campaigns? Did you know that the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 forced women to marry their abusive husbands to get food stamps? Did you know that the same act forced some women to print the names of ALL OF THEIR SEXUAL PARTNERS in the NEWSPAPER so that one who fathered her child could come forward for her to marry? Did you know that Roe vs. Wade is based on the 14th amendment right to privacy?
That is what I want to do with my life. I want to tell you all of those things. I want to be a teacher, I want to write, I want to make people aware of the secret history of the shiny social policies of the last 100 years. I want to blow what you think you know out of the damn water.
One day, I hope that people look back at the social policy of our time and are slightly disgusted. The racism and sexism and partisanship that taint our ideologies should be exposed and aired out, reworked and rethought and I want to help do that. What do I want to be when I grow up? I want to be part of the solution, the rethinking. I want to be part of the change.
BM said,
November 14, 2008 @ 5:05 pm
Did you also know that the order in which society accepts change will always remain the same?
First comes the black vote. Then the women voters.
First comes the black president. THEN, we can have a woman president.
Men, no matter what their race, always preceded women. And the day we ACCEPT that men and women (and all races/cultures) are different, but we don’t PROSECUTE them for their differences… that’s the day equality will ring true.
If race REALLY didn’t matter to anyone, nobody would have made such a fuss about the first black president.
But that’s proof right there… we do see skin color. It meant something to us. We’ll always see skin color.
But seeing it as something unique and not something to be used against someone… that’s what we should aim for.
People have a long way to go. But I’m optimistic that we’ll get there.
devon said,
November 14, 2008 @ 7:46 pm
I agree, we do have a long way to go, and we have come a long way. But I’m optimistic that we’ll get there too?
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