Mick Hartley

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Wonanism

Alice Walker, womanist and Pulitzer Prize winner, offers some words of wisdom:

I have come home from a long stay in Mexico to find – because of the presidential campaign, and especially because of the Obama-Clinton race for the Democratic nomination – a new country existing alongside the old. On any given day we, collectively, become the goddess of the three directions and can look back into the past, look at ourselves just where we are, and take a glance, as well, into the future. It is a space with which I am familiar.

You know, I never thought of it like that before. It is a space with which I too am familiar, now I think about it – but obviously, you know, without so much of the goddess bit.

When I offered the word “womanism” many years ago, it was to give us a tool to use, as feminist women of colour, in times like these. These are the moments we can see clearly, and must honour devotedly, our singular path as women of colour in the US. We are not white women, and this truth has been ground into us for centuries. But neither are we inclined to follow a black person, man or woman, unless they demonstrate considerable courage, intelligence, compassion and substance.

We have come a long way, sisters, and we are up to the challenges of our time, one of which is to build alliances based not on race, ethnicity, colour, nationality, sexual preference or gender, but on truth. Even if Obama becomes president, our country is in such ruin it may be beyond his power to lead us to rehabilitation. If he is elected, however, we must, as citizens of the planet, insist on helping him do the best job that can be done; more, we must insist that he demand this of us. And remember, as poet June Jordan and Sweet Honey in the Rock never tired of telling us: We are the ones we have been waiting for.

As feminist women of colour? Sisters? Oh sorry – I shouldn’t have been reading this, should I? I just assumed, because it was printed in the Washington Post and the Guardian…

Oh well, no harm done, I suppose.

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7 responses to “Wonanism”

  1. Dom Avatar
    Dom

    Have you ever come across anyone as over-rated as Walker? Imagine having a (successful) career based entirely on cliches.
    BTW, is the title of the post a pun I don’t understand, or did you misspell “Womanism”

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  2. dearieme Avatar
    dearieme

    “Even if Obama becomes president, our country is in such ruin it may be beyond his power to lead us to rehabilitation.” Americans do overrate their Presidency to a ridiculous degree. What’s the point of their being indoctrinated with the Wisdom of the Founding Fathers and the Wonders of the Constitution, if they don’t understand the bleeding thing?

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  3. dearieme Avatar
    dearieme

    How dim of me. Perhaps the point of their being indoctrinated is to ensure that they don’t understand the bleeding thing.

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  4. Mick H Avatar
    Mick H

    Dom – not misspelt. The title plays subtly (well, not so subtly now I’m spelling it out) with onanism.
    OK, I’ll admit, not the greatest pun…

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  5. Dom Avatar
    Dom

    dearieme: Phrases like “his power” and “rehabilitation” are common among Obama’s supporters — some people jokingly call him Obamassiah. You’re right, it is ridiculous. Read Sullivan’s blog sometimes, if you can stomach it. One reader wrote, and Sullivan concurred, “Obama will confer on us new blessings”, and so on.

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  6. Noga Avatar
    Noga

    Here she is, admirably advocating transcendance that will “build alliances based not on race, ethnicity, colour, nationality, sexual preference or gender”
    Yet even as a self-declared feminist, she does not include all women, when she has offered a term that will “give us a tool to use, as feminist women of colour”.
    It is not a misstatement. She clearly says about Hillary
    “Mrs Clinton … referred to as “a woman” while Barack Obama is always referred to as “a black man”. One would think she is just any woman, but she is not. She carries all the history of white womanhood in the US … How dishonest it is, to try to make her innocent of her racial inheritance.”
    Walker’s allegiance as a justice and truth seeking feminist is clearly exclusive to women of colour. It does not extend to Hillary, who is guilty of being white, and her womanhood does not exonerate her from this sin.
    And this is a supporter of Obama. Ostensibly a post-racial presidential hopeful.

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  7. John Meredith Avatar
    John Meredith

    She asks for a lot, doesn’t she: “Listen Obama, I insist that you demand that I insist on helping you do the best job that can be done. I insist, damn it! As a citizen of the world, natch.”

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