Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Black and Female

This post at a leftwing site reminded me of something I'd wanted to blog about but forgot before now. It's Barack Obama's story of Ann Nixon Cooper, a black woman who "had her dream filled" yesterday.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

But that's not true. If Ann Nixon Cooper had been Adam Nixon Cooper, he would have had the right to vote from the day he was born. But as Ann Nixon Cooper, she wasn't able to vote...until all those white women helped get the 19th Amendment passed, making it possible for women of all colors to vote.

This was one of those burrs under the saddle for me last night. It was a historic event that a black man was elected president. But the election also proved that it is still not possible for a woman to be president (or even vice president) in this country. So, when Barack Obama claims history for a black woman and dismisses the sexism that still pervades our system, that should create a new frown line for every woman in America, regardless of race.