Latoya on Sarah and Condoleeza

Over at Feministe, there's a writer called Latoya who is one of the most interesting voices in the blogosphere. Sunday evening I was hanging out down at Sauced trying to get started on a complicated post about Sarah Palin and the separation of church and state, when I happened to come across Latoya's latest post, which compares Sarah Palin and Condoleeza Rice.

Latoya starts by citing several of the latest feminist blog entries on Palin, and noting that they take one of two points of view. One viewpoint attacks Palin because her positions are completely opposed to everything feminism has stood for as a movement. The other viewpoint says that feminists should support Palin because she is a strong woman who demonstrates what feminism has done to advance opportunities for women.

As an African American woman, Latoya doesn't see Palin as representing every woman. She says, "Palin doesn’t represent anything close to the womanhood I know." In order to put Palin in context, Latoya compares Palin's relationship to women's issues with Condoleeza Rice's relationship to racial issues.

One reason I found this analysis interesting is that I thought Rice would have been a logical choice for McCain's running mate. She's brilliant and has demonstrated executive experience. More than that, however, I think Latoya gets right to the heart of what the controversy over Palin is all about:

You can hate someone’s policies and still defend them from ad hominem arguments. I hate when people say that Condoleezza Rice is a sellout and that she isn’t black. That’s a ridiculous assertion to make. However, that does not make Condoleezza Rice a civil rights leader just because she is black and in a position of power.

I hate when people say Sarah Palin is not a woman, or she is a tool of the patriarchy, or any of the other non policy related attacks I’ve seen leveled at her from all kinds of places. But that doesn’t mean you need to start sipping the “this is a victory for women” kool aid. It isn’t. Sarah Palin does not magically become a champion for all women, everywhere, just because she happens to be a woman in a position of power.

In this election, people need to understand to vote with their interests, not the symbolic interpretation they may hold of a certain person.

Listen to the words people speak.

Watch the actions that they take.

But don’t let your own ideas on who that person should be mask who they really are.