Michelle Obama Watch

One of my favorite blogs about women and race is What About Our Daughters?

Recently they have launched Michelle Obama Watch where we can all keep tabs on and talk about the media's treatment of Michelle Obama. I think we can all probably agree that the media's treatment of Hillary was/is despicable and I have seen some things in the blogosphere with regard to Michelle that are so offensive I couldn't bring myself to post them here.

Current posts on Michelle Obama Watch include: Fox News Calls Michelle Obama, "Obama's Baby Mama" and an article about an artist who has used pictures of the Obama's daughters with the caption: Nappy Headed Hos. I don't know about you but I think this is going to get even uglier and fast.

Please check out this site and keep informed. We know that sexism was rampant in the way the mainstream media felt they could talk about HRC. I think it is up to feminists like us to keep track of how racism and sexism play into how Michelle and her daughters are treated as we head toward November.

Coincidence?

I was off work this past week while Barack Obama was in town. Did any one brave the crowd and see him?

I'll be upfront with you all. I'm an Obama supporter now. His recent speech on race won me over. If you haven't had the chance to read or watch it, it is well worth the time. I can not think of the last time I felt proud of a public figure, a politician no less. And I feel proud of Obama for giving this speech. Backlash, be damned.

So, I was listening to the news and hearing reports of how quickly tickets to see him speak were going out of his campaign office when I realized something...PWCL had just the week prior purchased a bus bench for Sexual Assault Awareness Month and where will it be located?

In front of Obama's campaign headquarters at 30th & SE Division. It's our only bench (all other ads will be on buses so that they move around the city - keep an eye out for them!) and we love it. Here's the design:


Sorry about the low quality. If you can't read it, it says: We live in a rape culture, but we don't have to. Decide to End Sexual Violence.

I guess I'm just excited that Portlanders who support Obama are going to see this bus bench as they stop by the office. I don't believe in coincidences so I personally think the universe was looking out for PWCL when we chose that bench.

If you haven't had a chance to read or listen to the speech I'm fawning over, here's the YouTube video:

You can read the transcript here

Thinking on the Election: The Oppression Olympics are on!

A couple of thoughts and good links on the democratic candidates. First, I just want to say that even though the media is only going to get increasingly more obnoxious as we head toward November, I am getting more and more drawn into blog discussions with particular regard to the Clintons (cause c'mon they are running together), Obama and the intersection of race and gender in politics. I'm glad that Americans are having this discussion, even if it is only in the blogosphere.

First off, if you heard about or read the Gloria Steinem's op-ed in the NY Times, Gloria Steinem: Pitting Race Against Gender is an interesting analysis of how feminists are talking about the presidential race.

One of my favorite bloggers over at Racialicious Latoya Peterson rounds up a whole lot of commentary on the oppression olympics we are starting to see (in my humble opinion, of course) in Politics and Intersectionality

And I have to include this wonderfully snarky article: The Uncompromising Journalistic Standards of the NY Times

And lastly, an article that lays out what the candidates are saying they will do about poverty. Taking on Class and Race Obama is the only one that addresses domestic violence. Here is what he proposes:

Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act of 2007 - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) with respect to: (1) funding for responsible fatherhood programs; (2) requirements to ensure proce more...dures to address domestic violence; (3) activities promoting responsible fatherhood; (4) grants to healthy family partnerships for domestic violence prevention, for services for families and individuals affected by domestic violence, and for developing and implementing best practices; and (5) elimination of separate TANF work participation rate for two-parent families.

What do you all think about this change to TANF? I'd be really interested in hearing what those of you who work with people on it think. It kind of makes me like Obama more but I am still undecided.