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IT'S MOURNING IN AMERICA
We are aware that Ronald Reagan said "morning" -- a different spelling and a whole different meaning. We are looking at the aftermath of an election process that did not elect a president because the Supreme Court stopped the vote so GET OVER IT, Bushies! Get used to strong, committed women and other minorities pounding this fact home. A majority of Americans voted for Al Gore.
And yes, we are aware that we are using a favorite phrase of the Rychus who have continually relegated us to the back of the bus and stand ready to kick us off. The Un-president Bush church (religion) is driving the state (current federal government) toward legalizing sex discrimination. The recent presidential inauguration was an exercise in pomp and hypocrisy.
Right out of the box, the great uniter became the great divider by signaling he would return women to second class citizen status again. He flipped the bird to all women by denying family planning help to third world women. He has even banned pant suits in the White House (yet he calls it the people's house). Shades of Sojourner Truth "and ain't we people?"
Forget about choice. Let the Bushies have that useless word. (Instead of speaking about vouchers, they are using the euphemism "parental choice" to hoodwink Congress.) We need to express our feelings and demand that our bodies belong to us, not to the government and certainly not to Dubya. We must demand that equal rights include physical and mental rights.
We are for life and we should be making that fact clear starting with our own. The old reproductive rights rhetoric never worked, and now it is just being laughed at or ignored. The Fundies are making an end run around reproductive rights by equating us with killers. They are making a mockery of our feelings and beliefs with the gleeful aid of the media. They aim for a theocracy and believe the Unpresident Bush will give it to them.
We must also stop with the apologies. Women can still be effective by being firm and direct. We watched two women stand up to the bullying of Chris Matthews on Hardball on Tuesday night. One was Farai Chideya from http://popandpolitics.com.
She is a joy to hear because she knows what she's talking about and does not back down. The other was a new face from Texas, Molly Beth Malcolm, Democratic Party Chair. These are the kind of talent that we need to speak for women with the fervor and smarts that they now speak for African Americans and Democrats respectively.
Another great plus for women is columnist, Molly Ivins. Here's a bit from her latest column, but be sure to read it all:
Also discouraging is President Bush's immediate, in-your-face use of two of the country's most divisive issues.
He has imposed a gag rule on women's health centers abroad that receive any foreign aid from us. If a women's clinic that does not do abortions but that so much as counsels women on abortions that are medically necessary ("If you do not end this tubal pregnancy, you will die"), the United States government will cut off funds to the clinic.
This means that untold numbers of women in poor countries will not get prenatal care, birth control and other desperately needed treatment. For heaven's sakes, why punish them? They didn't even vote for Al Gore.
African Americans welcomed Jesse Jackson back despite his recent revelation because they know he is a powerful spokesperson for their cause. Who is ours? Sure we come out with signs to protest (see some of the signs and chants from the inaugural protests), but is there anything positive and innovative that we can do?
We must face up to the fact that women have no money or power clout like big business or labor, for example. What we do have is the ability to create a very powerful gendergap at the polls.
Are
we bold enough to take the incentive? To be creative? To fight fire with
fire? To use religion against religion? We understand that religious groups
in America are given wide latitude in their religious practices and beliefs
under the law. For example, pot smoking is allowed for some because it
is part of their religion. Are we determined enough to demand equal protection
under the law for our physical and mental rights?
Could we establish a virtual "XX Chromosomes Church of the Web" with an icon that depicts a woman's body crucified on a coat hanger? A church that states as its prime tenet: Our bodies, Our selves, Our business! And then, could we make application for legality as a religion? Could we get a charter and whatever else it takes and then all sign up as members?
One thing for sure, it would take the media by storm and we could tell them that we have freely given the word choice to Dubya to continue to flim flam Congress.
2001-005
Copyright
2001 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished
for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that
this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@gendergappers.org.
G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
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The unconstitutional diversion of taxpayer money to private religious organizations.