Media in Politics

"Gender or race: Black women voters face tough choices in S.C."
(http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/21/blackwomen.voters/index.html)

This was the headline on a story that appeared yesterday, the day honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on CNN.com.

Does anyone else find this offensive and insulting to the American people and particularly to African-American women?!

The article made mention of issues in passing, but the article primarily addressed the idea that black women have two choices for president: black or woman. If we follow that logic for the whole of America, that means that all white women will vote for Hillary. (I can promise you that this will not happen, as I am a white woman who would refuse to vote before casting a vote for the only white woman running.) It also means that all black men will vote for Obama. White men, like black women, will have a multitude of choices. How will they ever decide? Perhaps they should just draw a name out of a hat?

According to a CNN article this morning, "CNN readers respond angrily to 'race or gender' story" (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/21/emails.race.gender/index.html), I was not alone in my irritation. Throughout this campaign, it seems as if the media has taken the welcome diversity of our presidential candidates and exploited it for their own purposes, pitting black against white, man against woman. And have we forgotten that there are Republican candidates? I would be interested to hear any of your opinions or thoughts about this.

I couldn't keep my big mouth shut and made the following comment on the AC360 blog (http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2008/01/race-or-gender-how-would-you-decide.html):

"Every voting American has a tough choice, certainly, but not because of race or gender. The African-American woman deserves more credit than that. She is wise enough to vote for the person whose views and convictions best align with her own. Why reduce her options to "black" or "female"? I find it interesting that this article should appear on the day honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He lived and died working to put an end to such limits and stereotypes."