What she is saying, albeit in really wonderful & interesting language, is that blackness is more important that femaleness. I, personally, would like to see either Hillary or Obama win, but I'm rather more appalled that a woman has never been elected than that a black has not. After all, statistically speaking, there are more non-blacks in the country. BUT women make up 52% of our population!!!! We are the MAJORITY and STILL have minimal representation!!!@ So, I think Hillary being a woman is MUCH more radical than Obama being black. Period. Of course, neither fact really says didly squat about how they would be as President - we've had Hillary already, pretty much, & Obama sounds good.

I like the basic foundation set forth by Alice Walker through her own experiences. The view of black Americans cannot be seen but against the white canvas, just as women cannot be seen except as defined by male culture. I think her point is that men do not see their status as anointed with cultural favoritism, nor do whites consider their condition as an exceptional gift of status over people of color, nor do the wealthy see the barricades confining the poor; "in our country, with its painful history of unspeakable inequality, this is part of what whiteness means."

Not a news report, but a very well written essay by a deservedly noted writer and feminist. Mainly covers her experience with racial prejudice. Not much new on the election except to suggest, by title and implication, that Sen. Obama's connection to Rev. Wright is mirrored in the connections most whites have to the racially prejudiced. Recommended reading for any who don't have a thorough understanding of race in the U.S.