i’m a white woman so i’m checking my privilege and i’m not even going to try to pretend i understand how these words triggered so many african-american people. i missed his words, but at first, when i read about it, i was like yeah, i’ve read books (alice walker, toni morrison, etc) where they talked about “high yellow” women being more attractive, or “octoroons” being desirable in new orleans 150+ years ago… so i was like “yes, that is the history.” but now, i’m glad i read your article, ezinne, so that i could understand a little more about why this landed as so insulting to so many people.

but here’s my question: why did her physical appearance, her beauty, classical or otherwise, even come up? how is that relevant to her speech? have you ever heard the pundits discussing the “classical handsomeness” of a male politician/speaker after they make a speech? nope!

but every prominent female political figure, from sarah palin (gag), to hillary clinton, to elizabeth warren, to michelle obama, is discussed in terms of their physical appearance, often before the substance of their words, or the content of their character.

yeah, women have come SO FAR. when there’s still an ideal of “perfect beauty” for a woman, be it skin color, weight, hair, facial features, etc, women are not being treated equally. we’ve still got a long way to go.

/end rant