Thursday, October 16, 2008

socal republican women's group mailer

Food stamps for all. Here's the woman's email who made the flyer: diane1354@mindspring.com

2 comments:

Penelope Lane said...

The Obama Buck is bad, but this is actually worse. From the linked article:

The newsletter is not the first such episode Barajas has had to respond to this week. The Sacramento Bee on Wednesday posted an image it said was captured from the Sacramento County GOP Web site that showed Obama in a turban next to Osama bin Laden.

It said: "The difference between Osama and Obama is just a little B.S." The site also encouraged members to "Waterboard Barack Obama," a reference to a torture technique. The Sacramento County party took down the material Tuesday after being criticized.

Anonymous said...

Here is the e-mail I sent her:

Dear Diane Fedele,

I am writing to you out of serious concern for your actions.

I just read the article with your funny little picture of Obama on a ten dollar bill/food stamp.

It was supposed to be funny, right?

Well, I guess you figured out by now that a lot of people beg to differ.

I am so angry, I am shaking as I write this.

Your ignorance astounds me. If I am to believe you are not a raging white supremacist, I can only conclude you are wildly irresponsible.

How can you not see the obvious implications of sending that flier out?

The racial implications are overt.

You were quoted as saying, "I didn't see it the way that it's being taken. I never connected," she said. "It was just food to me. It didn't mean anything else."

Let's be real here. How can you NOT connect those historically documented stereotypes that degrade African-Americans? If it was just one of them, I might buy it. I might think you extremely uneducated and naive, but I could buy that you intentions weren't cruel.

What I find very difficult to swallow is this clearly systematic portrayal of a black man next to images of kool-aid, fried chicken, ribs, and watermelon all at once, not to mention on a food stamp. These things are not just foods. If you had ever bothered to brush up on your Roland Barthes, you would know that things convey meaning, significance other than their basic use.

You cannot put all of those things together and not understand the symbolic significance of what you are doing. You are using discrediting images that we as a country are trying to move past to promote a political position. You are, in fact, spreading hate.

What frustrates me is that while I identify as a democrat, I know damn well that racism knows no political party. I count many republicans as close friends, and I know that this kind of ignorance is not tolerated among many of your fellow party members. This just further perpetrates an "us versus them" mentality that is ripping our country apart.

What further frustrates me is that as a woman, I am even more ashamed of you. You are a part of a political organization geared towards women. You have used this opportunity to spread intolerance and let's be honest, bad taste instead of well-articulated social discourse.

You have a problem with Obama bring race as an issue into the debate? Fine. Have something smart to say about it.

You have beef with welfare? Write an article about that instead of mocking an entire race of people you perceive as associated with the program.

Do you see what I am saying here? As a member of a social group that has faced a history of ridiculous subjugation, how can you not sympathize with others who have to fight the same cultural stereotypes?


Less than a century ago, it was illegal for women to even vote, let alone participate in the political playing field. We, like people of darker complexions, have faced thousands of years of discrimination. As someone who recently as a few decades could have her views be completely discredited by your gender (something that is about as haphazardly out of your control as what race you are born), how can you thoughtlessly stamp your name on this garbage and send it out?

Shame on you, Ms. Fedele.

Because if you weren't intentionally spreading irrational hatred through your organization, you were just not thinking it through, which is just as reprehensible.

Please feel free to respond to my remarks.


Signed,
Megan G.