The author presents her own views, not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
I watch Bill O’Reilly. Wait! Don’t go away.
Yes I watch the O’Reilly Factor. Not religiously, but I watch it. As a registered Libertarian I love his show and believe it or not he does come off as non-biased on quite a lot of issues, if you can get past the fact that he is Bill O’Reilly. So when I heard about the altercation between Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and the CEO of the Black Chamber of Commerce Harry Alford, I was all over it. The clip was shown and the interview with Mr. Alford began, I’m slapping my knee and hooting, as we Texans often do. Then I was caught completely off guard by a remarkable comment. One that is hardly ever uttered when referencing women in politics. Here is the the exact quote from the transcripts of last night’s show:
ALFORD: She [Sen. Boxer] loves poor black folks and she loves black folks in their place. She does not love - you take Condoleezza Rice, who I would love my grandchildren to emulate and the way she treated Condoleezza Rice during her confirmation hearings was just terrible.
O’REILLY: Again, a conservative woman, you know. I get what you are saying.
ALFORD: Professional [Condoleezza Rice].
What I would like is for everyone to set aside their party hats for this one. Because it is very important to understand the impact of CEO Harry Alford’s statement distinguishing Rice as not only a Black Republican Conservative Woman, but also a Professional. Someone equal to himself. This simple label change is the beginning of a transition from identifying women in politics by their gender, which separates us from the men. It is a huge step forward for ALL women. Republican, Democrats, Conservatives, Liberals, etc….Not only was he equalizing Rice through this statement he was equalizing all women.
(the relevant comments come at about 6:00)
We talk a lot about the labels that we use to refer to ourselves or the harmful labels that others use to refer to us as groups or individuals. And I find that in order to obtain real equality,we can need to maintain our femininity, our ethnicity, and racial identities. But we need to be seen as equals and referred to as such. When males begin to refer to women in these careers or positions of power under an ambiguous term/label it is a real step in the right direction.
So I want to thank CEO Harry Alford for not only making the statement, but unknowingly and involuntary affirming that shows women are equal.
