An open letter to all the sisters who donned pink hats
By Sharee Pemberton -
I am embarrassed that you consider a woman nothing more than her reproductive parts. I saw women carrying signs that proclaim: “I Own My Uterus.” Really?
One sign read “My arms are tired. I’ve been carrying this sign since the 70’s.” Okay. And you are protesting now? Why?
What are you protesting? That the man who was sworn in yesterday made an off-hand comment 11 years ago using an insulting noun to describe a part of the female anatomy? Really?
It didn’t bother you that former President Bill Clinton was a serial womanizer? That he went through impeachment hearings because he had sex with a young intern under the desk in the oval office? Or his wife, the woman running in this election, used very ugly words to defame the many women her husband had sex with including “slut” and “tramp”? Have you ever heard any of the off-hand rantings of Mrs. Clinton’s language when she isn’t in front of a camera? Four-letter words indeed!
I've read and heard more women saying “It is time for a woman President.” Okay. But any woman? Are we not more than what is between our legs? What about character and what is between our ears? I was asked why I wasn’t voting for Hillary because I am such a champion of women’s rights.
I said because I didn’t like her policies or her agenda. They looked aghast. “But she is a woman!” I was told. “You are a disgrace to our sex!”I was scolded. I’m not saying I wasn’t upset by Trump’s remark all those years ago but I’m smart enough to understand the context and what men say all the time. I haven’t been living in a convent.
We have become a sadly divided country. We are divided by sex, by race, by skin color, by religion, by where our ancestors came from and our sexual orientation. But divided we fall.
We are judged more on the melanin in our skin and the sex we identify with than by our education, background, talent or ambition. We are told that diversity is what we aspire to. But what about diversity of thought? There is no more discourse ~ only distain. “I agree with you if you agree with me but shut up if you don’t!” This is the response I get when I try to explain my views.
Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote: “I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Patrick Henry restated this during the American at the risk of being hung!
Many of the people who are protesting this election ~ whether by destroying private property, wearing knitted hats, writing op ed pieces or making ugly jokes ~ cannot put into words WHAT they are protesting. Over the years people have protested the right to vote, to end a war, to achieve equal rights and any number of worthwhile causes. WHAT do the women in pink hats want? For Trump to resign because the woman candidate didn’t win? Or just because they don't like him? Read about Harry Truman, Andrew Jackson or Teddy Roosevelt.
Just as the Right side of the aisle did eight years ago, wait and see. THEN begin your protests over something tangible. Not about owning your uterus. I haven’t seen any sign anyone else wants it!
And while I have your attention: A Note to all the CELEBRITIES who have joined the protests. Most of you have never been part of the real world. You live in an isolated, insulated world of privilege and excess. You cry about the environment and then fly a private jet around the globe. Your pool overflows and your grass is green in the desert of Los Angeles. Your carbon footprint is ginormous! You receive millions of dollars to sing or act in front of a camera or audience.
Most Americans toil away at mundane jobs ~ if they have one ~ and worry about paying monthly bills. Please don’t think you understand how real people live and what they worry about and have to deal with. And please don’t think you have the right to tell us how we should vote!
Liberalism has become a religion where no one questions the ideology. If you are still reading I would recommend reading more history than People magazine or the Washington Post and at least listening to the other side of the debate and then making up your mind. Because you are your brain, your character, your soul, your personality and your spirit. Not just your reproductive organs.
