Geraldine Ferraro tried to stick her foot in her mouth but her loafers were too small. So instead she unpacked a whip and stuck that in there and it fit just right. This week she theorized that a self-made black guy with a Muslim name has a political advantage over a white woman who is the wife of a two-term President.

Put in historical context, a statement like that doesn't make sense. That's why Affirmative Action exists. Ferraro should know this. After all, she's a white woman white women have benefited more from Affirmative Action than any other group the legislation was created to serve. Don't take my word for it, let's conduct a poll of all the presidents and see which of the black ones felt their ethnicity aided their ascent to the White House. Wait, there's never been a black president. All the black people who ran for this office before Senator Obama were so thoroughly marginalized that you can't even call what they did running for president.

Let's set the record straight on this race issue yet again. I'm a black man. Despite how close my skin tone is to white I can't think of a single instance in which my color has worked to my advantage. I can however produce examples of being wrongfully arrested, denied jobs, and refused services because I'm of African descent.

That, my white homies, is the reality of being black in America. You are at a constant disadvantage to your white counterparts in everything you do. That's not an excuse. I have never allowed racism to stop me from achieving my goals. I'm just exercising my First Amendment right to tell it like it is.

Ferraro and I have that in common. We both adore the First Amendment. It enables mental transparency and public accountability. You think it. You say it. People judge you for it. What's ironic about her actions is that somehow her close-minded statements are not her fault. Her remarks weren't ignorant, she's just a victim of the race card. Can someone please show me this card that allows blacks to Donald Trump the world? I'd like to play it next time I'm in Vegas so Eliot Spitzer and I can go party hard at Crazy Horse Too.

The first time I heard the term "race card" was during the O.J. Simpson trail. Whites insisted that Simpson manipulated his race to get acquitted. In reality he manipulated his checkbook and it pissed off whites that a black man possessed the financial means to beat the state of California in court. Curiously, 15 years prior to the Simpson case, Claus von Bulow put his finances to work to avoid a guilty verdict for the same crime but in this instance everyone was fine with it. But hey, that was the '80s. Everyone was jacked up on cheap blow. We were carefree in those days.

Forget producing the race card, I don't need to see it to believe it exists. A concrete definition will suffice. In absence of one my working definition is this: Race card means when a white person makes a discriminatory remark about blacks and gets called out on it, said white person can claim blacks are being overly sensitive about race. Imagine if someone said to Elie Wiesel, "I loved Night but you Jews blew the World War Two thing way out of proportion. Admit it. Auschwitz wasn't that bad." We all agree that person would deserve a thorough slapping about the face.

Geraldine, here's a tip from your black homie, but only because I adore what you've done for the children: Discrimination and prejudice are not hard to identify. If you say something racially insensitive and someone calls bullshit on you, your immediate reaction should not be hostility. If you are defensive and you point blame elsewhere it's an automatic admission that you have not taken the time to look internally at whether or not you are acting intelligently. Furthermore, it's offensive to listen to you spout off about all the good things you've done for the coloreds as if that somehow validates the moronic statements you've made about Senator Obama.

What Ferraro has done since resigning from the Clinton campaign is a lawyer tactic we see often in politics: "The best defense is a good offense." Whoever came up with that saying was probably a racist white guy.

Ferraro is not racist but the fact that she doesn't understand what the term "racism" means highlights why it is a massive problem in America. In defense of her statements about Obama she said, "Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white."

Newsflash GF, you're talking about prejudice. Racism is a much larger issue. It entails the use of power, money and public policy to create a system that encourages and enforces discrimination against a specific group of people based on the notion that their race is inferior. Black people make up a small percentage of the American population. We don't have much wealth or education and we are grossly underrepresented in government. We can be prejudice, and I know plenty of blacks who hate the man, but racist... it simply isn't possible because we don't have any power. Sometimes I wish blacks could be racist because white folks look like they're having a hell of a fun time with it. Heck, I don't even want to buy the damn thing. I'd settle for a test drive around the block.

It's troublesome that liberal whites act in a racist fashion so often without realizing it. We all know where the conservatives stand. They're transparent. They hate black people. The liberals are translucent. They like us when it's convenient.

When liberals need black votes they come into our communities and act like they're down. They'll crank dat Souljah Boy like the dance is still in style. When we're dunking basketballs and cracking jokes they commend us for being so darn entertaining. But when they feel challenged by blacks, as the Clinton campaign does by the Obama campaign, we're not so fresh after all.

In essence, what Ferraro is saying about Obama is that he has not earned his lead in the race for the democratic presidential nomination. He's just lucky. He was in the right place at the right time and he's a trendy color. Apparently, black is the new black. The reality is Obama is running a better campaign. Don't take my word for it. Ask the American people. The primary results speak for themselves. If the shoe was on the other foot and Clinton had the lead, the DNC would be up Obama's ass sideways insisting that, for the greater good of the party, he step aside and let Clinton assume the nomination.

What's twisted about the situation is that this is the first time in a long time we have solid presidential candidates to choose from. McCain represents the status quo. Next. The other two candidates can make some change happen at a time when, if we don't change, our empire is doomed to collapse. Instead of evaluating the candidates on the merits of what s/he can do for the people our time is being wasted on Geraldine Ferraro's stupidity. It's as much a disservice to Clinton as it is to Obama.

I don't care if Ferraro was hosed down and attacked by German Sheperds back in '65 while trying to lead civil rights marchers over the Edmund Pettus bridge. Her remarks about Obama demonstrate her ignorance, right now. No further debate is necessary. So put the deck of race cards away and lean back. The American people are a little busy right now. The fate of our nation is at stake and we ought not make time for narrow-minded, has-been politicians.



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"....proves we have a massive problem?"
One person speaking out with an idiot statement and millions of people denouncing her on every media available...but we still have a 'massive problem?'

It would seem it is the author that has the problem.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:08 PM on 03/16/2008

I only agree with your rant to this extent, Orlando, only whites can be "racist" due to the definition, but that does not mean that only whites can participate in racial discrimination. Otherwise, I would be racist for purchasing one of Clay Aiken's albums instead of Ruben Studdard's. So, your narrow interpretation doesn't help. It was Obama's handlers who cried foul when they read or heard Ferraro's statement and they are the ones who injected race into the debate. This was done for political gain and it backfired. It called attention to the fact that Ferraro was right, without black support in small states and caucuses, Obama would be toast by now, so "he is lucky to be who he is". That is exactly what she said. Obama is well on his way to the nomination, with these tactics, but it won't be worth much since he himself has called attention to the fact that race based advocacy or any prejudicial advocacy leads to incompetence. Competition breeds excellence throughout the World. We need to elect the best candidate to take on McCain in November despite the misleading stats the primaries have given us to this point. That is why we have the SDs. Hopefully, they can solve this so that we don't split apart. Otherwise, Obama will become the Ruben Studdard of Presidential politics.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:28 PM on 03/16/2008

At first I was going to correct BubbaC33 (cause WAdem didn't say racism was an attribute attached to white skin), but after reading your comment in full . . . do you mean to suggest that a white woman says, "If Obama were a white man . . . He's very lucky to be who he is," and the people who "cry foul" are the ones who inject race? Is white not a race?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:08 PM on 03/16/2008

Racism is not a white attribute, the color of someone's skin does not determine if they are a racist.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:12 PM on 03/16/2008

"I'm Not Racist. Some of my Best Friends Are Black."

To paraphrase your headline, some may say:
"I'm not racist, but some of my best friends are black racists."

Obama is the lesser of two evils (or three if you count McCain), but he should do more than just mildly distance himself from Black preachers who rile their followers by preaching hate speech against all Whites.

Obama's candidacy should not involve a Black versus White issue.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:56 PM on 03/16/2008

I must have missed it. Which of Rev. Wrights comments promote had against all whites*?

You must be talking about the KKK-A comment?! America is still a white supremacist nation. Just about every fact from healthcare and education to number of times a person is stopped by the police favors/advantages whites. Take for example the housing crisis: 19% of white borrowers were given predatory loans^; 45% of Latino/a; 54% of blacks. 54%!!

*If rich white (men) have been ruling America, who has?
^By predatory loan, I mean the borrower was deceived and the loan officer/financial institution committed a crime.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:31 PM on 03/16/2008

I have never been so shocked and disappointed with a political figure since Bill Clinton sided with the Gingrich congress and said that the era of big government is over.

I wholeheartedly supported Geraldine Ferraro when she was on the ticket with Mondale, but I did not realize how bigoted she is and how really dumb she is.

The sad part of this fiasco is that she apparently does not even realize she is talking like a racist.

I grew up like Ms Ferraro in NYC in an Italian family and I know from first hand experience that most Italians back when I was growing up in the fifties were racists. Obviously she has not gotten past that early upbringing and has remained an ignorant bigot.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:33 AM on 03/16/2008

Amazingly great Post.

I live and vote in PA. I've lived in New York City, I've lived in Ohio and I've lived on the South Side of Chicago, too.

I'm a white male and I'm an Obama supporter and I have this to say: In MOST of the places I have lived in the USA, including the poor neighborhoods of Lorain, in Northeastern Ohio and especially in Chicago and New York, Jeremiah Wright's comments about drugs and the prison system and black people are RIGHT ON! Public schools that have been neglected for years and years have become a feeder system directly into prisons. Often young black people have two choices, sell drugs or face a life of poverty. Let's not even get started about the cops or the laws or judges in those cities that regularly profile and discriminate against minorities. So when you listen to or read quotes from Jeremiah Wright think about a man who is preaching inside of a racist war zone. Not all that different from what Malcolm X was preaching, a man who was a national hero. He's divisive, negative and difficult, that's for sure, but our country is better for voices of dissent, especially when they are harsh and upsetting. (And he's said nothing nearly as invective as Rush Limbaugh, you don't see John McCain's feet to the fire to repudiate him, do you.)

But my point here is that the United States of America is full of separate versions of reality. Local politics (and preaching) is not the same as national campaigning. The country is too big for all of our truths to jibe with each other on all points. But what we need to do is take a look at the reasons why a person like Wright would have such a popular appeal in saying what he is saying. The same is true of Limbaugh. Different cultures need to examine the inflammatory rhetoric of the other side without this knee jerk condemnation reaction. So Wright is RIGHT when he says (expletive) America. I've felt the same thing thousands of times. And Obama is MORE RIGHT when he says HEAL America. I have been waiting to hear that for a long long time.


I respect Wright for addressing our past (and current) inequalities. And I praise and believe in Barack Obama for doing the incredibly bold and courageous act of trying to lift the nation to a new place of unity and consciousness. His past may be with Wright, but clearly, he is trying to take the divisiveness of that past and bring us all beyond it. It's gotta be tough for him to do. Tough for us all. But let's just get the hell over it.

Get out there and vote your conscience, of course. But always bear in mind, that you can't see all sides of the coin. And that if you don't know what it is like to live on the South Side of Chicago, with drugs everywhere and bullets whizzing past your windows at night and half your family in the lock up, don't be surprised if there is a bit of righteous anger floating around the neighborhood as well.


I remember the past. I remember how awful it was to walk down the streets of New York in Reagan's 80s, with crack and homeless people and muggers everywhere.

AND reading all of your comments on Huffpost makes me believe that America still actually has a brain. At least 65% of the time. Thanks to all of you who have smart things to say. You Rock.

Peace.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:51 AM on 03/16/2008

orifox, Wright's comments are anti-American and stoke racism at the very least. They are unacceptable and indefensible. These incendiary attacks on present day whites only serve to divide rather than unite us which should be the goal. I think as long as we have voters and politicians who agree with him simply because he supports our candidate, we will never change the bitter partisan wrangling on Capitol Hill. His remarks fly in the face of what Obama calls the old style politics and show just how illogical Obama's speeches are.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:21 PM on 03/16/2008

Half of the prison population is black why? The other large part are Latinos. I not saying they should not be there for the crimes they committed, but something is wrong!!!!!!!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:09 AM on 03/17/2008

"incendiary attacks on present day whites "

Please indicate examples. The only attacks in this country are on people of color through the various govt/social systems in place: law and order/police, education, housing, banking(who do you think suffered most from predatory lending?), incarceration, justice (chuckle), war on terror, and immigration policy....if all this represents "America" then "anti-America" is a good thing.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:30 PM on 03/16/2008

You might consider them your friends but I doubt they consider you as a friend.

Ever been invited to their home for dinner or a party? no? hmmmmm

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:20 AM on 03/16/2008

"it simply isn't possible because we don't have any power". I have seen this sophism expressed before and it does not stand. First power is a time related issue a person with a gun has power for a while and if he is a racist he can kill you in a second, Blacks have power as poor whites have to do damage by their racist attitude. The people that commit hate crimes blacks and whites are mostly poor powerless people that want to feel the rush of power at least for a while, the same with sexist rapist. Racism is a feeling that is expressed through power, powerless racist are just waiting for their moment of fame.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:40 AM on 03/16/2008

I agree with everything said in this article.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:18 AM on 03/16/2008

I don't want black friends who are going to church on Sunday and cheering a racist. I don't want any friends, black/white/yellow/brown/red who are hanging around with a racist hate spewing preacher who has a very large congregation and whose church gets a $25,000 contribution from a presidential candidate. I also don't want to vote for that candidate. Please take your campaign, your church, your screaming pastor, and your fellow members of the cheering congregation (including Oprah) and crawl back into the cesspool where you belong. Thanks!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:53 PM on 03/15/2008

May be this is what racism is. Find something that a few people belonging to a certain race say, justify it to reconfirm the hatred you feel for people of that color. and felling vindicated, send them back to the cesspool where you had kept them in the first place, including Oprah, who being the same color obviously, belongs not on tv, but back in the cesspool.

Now that the pastor has spoken, would you like oprah with all her black brothers and sisters, and ofcource, the members of the congregation in attendence,be moved to the 9the ward in Neworleans, with the rats and snakes, so they can all feel at home?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:27 AM on 03/16/2008

this article is reverse racism against whites! you are anti-american! how dare you. you support the terrorists. you are a blind obama supporter instigating black division against the whites! how offensive. just kidding. but weird how the majority with all the money, power, and clout is greatly offended that the minorities have a voice. even if your voice is more about self criticism of the country than about hating others. obama was right about the politics of divisiveness. but its more than just politics. theres a lot of hate, angst, frustration, and impatience in this country. people need to chill out and try to understand each other.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:00 PM on 03/15/2008

Lima wrote: "When liberals need black votes they come into our communities and act like they're down. They'll crank dat Souljah Boy like the dance is still in style."

Actually I can't think of a single case where this is true. I live in Washington DC. City Councilman Phil Mendelsohn never did that. City Councilman Jim Graham never did that. City Councilman David Catania never did that. City Councilwoman Mary Cheh never did that. City Councilwoman Kathy Patterson never did that. Who did that? What white liberal politician actually do that? (aside perhaps from Bill Clinton)

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:39 PM on 03/15/2008

Thank-you. Thank-you. THis is one of the best posts on race .

Whites still do not "get it" and fundamentally their sense of entitlement and supremacy is always below the surface ; maybe a bit deeper in some than others.

SO many images flashed across my mind as I read it and the bottomline is that you have to be really evolved white person to get the full message . A work colleague and I were discussing this Gerry incident and he agreed it was ridiculous but went on to say that it would help Obama because people would cast a "pity" vote for him becasue he is black. WHat a joke (the colleague is a white liberal") I called him and told him his was a white perspective he was a bit shocked.If Obama ets more votes as a result it's becauw Hillayr is turning people off.

Recently at a work meeting a Japanese American colleague did not acknpowledge another person at the meeting until it was pointed out to her that it was the person's turn to speak. She simply did not "see" her she said...the woman she did not "see" was the only african american woman in the room.

It amazes me still how so much of this is played out on sublte levels; but daily.In the midst of this Gerry episode I've reminded people that the Sean Bell trial is underway in Queens...50 shots dead ....guess no one told NYPD how lucky black men in America are.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:30 PM on 03/15/2008

Hey brooklyncitizen..a lot of us whites do get it and are pissed off at Ferraro's remarks as well. I stand with you on this. Ferraro's remarks were racist. Period. Obviously it's no advantage to be black in America. The fact that so many folks get excited that Barack is running is because he was against the war to begin with and because he's a great statesman with a tremendous message and good policy ideas. The fact that he is also black just means that he's an underdog. This is what's so perverse about Ferraro's way of thinking. She's using his underdog status as a way to cut him down and play it like he's somehow got the advantage. Get ready Brooklyncitizen there's more to come. Divide and conquer is what Barack's opponents will try to do again and again. But it won't happen if we stick together. Barack Obama will be the next president. That's it. That is what's going to happen.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:21 AM on 03/16/2008

If we are to take any lesson from the Ferraro episode, I hope it would be to stop the use of "if ___ were ___, they would be treated in such and such a way" while then claiming it is a known "truth."
Ferraro is guilty of this, and despite a great article that I mostly agree with, so is the author, Lima.

The fact is, we DON'T know what the outcome "would be" in these hypotheticals that will never exist, and when we are doing this, all we do is project our own feelings onto what "would be." It does not help things to make self-righteous claims about what "would" happen; it only serves to be inflammatory.

I find it really sad that Ferraro lacks the insight to see how wrong her remarks were. Furthermore, some people here keep insisting that her opinions are "truth" or "fact." Words do matter. As the author points out, there is a difference between racism and prejudice. There is also a difference between fact and opinion.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:59 PM on 03/15/2008

I think you, and most people missed the point of Geraldine's remarks. I am very impressed with both Clinton and Obama, and I think our country is very lucky to have either one as a leader. I have yet to decide how I would chose between the two.

However, one point I've been watching with some interest is the distribution of votes. Both Clintons have always had absolute support from the black population in the U.S. And, they have earned it.

But in this case, blacks are voting as a block for Obama. For this reason (and I'm not for a moment suggesting they should do otherwise) this block of voters has been removed from the Clinton side to the Obama side, costing Clinton very directly that many votes.

That number of votes, had it remained in the Clinton column would have put her ahead. So it is defensible to suggest that the loss of those votes to clinton - basically because Obama is black - is the reason he's where he is in the primary race.

Geraldine was an idiot to say what she did, but the truth is - in the above sense - she is right.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:24 PM on 03/15/2008

Actually, you are not the only person who has been watching the "distribution of votes."
With the able help of the Clinton campaing, everyone has. Considering the loyalty shown to both President and Senator Clinton by African American voters for almost two decades, suggesting the switch to Obama as basically "just a black thing," the black thing that Ferraro was pointing out is a little...simplistic.

Undoubtedly there are many African americans who are voting for Obama because they see him as the first real opportunity to vote for a person of color for president. However, if we're honest with ourselves, we might admit that pretty early on in their campaign, the Clintons made it clear which voters they valued most. From President Clinton's unfortunate slips of the tongue and inappropriate comparisons in South Carolina, to the divide the Black from Hispanic vote tactics in California and Texas, to the basically unchallenged assertions by their surrogate in the Pennsylvania governer's mansion that "white people basically aren't ready to vote for a black president," to allowing Ferraro's comments to fester despite what one would think was the negative press surrounding it, to the questionable ads, to the assertions of increasing "buyers' remorse" against Senator Obama, which most people of color understand as politically correct code for growing white backlash, to calling Senator Obama "unelectable,"....but not being able to explain exactly why....there is a pattern here, wheter we admit it or not.

Honestly now, the only reason the party and the media would continue to prop up a candidacy that by all measures; from delegates, to votes, to states won, to funds, to campaign leadership, is way behind, if not dead in the water is the unspoken fear in the room. That unspoken fear, is that when it comes down to it, white america really isn't ready to vote for a black president, regardless of what Zogby says.

The fact that Senator Clinton remains the only white Democratic candidate is, quite frankly, the only momentum that she has. Though this isn't something a campaign says in polite company, when you take an honest step back and look, this fact is that campaign's basic under-pinning.
Period. The problem the Clinton campaign seems to be facing is how to effectively voice this fact, without appearing completely racist at the same time. Ms. Ferraro did a clumsy job of getting point across. However, I suspect that most African American voters got the message loud and clear,...since way back in South Carolina.




favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:57 PM on 03/15/2008

The 90% black vote for Obama is not a color blind vote. Blacks and white men and women have the right to vote for somebody of their own and say so I am white and I will vote for a white or i am black and I will vote for a white or i am a woman and I will vote for a woman. In all the corners of the world people vote for somebody of their own. No minority president has ever being elected. The ineresting point in this article is the Obama is no longer a candidate that happens to be black but the candidate of the blacks from the church of the blacks.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:50 AM on 03/16/2008

Well, at least you're honest about your views. But, let's say you were a black voter, and you saw one campaign offering a message of inclusion, and the other one doing everything they could to undermine, marginalize, discount, and denigrate your specific voice in the democratic process with wink-and-nod racism,...which campaign would you vote for?

I would bet that were Senator Obama a white man, and Senator Clinton a black woman using the same subtext, code, and acceptance of borderline-bigotry in her campaign, black folks would still be voting pretty much the same. Its an inclusion thing,...you wouldn't understand.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:16 AM on 03/16/2008

when all else fails play the race card

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:46 PM on 03/15/2008

It is soo sad that the old hatred toward white people by some black people will hurt obama. The pastor said, apparently in Dec. 07, why do people not like barrack, because he is not white. But, white people came out in droves for him in Jan and Feb. I guess the reverend was wrong and now possibly has hurt him more than the white man.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:43 PM on 03/15/2008

Good post. A lot of this is also just plain old "projection": "I know you are but what am I?".

Projection is one of the most effective and confusing "Big Lies".

Until Voters can decipher "projection" we will continue to get the opposite of what we want.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:50 PM on 03/15/2008

Hey folks, Rascism and Prejudice will exist as long as there are human beings in this planet; it's always been here, it will always be here ( it is also practiced in the animal kingdom as well - animals always hang out with their kind ).
The thing that we must do as thinking,rational humans is not let it affect our decissions because they are a bad trait that keeps following us from generation to generation, from century to century. We must learn to fight it succesfully within ourselves so that we can all get along as humans.
In a perfect world, they would not exist; but we don't live in a perfect world.
As humans we should strive towards perfection, even thought we know we'll never get there.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:33 PM on 03/15/2008

Ehrmmm...let me guess...you're white right?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:14 PM on 03/15/2008

And we often forget that there is also other types of Racism- Japanese think they are better than Koreans, Cubans better than Mexicans, Spanish better than Portuguese, etc. People forget about the mass lynching of Italians back at the beginning of the twentieth century. People also forget about how mixed race people are looked down upon and often rejected.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:12 PM on 03/15/2008

Indeed. It would appear that neurosis, and thus 'destructive projection-ism', is a by-product of sentient consciousness. I like the old-school take on this...far less specific..."Put 10 people in a room and though they may not choose a leader....they will most definitely choose someone to hate."

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:13 PM on 03/17/2008

You know it isn't an issue if you just don't make it one. I think the major political pundits on MSM would agree with me. Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough just deplore all this division between African Americans and women. I'm white, so I'm not either. Which can be a problem because when I go to those big games that CNN throws, I don't know which bleachers to sit in.

I do know one thing:. We should all be grateful. Whether you're black or white or a woman or a man-- or a Muslim, for that matter--just be glad. Because this great country is glad. If George Bush can still find a little romance in the war in Iraq, so CAN YOU!

Think of it this way. What if your slave ancestors had been taken to some OTHER country? You think you had i hard here? You don't know what being a slave in FRANCE would have been like.

Another thing. Women have had to clean the house, for CENTURIES! Their own, not other people's.

True,