Its not one or the other....

I am officially tired of people thinking the campaign, the voters, the media, the spokespeople are either sexist OR racist. Howard Dean recently said:

"Major networks have featured outrageous comments that… if the words were reversed, and they were about race, people would have been fired."

Its not like the media has not been racist simply because they are sexist. Racist language has become coded, so its harder to see, hear, deconstruct, protest. It is also unfortunately true that women's "place" in society is such that sexist and misogynistic comments are the norm and don't need to be as coded. But by focusing solely on sexism, and ignoring the racist implications in commentary and candidate support, we miss a larger opportunity to really examine the race and gender power structure in the United States.

Its not a either/or situation. I am going to tell you something shocking, so brace yourself:

PEOPLE CAN BE SEXIST AND RACIST AT THE SAME TIME!

We all should be fighting BOTH racism and sexism at the same time. Let's not make it an either/or situation. Demand respect for both HRC and Obama, because to hurt one is to hurt the other.