HELIOLITH

I just finished the bit you wrote about Bush’s briefs. (And on that note, do we all agree that they are tighty whities?) For starters, I wish the Shrub would just say what he damn well thought. Why all of this “I don’t think that, but I am not willing to commit to the other”? Just think something and say it. If you change your mind, come up with a substantial justification, and I won’t mind. Sigh.

What I actually am thinking about though, is race representation. Trail of thought wound thus: Bush held his interview with the Times “in an unusual setting: A cinderblock dressing room, outfitted with a conference table and leather reclining chairs, accessible only by walking through a men’s room underneath a small stadium here [in Farmington, NM], where he appeared for a campaign rally.” Condoleeza Rice was there. Did she have to go through the men’s room?, I wondered. This reminded me of a poster I saw someone brandishing at the Sunday protest. It said: “Condoleezza Rice: White Man’s Puppet.” I have been thinking about it since.

As a black woman, does Rice have an obligation to represent other black Americans? As a member of a minority, is one under obligation to “speak for” the rest of their group, which is typically underrepresented? I believe that in the same way that diversity marks people, it also marks our ideas and responses. As a woman, I don’t want to be told what to think by men or women. As a liberal, I don’t want to be told what to believe by the right or the left. I would like to process the things I learn in my own peculiar way, and respond to them as an independently thinking individual. And I know many people who have reiterated this sentiment long before I ever thought of it: mostly black girls and latinas in classrooms where the teacher, usually in a well-intentioned attempt to include their much-needed perspective, called on them to sound a voice for all others of their respective group.

However. I can’t help but feel that Condoleezza Rice’s identity as a black woman conflicts with her political identity. But maybe I am just telling her what to think, and her unique perspective as a black woman just happens to be ultra right-wing and conservative. Or maybe that perspective combined with her skin color (an unusual combination, I would wager) is precisely why the Bush administration made her NSA.