I’m not the first to utter this thought, but it’s worth putting out there on this blog as well: imagine if, instead of Bristol Palin being the pregnant teenager related to someone running for office this year, it was one of the Obama daughters (at 17 years old, not the current 10 or 7) instead.
What would be the media and political reaction to that?
– David S. Cohen
From The Faculty Lounge:
Missing From the Palin Debate . . .
An important addition to the Palin debate unfortunately neglected by the mainstream press: (Posted with permission of Prof. Nareissa Smith)
Here are some choice quotes from conservatives regarding their thoughts on the unfortunate situation facing the teen daughter of the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin:
“Families have difficulties sometimes and lucky for her she has a supportive family.”
“I have a 17-year-old daughter, and they start making choices without us. I appreciate the choice she is making to have the baby, but it just makes her a real person. It happens every day in America.”
“I think, if anything, it shows the Republican Party is a real American party. Every family has to deal with children, and sometimes children make decisions that parents wish they would not have been made, and things happen. But I think children are a blessing from God.”
I have no problem with the charitable nature of the responses. In fact, in my opinion, these are wonderful responses. However, I can’t help but wonder, would this acceptance be tempered if the young lady were a woman of color? It seems to be that the people who made these benevolent statements are part of the same party that has used unwed motherhood, particularly that of women of color, to argue that the poor deserve less care and less compassion. Were Reagan’s so-called”welfare queens”any less deserving? Can a young woman of color make the same mistakes and receive the same forgiveness? Or will she be doomed to be the poster child for the downfall of the empire and the liberty for which it stands?
I wish Ms. Palin and her family well. But after this election is over, I hope that those that are so supportive of her family at this time remember that other families in America are indeed going through the same thing. Those families – regardless of color or economic status- need the same level of compassion. Here’s hoping that this can be a”teachable moment,”as we say in the academy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-ridley/the-guide-to-the-conserva_b_124368.html
SeanOcali says: If you’re 18, white, and get a 16 year old girl pregnant “life happens.” If you’re 18, black, and impregnate a 16 year old girl, you’re a “registered sex offender.”
I hadn’t thought of that angle. Was their having sex against the law in Alaska?