I caught this over at Jack and Jill Politics. It looks like the Hilary Clinton campaign has released a video of the poet Maya Angelou officially endorsing Clinton’s candidacy. (It’s after the jump.)
The video is so interesting, as it uses Angelou’s blackness to authenticate Clinton’s femininity, and by some kind of metaphysical extension, her integrity as a candidate. Mainly consisting of images voiced over by Angelou, the video intercuts all these images of women of color (look Latinas! look AA&PIs!) with Clinton spending “quality time” with black children. Don’t get me wrong; I really like Angelou. She even wrote me a really sweet letter for my first book. But there’s something about the way the Clinton people use her in this video, an image amongst many others, that doesn’t sit well with me.
Elizabeth Benjamin on The NY Daily News’ blog reads the endorsement as “humanizing” Clinton. Angelou at best historicizes Clinton, reminding us that it is really meaningful that a woman is running for president. But at worst…
“Along with Hillary Rodham Clinton…and me!”
I am displeased. Not necessarily with the endorsement; I’m still working through that one. But the message was already a little, say, “thin”– vote for Hillary because she is a woman. And it is absolutely degraded by Angelou’s role here as Hillary’s black friend.
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Touche’ my friend! Touche’
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