Natasha Hakimi: No, I Won’t Vote for Hillary Clinton. And Yes, I Am a Feminist Millennial

[marmar]

from truthdig:


No, I Won’t Vote for Hillary Clinton. And Yes, I Am a Feminist Millennial

Posted on Feb 11, 2016
By Natasha Hakimi


I’m a Latina millennial and I’m sick of being told I’m not a feminist because I won’t vote for Hillary Clinton.

There have been plenty of great feminist responses to Madeleine Albright’s and Gloria Steinem’s comments about women who support Bernie Sanders over Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination. I’d like to add another piece, one from a very personal point of view.

But first I want to be clear about two things: one, that I would love to see a female progressive lead this nation; and two, that I am sickened by all forms of sexism and am saddened to come from a country where a woman can’t run for president without being bombarded with misogynistic attacks. As a woman who has been attacked on the Internet and beyond for having a voice, I will never be on the side of sexism.

That said, I’m 100 percent in agreement with writer Glenn Greenwald when he states that the “Bernie bros” myth is a convenient establishment tool used to discredit Sanders and his supporters. (I mean, really, do Paul Krugman and company honestly believe we’re going to buy that Sanders supporters are all sexist pigs or that the economist himself isn’t a bro, as Greenwald points out, or that conservatives and others aren’t among those attacking Clinton?) I am far from a bro, but, I’m proud to admit, I certainly “feel the Bern.”

But this feeling started long before I even knew the Vermont senator’s name. It began when, as the child of immigrants, I was proud and excited to be the first in my family to earn a college degree—only to realize I’d been saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in debt to a government that kindly informed me in a loan exit program that one of my only options out of repayment was to die. Yes, death was at the top of a very short list. The sensation at the pit of my stomach when I considered how to pay back loans I’d taken out to attain the American life my parents dreamed I would have can only be described as a burn. ..........(more)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/no_i_wont_vote_for_hillary_clinton_millennial_feminist_20160211

[99Forever]

1. Well written piece.

A solid case made by solid reasoning.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

2. She should be invited to join DU so she can be roundly criticized

and tombstoned for her position.

[Katashi_itto]

3. K&R! Down with 3rd Way, the Vichy Dems

[RiverLover]

4. A phd candidate in feminism knows what she's talking about!

I have plenty of other reasons to back Sanders, but right now the most meaningful to me is this: He is promising to help build the kind of nation I have for a long time dreamed America could become. For the first time since I’ve been old enough to vote, I’ve registered as a Democrat just so I could vote in my upcoming state primary. And I did something else I never thought I’d do: I donated money to a campaign, one that I believe will not only represent but fight for the rights and needs of the many over the few.

I study feminism in my Ph.D. program and often hear acquaintances call me “radical,” a “man-hater.” I can’t tell you how tired I am of these labels, but I’m far more outraged by feminists who try to discredit me or send me to hell for my lack of support for Clinton. They want me to vote for a woman who stopped believing in universal health care the minute she received a hefty sum from the health care industry, who as secretary of state was responsible for the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of women and children in the Middle East, who’s in bed with the billionaire bankers, as Elizabeth Warren would say, and who will not make the struggling 99 percent of Americans her priority.

I want a woman president of the United States of America, and I will fight like hell to see that day. But it is not here yet. That president is not Hillary Clinton.

[PatrynXX]

5. Right now I get the feeling Hillary is

possibly the biggest Sexist to come from Washinton in the past 50 yrs. It goes both ways. Emma Watson pointed it out about the movie Frozen. It's sexist against men.

[boston bean]

6. Who??

[Cassiopeia]

8. Natasha Hakimi Zapata

Natasha Hakimi Zapata is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Latin American Literature at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. She also holds a Creative Writing M.F.A. from Boston University and both a B.A. in Spanish and a B.A. in English with a creative writing concentration from the University of California, Los Angeles. In college she received scholarships from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Smithsonian Latino Center and the UCLA Alumni Association. She has also received several awards for creative writing, including the May Merill Miller Award for Poetry in 2008 and 2010, the Ruth Brill Award for short fiction in 2010 and the Falling Leaves Award in 2010. Most recently she was awarded the 2012 Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship and was a semifinalist for the Dzanc Books/ Guernica International Literary Award.

Natasha’s passion for revealing the truth through writing has also led her to journalism. She has been published in Los Angeles magazine, where she interned, and continues to blog for it about Los Angeles events. In addition, she has worked for the renowned literary journal AGNI and has launched Truthdig’s Poetry section as Truthdig’s assistant and poetry editor. She hopes to continue writing for all three genres, balancing her passions for fiction and nonfiction, while often combining them in her creative work.

http://www.truthdig.com/staff/natasha_hakimi

[Cassiopeia]

7. I want a woman president of the United States

I want a woman president of the United States of America, and I will fight like hell to see that day. But it is not here yet. That president is not Hillary Clinton.

The highest glass ceiling in the US needs shattered, but we should find the best woman to do so. I don't believe Hillary even makes the top 100 on that list.

[earthshine]

9. I see Bernie as a man with a "yuuuge" feminine side.

I see Hillary as a woman with a "yuuuge" masculine side.

I actually think it's a credit to both of them.

I sincerely hope that Elizabeth Warren will one day choose to run.

[mgmaggiemg]

10. and I am not upset about it

and I am supporting HRC.... cheers maggie