Women Wake Up

I have watched with alarm as John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, has roared across the landscape, captivating crowds with her vacuous speeches --excuse me--speech, (she's been making the same one over and over) and witnessed the media's fawning all over her, like a brand new toy. And of course that's what she is. She is the latest hot thing on the airwaves and she'll dominate them for a while--say three weeks? The fact that she is a woman does not mean that she supports women's issues and I do not believe that serious, intelligent, women in this country will identify with her and wish her well in this campaign. Her speech at the Republican convention was nasty, mean-spirited, shallow--delivered in perfect cadence and designed to please her audience. But the larger audience, the millions of Americans who will vote in November, will surely seek answers about her positions on the issues that matter to reasonable people: the economy, the war, health care (or absence of), soaring gas prices, the mortgage crisis, the loss of our stature and credibility throughout the world, our debtor status and pitiful dollar--to name a few. One can only hope that reasonable, thoughtful Americans--men and women--will study the issues, and not be dazzled by a self-described pit bull with lipstick, nor her running mate, John McCain. Remember him? The guy who's supposed to have such good judgment? When they begin talking about the issues that matter and turn their backs on 'swift boat tactics' (do anything to win), perhaps I'll listen to what they have to say. I can't wait.

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Coming on board

Thanks for inviting me to participate in your blog, Amy. I've read it consistently, and am always interested in the viewpoints expressed--both those I agree with and those with which I do not. Democracy is best served when dialog is informed and straightforward. I look forward to being a part of the conversation, and hope it never ends. You are a brave woman to put your opinions out there for all the world to see. Hope I can support you.

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Brand New Front Page Poster: Joni Woolf

Please welcome Macon's own Joni Woolf to the front page of Georgia Women Vote. I could not be more excited! Joni is a writer, editor and has blazed more trails for women than the rest of us combined. For years, Macon was Joni's home, but recently, she moved back to her beautifully renovated farm house in Schley County. I was privileged to spend July the 4th on the farm with Joni and some of her friends and family. The day included children, teenagers, bbq ribs, dogs and rooster and croquet. During her tenure in Macon, Joni served was one of the founders of Macon Magazine, served on planning and zoning, worked tirelessly for the Tubman Museum and back before women were allowed to be members of the Chamber of Commerce started a separate organization just for women business owners.

This year, Joni Woolf had been chosen to introduce Sen. Edwards at the JJ Dinner-before he suspended his campaign. She wrote the most eloquent introduction, and I have posted a portion of it below, just to give you a hint of what's in store from Ms. Woolf.

The first time I ever heard John Edwards speak—several years ago in Macon—he talked about growing up poor, and the hardships that his family endured as they struggled to put bread on the table, pay the rent, clothe the children. And I thought, “He’s one of us. He has been poor, and he knows how that feels to a child.” Like John, I grew up poor in rural South Georgia, where there was never quite enough of anything. But we were rich in promise: our parents assured us that life would be better for us, and they worked night and day to be sure that happened.

And it did. Their struggles, their sacrifices, their long days of sweat—and sometimes tears—guaranteed my generation a better life. And so we assumed, as our lives got slowly better, that OUR children would enjoy the prosperity that the United States was experiencing. It has not happened. Ever since the Reagan years, when greed became something to be proud of, the middle class has been in decline. My children—and YOURS—are struggling much as my parents’ generation did, just to keep food on the table. They are desperate for something, SOMEONE, to inspire hope in the future—not just their own—but the future of our beloved country which is becoming a country of the very rich, with a rapidly declining middle class—a country without a moral compass, without a president who has the integrity to face the harsh realities of our time....

Welcome, Joni! We look forward to your view from South Georgia!

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Maconite Honored With Murphy Lifetime Achievement Award

Last night, Joni Woolf, who lived in Macon for more than forty years, received a Speaker Thomas Murphy Lifetime Achievement Award from the Democratic Party of Georgia. This was the first year the award named for Mr. Speaker was given, and one Georgia Democrat from each congressional district was chosen for this honor. Joni Woolf was selected because of her groundbreaking work both in politics and in the community. Let me just say that one day, I aspire to have a resume' like hers. She has been involved in founding and supporting organization after organization that lift people up-most often women and minorities.

The award was, of course public, but another drama played out behind the scenes on Tuesday. The Democratic Party of Georgia is not the only organization that recognized her talents. On Tuesday, the Edwards Campaign selected Joni Woolf to introduce the Senator at the JJ Dinner. Of course, that was when Edwards was still coming to JJ and still in the race for President. She wrote a powerful introduction that captures, better than I can, why so many of us spent the last year doing all we could to to help John and Elizabeth Edwards. Of course, this speech was never given, and I'm sad about that, but it says so much about her, and so much about him, I asked that she allow me to publish it here:

The first time I ever heard John Edwards speak—several years ago in Macon—he talked about growing up poor, and the hardships that his family endured as they struggled to put bread on the table, pay the rent, clothe the children. And I thought, “He’s one of us. He has been poor, and he knows how that feels to a child.” Like John, I grew up poor in rural South Georgia, where there was never quite enough of anything. But we were rich in promise: our parents assured us that life would be better for us, and they worked night and day to be sure that happened.

And it did. Their struggles, their sacrifices, their long days of sweat—and sometimes tears—guaranteed my generation a better life. And so we assumed, as our lives got slowly better, that OUR children would enjoy the prosperity that the United States was experiencing. It has not happened. Ever since the Reagan years, when greed became something to be proud of, the middle class has been in decline. My children—and YOURS—are struggling much as my parents’ generation did, just to keep food on the table. They are desperate for something, SOMEONE, to inspire hope in the future—not just their own—but the future of our beloved country which is becoming a country of the very rich, with a rapidly declining middle class—a country without a moral compass, without a president who has the integrity to face the harsh realities of our time, and to tell the truth.

Last fall, I took my granddaughter to see John Edwards when he spoke at Georgia Southwestern University in Americus. She came away believing that here was a candidate who cared about her and her dreams for the future, a candidate who had been where she and many of her friends are, a candidate who offers a better way…a way that promises attention will be paid to the millions of Americans who are hanging on by fragile threads, Americans who have been betrayed by a system that increasingly rewards the greedy. She will vote for the first time this November. And she will vote for the candidate who must be our party’s nominee--John Edwards--because she has studied his platform, and knows he is the candidate who has stayed focused on the issues, and whose vision for a better America will be fulfilled in our time.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am deeply honored to present the next President of our beloved country—JOHN EDWARDS!

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Is Race the Third Rail?

Race is just hard for us to talk about; at least it is in my community. Social security may be the "third rail" in national politics, but in Macon, the "third rail" is race. Touch it, and you might die. We live in a wonderfully diverse community. Folks here have continually tried to talk about race, in both formal and informal ways, but it remains the third rail, the thing that we're afraid to touch-perhaps for good reasons.

Our school system is facing a vote on a controversial redistricting plan. Race is an issue in that plan, and we can't talk about it openly. But we must.

Yesterday, Phil Dodson wrote a column for the Telegraph suggesting that the next City Council President be an African American, and today he's drawn fire. He makes the not-so-subtle suggestion that unless Council elects Miriam Paris then they are "just a bunch of politicians out to improve their lot." I like Miriam, but I think that Dodson's conclusion is a stretch. Also, in the article, when he says that Lauren Benedict has actively sought the President's spot, he's just dead wrong.

And, over the last two weeks, I've watched as two wonderful women, Dr. Catherine Meeks and City Councilwomen Nancy White, touched the third rail, and there were plenty of people waiting to point and chatter. I know these women. They are both good people. They are often part of the solution. Neither deserved the filleting they got.

Today, Joni Woolf, a women who seems to grow more wise every day, who has been part of this community for a long time, wrote the following letter to the editor of the Telegraph. She says what I want to say, far more eloquently than I can:

Denying history no way to press forward


During the past several weeks I have read with interest the columns and letters related to the torturous and unresolved status of race relations in our community and in our culture. They bring to mind a quote from the legendary Mississippi writer, William Faulkner, who said, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."
As a culture accustomed to living "in the moment," we simply cannot accept that reality. Everything begins anew, right now, today. We love that expression, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." Well that may be, but we all have histories, and for blacks in this community and throughout the South (and some of the North), modern black history did not begin the day school integration became the law of the land. And to say that blacks have had equal opportunity ever since Brown v. Board of Education is to deny all of the history that went before that decision, and much that has transpired since.
We are all the sum total, not only of our own experiences, but of the experiences of our parents and grandparents - experiences that were repeated over and over and became family lore; experiences that short-changed generations of parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who were not allowed to learn to read and write and study at our schools and universities, based simply on the color of their skin. These are realities. Passing a new law that says we all go to school together does not automatically give us all equal footing at the starting gate.
Race is an uncomfortable topic for most of us. We would rather believe that everything is fine (and if it's not, it's their fault); that we are comfortable with things the way they are, and just forget the centuries of violence and injustice that destroyed the hopes and dreams of generations of black Americans before today's "equal playing ground" arrived. We may not like to talk about it. And we may keep denying our own culpability in the patterns of racism that still permeate much of our culture. Our denials don't change the reality: The past is never dead. It's not even past. It's time we looked it in the face. Then, perhaps, we can move on.

Joni Woolf is a Macon resident.

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