Spotlight: A Woman’s Worth—by Goldie Taylor
Check out her blog at http://goldietaylor.wordpress.com/
I have been a mother all of my adult life. A single working mother. I put off dating, took menial jobs
far beneath my qualifications and baked my share of ginger bread cookies for PTA Night, all so that three incredible children could have better. I chose their lives over mine. I don’t have to tell you that it wasn’t easy. Unfortunately, my story, our story, is not
unique.
We slept in cars, bought groceries with food stamps and prayed for a better day. When that wasn’t enough, I put myself through school at Emory University and took a part-time job as a staff writer at the Atlanta Journal Constitution. That was over a decade ago.
Along the way, things got better. I’ve been an executive at two Fortune 500 companies and a practice director at two multinational public relations firms. Today, I own an advertising agency and I’ve authored two novels. A third and fourth are on the way, God willing. All of this was possible because somebody laid a brick or two on the road for me.
A few weeks ago, I woke in tears. It was my 40th birthday and certainly not a time for sadness. Rather, I cried in joy because for the first time I realized and could embrace the value of the struggle. The bright little girl, who once cried in my arms because we didn’t know where we were going to live, was headed off to Brown University. The small boy who had been the “man of the house” far too soon was now truly a man. And the tiny, angelic baby who had come to this world precious and innocent just 15 months after him was now a 16 year old girl headed out to her first job interview.
For all of this, maybe I should be proud of a woman like Sarah Palin. Maybe, just maybe, I should be rejoicing in John McCain’s selected running mate.
But I’m not.
I’m not “bed wetting liberal” nor am I a “right-wing zealot.” What I am is a working mother. And I cry foul.
I won’t, for a moment, denigrate her experience or lob spit balls at her family. I will, though, take issue with what she knows. Or more succinctly, what she does not know. Living in Alaska, I’m not sure how much she knows about the people living in inner city Baltimore. I don’t know how much she cares about the 125 murders this summer in Chicago. I have no idea what she believes about HIV/ AIDS and the havoc it wrecks on Black women or the cancer rates in East St. Louis. She hasn’t said nary a word about Hurricane Katrina or the infant mortality rates in Appalachia.
I do know that she’s a life-time member of the NRA, a proponent of individuals who wielded the very weapons that killed my father and brother. I do know that she “lives really close to Russia,” but I’m not so certain she is ready for Putin. I know she wanted to ban books for public libraries and sex education in schools, but that her 17 year old is pregnant and preparing for a shotgun wedding. I know that she loves her husband enough to allow him (and probably did herself) use her office to settle a personal score–one that the McCain campaign would now like to cover in under a blanket of Juneau snow. I know that the Alaska Independent Party, and its secessionist platform, was enticing enough for her to attend its conference (and for her husband to become a card carrying member). Does she love her country? I’m sure. Enough to support those who want to leave it.
But I have no earthly idea what she knows (or could possibly know) about national domestic policy or foreign diplomacy. For all of her working class values, she never once mentioned the Middle Class in her diatribe that mocked her opponent’s experience. Having been the mayor of Wasilla (pop. 6,000 at the time) and governor of Alaska (a state a smaller than the county I live in) for a little over a year, she felt she was qualified to do that. And obviously, so did John McCain.
If she’s qualified, then so am I.
But in this country I love, she has been afforded the ability to run. The very constitution she says doesn’t apply to the men at Guantanamo says she can. But this is about more than that.
As Gloria Steinem said in a recent Los Angeles Times editorial, “Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It’s about making life more fair for women everywhere. It’s not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It’s about baking a new pie.”
The good news is thanks to Shirley Chisholm, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Angela Davis, Condoleeza Rice, Anita Hill, Madeline Albright, Maxine Waters, Kathleen Sebelius, Hilary Rodham Clinton and a slew of others, there are 18 million proverbial cracks in the ceiling. Our collective political and economic power is due to the strides (and leaps) they, and others, took on my behalf.
I am grateful. I am deeply humbled to stand on the bricks they’d laid before me.
But, whatever our struggle was (and is) that last thing I want is to be patronized. Just as I cannot support just any African American who decides to offer themselves up for public service, I will not toss my vote to someone just because we share the same chromosome mix. To do so would dishonor the vow I made to my children, to myself. I did not vote for Al Sharpton, wasn’t old enough (nor would I have) voted for Jesse Jackson and I certainly will not support Sarah Palin. Identity politics, especially in this case, are a sham of the worst order.
When I cast my vote, it will be for people who will lay more bricks for people like me. It will be for people who will put diplomacy before war, challenge us all to provide healthcare for the sick, help another child go to college, and check the special interests in Washington. This fall, I’m not looking for a woman.
I’m looking for a brick layer.
I could care less if that person hasn’t spent “enough” time in Washington or can “properly field dress a moose”. I could care less if that person likes hockey, soccer, football or table tennis. I could care less if they graduated from Harvard or the University of Iowa. I’m a Christian, but I could care less if they are down with Deuteronomy, Leviticus or Numbers. I want them to uphold the Constitution.
So no, I will not sit idly by as they attempt to suspend habeas corpus at Guantanamo Bay, engage wiretaps on American citizens without a warrant, and hide behind executive privilege when they are caught firing attorney generals based on how well they tow the Republican line. I won’t let them cost us $12 billion a month fighting a war that should have never been authorized and never been waged. Not while working people lose their homes to predatory lenders and watch as we bail out the financial institutions that created the housing crisis.
I will not, in the name of history, vote for a woman like Sarah Palin who does not share my values.
But here’s what I will do.
I will continue raising money for Barack Obama. I will get on the phone again and call people in distant states I’ve never met. I will e-mail, call, and knock on doors until the final vote is cast. I do this, not because he shares my skin, but because I admire his principals and he shares my values. I do this because Barack Obama is more than a community organizer, he is a bricklayer. And he sees — just as he sees the light in Michelle’s eyes — my struggle, my worth as a woman.
Goldie Taylor is CEO of Native Brand Communications and chairman of Goldie Taylor OmniMedia, LLC. She is the author of In My Father’s House (Wheatmark, 2005) and The January Girl (Madison Park, 2007 & Warner Books, 2008) and is currently working on her third novel, Come Sunday. Taylor and her children live in Atlanta and New York. For more information, visit www.goldietaylor.net or her blog Second Day at www.goldietaylor.wordpress.com.
Thank you to Kym Kinchen for this article that was featured on Ebony Jet 
September 15, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I have tears in my eyes and a warmth in my heart as I read this. Bravo! Bravo! Well said.
September 16, 2008 at 10:08 am
This is great! I loved it! This is good information that ALL need to read. If I could aford it, I would take a leave of absence from my job, make a zillion copies and distribute to all prior to November. Again, I Loved It!
September 16, 2008 at 10:46 am
She hit the nail right on the head. I just wish I could figure out how to physically open the skull of some women and pour in the understanding and compassion necessary to make them see the truth of her words.
September 16, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I am so greatful for women who have done the hard work of digging up the logical, practical reasons that those who have considered voting for mccain based on his ill-equipped running mate palin, should stop and think about the basis for their vote. this information is invaluable even to those of us who were not going to vote him in the first place. with this article i feel my argument for not voting for mccain strengthened. thanks for the edification and in turn, the artillery with which to fight the fight. Yeah God!
September 16, 2008 at 9:06 pm
If every woman in America could read and grasp your insights then we wouldn’t have to worry about a single female vote. I have passed this on to everyone that I know that would listen. Thank you for saying everything that needed to be said . Anyone who supported Hillary could not possibly consider John McCain after reading this,
Bless you for your compassion , understanding and obvious undying love.
and support of your children and the country you raise them in. A job well done.
September 16, 2008 at 9:08 pm
that was so well written; i have nothing else to say. =)
September 17, 2008 at 1:42 pm
A man friend forwarded your text to me, preceded by the following:
“This is a wonderful, well worded article; read it. I am also forwarding it to the Director of Business Development at Emory University who is a friend of mine (both the author and I are alumni).”
I am now forwarding it to everyone I can think of, requesting them to do the same. Bravo to you for giving us more to fight for and the ammunition with which to fight.
September 17, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I could not agree MORE!!!!!!!!!! Very very well put!!!!
September 17, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Very insightful. Such a well written and poignant article!!! I too am making phone calls and putting up signs around my town for the next president of the United States, Barack Obama!!!!
September 18, 2008 at 8:05 am
Thanks to everyone for your support and positive comments. Together, we will right this country and bring the right kind of change to Washington. Keep in touch! http://www.goldietaylor.wordpress.com.
September 18, 2008 at 10:41 am
Thanks for the eloquent perspective. I needed that inspiration today.
September 18, 2008 at 10:48 am
I’m white but this is pretty much my life story as well. I also gave up my life for three kids and am at that point where I’m watching them thrive and make me proud. It’s been worth it every step of the way. I’ve been enraged listening to sanctimonious conservatives explain that only children raised in Christian households with the father ruling the roost can every come out right. I’d love them to meet my son, the only American TA in the Math department at UConn or my daughter on the Dean’s List at Boston University (on a full scholarship) or my youngest son, currently 4th in his senior class, who is coming to PA with me this weekend to volunteer for Obama. I’d like to introduce them to all the kids from “perfect families” that we know – kids who spend every weekend drinking and smoking and every school day sleeping in the back of the classroom. These people have some nerve putting up this cartoon character for VP and expecting we ordinary Americans to buy the big lie.
Thanks for telling your story. It reminded me of all the reasons we have to be inspired by Obama’s potential to remake America and it reminded me also that I have a lot to be proud of right here in my own life.
September 18, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Dear Goldie,
Your letter was read with warm embrace. Bravo for your accomplishments. I too was a single parent raising two sons and have worked extremely hard to earn a Bachelor of Science in Education, two Master’s degrees (Speech Pathology and Community Counseling) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership degree. My two sons are in college studying Engineering and Business/Marketing. The three of us are doing our part to support Senator Obama at a time when getting out and voting is simply not enough
September 18, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Wow!! I am impressed! That’s not an easy job for anyone in politics or out to do for me these days. I had gotten to the point where I couldn’t/wouldn’t read one more article about the ex-runner-up beauty queen, weather girl, made mayor of a town too small to count, then run for governor after pushing the incumbent out, for reasons I have yet to read. I read about her firing of a man who wouldn’t fire her brother-in-law and I see her bragging about killing 23 caribou at one sitting, in a tree. We Christians were taught that these were Gods’ animals. If we are starving, we much eat what we can catch, obviously, but I doubt that is the case. She just likes to kill animals and watch them die. She doesn’t give a fat gnat’s ass about the Polar Bear, but a lot of us do. I think that doesn’t matter to her either. She is very uneducated, poorly read and appeals to the ignorant “good ole’ boys” and the wives who don’t have an opinion of their own. She has a piss-poor track record as a parent and not much better at all as a politician. I think she needs to regroup. Perhaps in RUSSIA????
September 18, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I have tears in my eyes. I have been trying to talk about how I feel for weeks but you’ve written everything I’ve wanted to say. Thank you and God bless you. We the people WILL elect Barack Obama as the next president.
September 18, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Exceptional insight. Powerful story. STRONG writing. Sarah Palin has NOTHING on Goldie Taylor.
September 19, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Greetings All! As just a moderator, my goal is to ensure fluid and purposeful discourse. If you do not see your comment here, please read my posting here http://ifyandthem.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/attention-all-e-ballers-why-you-do-not-see-your-comment-on-ify-and-them/. Unfortunately (for you) I refuse to post disrespectful comments. There are many other hate organizations and agendas that may suit your needs. This obviously is not one of them.
Thanks to all that are enjoying this site!
September 19, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Ify, you are so fabulous! And you, too, Jeanne!
September 20, 2008 at 6:36 pm
WOW!!!! This was such a well written piece! As a FORMER registered republican, I cannot sit by and let another republican president/vice president destroy this country. My grandfather used to tell me when I would ask how to pick who to voite for “take a minute to think about the last 4 years. If your life, and the lives of those you love, is better then it was….leave the party in office….if it’s worse…get rid of them!” How much worse does it have to get before EVERYONE says “get rid of them”!!! I am very pleased to say I am now a card carring Democrat!!! It’s time we all took back what our ancestors left us and make it better for those we will leave behind! Again, great atricle!
September 21, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Don’t you need experience to be a brick layer? Last time I check, it wasn’t an easy task to perform! Therefore, I feel and think differently. Barack Obama is no brick layer, and you can go on with all the reasons you don’t like a VP choice. But I am not voting for a VP, I am voting for a man/woman who can run this country. Barack Obama has two years experience in the senate, that’s all. I believe the only reason you’re voting for him is his party, not the person.
Go ahead, vote for Obama. I want a brick layer who has experience. Your Obama has none.
September 22, 2008 at 10:58 am
You say you’re not a liberal, but all your responses and opinions show you swallowing the liberal party line lies, hook, line, and sinker. You may have worked hard, but you condemn Sarah Palin just because she doesn’t lean your way. You’re a babble mouth who doesn’t know english or grammar. Anyone who admires Maxine Waters is pure liberal, so drop the pretense.
September 22, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I want to say thank you so much for this article.
September 23, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Ms. Taylor, I have no words to express my profound gratitude and pride in your piece that was fowarded to me about your growing up penniless and having children to raise and educate as a single mother, but nevertheless finding that inner strength to cope and succeed. I am not an American, neither do I live in the States, but your issues cannot be localised and simply called American. You have touched on world issues where disadvanteged people have dragged themselves up by their boot straps and made something of themselves. We need more people of our and any race to tell their stories and prove not only to themselves, but to all downtrodden people the power of well directed ambition and committment. Your article about American politics is well taken and obviously well thought out. You would be absolutely taken aback at the negative images and poor opinions many people in the world have of the USA. Such a rich and powerful country self destructing due to greed, corruption, yes I did say corruption that some of your priviledged citizens have brought down on you. Even your friends around the world shake their heads in amazement at the greed. Let it suffice to say that your piece was uplifting, and although we will never meet, I am proud of your accomplishments as though you were my own family. Interestingly enough, if we could go back far enough you may find that we are all related. Our forebears took that first one way ocean “cruise” and our DNA has created strong people as yourself. My head is held high.
September 24, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I grew up in the mountains in Appalachia and I can tell you for sure that neighter this woman nor Barak Hussein Obama know a thing about the people there, nor do thy care.
For sure my people have more in common with the people of Alaska than some mealy mouthed political hack. They would rather die than become socialist and sure as hell do NOT want a handout from the liars in DC.
Hopefully Ms. taylor will take her so-called accomplishments and go to one of those “better countries”. Having lived in Malawi Africa for 3 years myself, I’m sure she would feel more at home there in a more “civilized “environment.
September 25, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this paragraph. I wish more people would actually look at the facts and not always rely on the media, CNN or MSNBC analysts, celebrities or anyone other than THEMSELVES to dictate who to vote for. I wish some would “open their eyes”. Research facts for yourself. I have researched EXTENSIVELY on my part on all four candidates and now I am for Barak. In my opinion, I believe B&B will be able to successfully run this country as opposed to M&P. This is NOT a “hero” contest, this is the next 4 YEARS…common sense would tell one since the war and funding the war, our country has gone downhill…I pity anyone who can’t see that and who fails to want to make a positive change. Your paragraph was well written and I stand by it…Bravo
September 26, 2008 at 1:15 pm
There is so much truth to all written here.
A clarification, though. Rural, off-road-system Alaska is one of the most poverty-stricken regions in the US. Palin is out of touch even with that experience: the life of thousands of women (and men… and children…) in her own state. She has no more connection to the 30 year-old Alaska Native woman struggling to raise four kids in a village in Western Alaska (without the advantages of indoor plumbing, a police department to investigate sexual assault, or a viable economy in which to seek employment) than she has to those in Appalachia, Chicago, or East St. Louis.
September 26, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Your struggle is no different from most single white women mothers in America. But, for all their struggles they still won’t vote for someone who understands the issues of being a single black or white women raising her children. My question to white folks is when will you understand that black folks are just as capable of running this country in the ground just like white folks. There seems to be a racial war on between blacks and whites, because nothing has changed. But, my questions is for biracial folks. Who will you choose to be the next president of the United States.
Whites hate you because you are half and half. But, black folks always accept anybody into our neigborhoods. But not whites. Wake up the war is on. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.
September 27, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Thank you for a wonderfullly written piece. I had to share this with my husband and children (three teens, one of which will be voting this year) and all applauded in agreement.
September 27, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Are you unaware that your Obama pays women less than he pays his men? It is well documented and has never been explained by the Obam Campaign. Check it out, http://hotair.com/archives/2008/06/30/does-obama-pay-women-less-than-men/
Also, Obama has taken more money from Lobbyists from the oil industry than ANY other candidate. He also took more money from Fannie Mae than any other senator except for Chris Dodd.
As for Palin, yeah, I know she is small town but at least she has run something. She has run a town, though small, and governed a state! What exactly has Obama ever run? Obama has not authored ANY legislature, despite taking credit for some. He never wrote a single thing for the Harvard Law Review and the people who worked for him as a community organizer have stated that he accomplished little during his stint there. And you want to hand this man with NO executive experience and NO accomplishments the country!
September 29, 2008 at 9:32 am
Junk, pure junk… it sounds like the Pharasees deciding that they know best and that they know that Jesus needs to die for there freedom in order to hold what power they had over others… blind and attacking someone who has not done anything to you on such a personal note just seems a bit evil…and short sited.
You have not made any real points here from what I can tell. You have picked on someone because they do not live in a city like you, or are a single mom like you or stand by her bible, not like you.
This only shows that there is unreasonable passion behind some of these messages, that I can not tell what your actual pont is….
September 29, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I am a lifelong Alaskan; a former candidate for Congress (receiving over 40% of the vote in 06 against a 33 year incumbent) and a woman. I debated Sarah Palin in 02 when we were both running for Lt. Governor. I have thought carefully about the choice for President/Vice-President and this post is my first public statement on this subject. Your article has prompted it.
As a single parent – I raised my only child in our great state, and worked on my education here rather than accept prestigous schooling outside and disrupt his life and our cultural values. Learning independence and responsibility he took action after 9-11 to stand up for our country. He lost his legs in Iraq.
I grew up with poverty, and overcame great traumas, all of which has contributed to my immense compassion for others. My son succeeds in life; is in school with a 4.0, cares deeply for others, and has a wonderful wife. We know loss, but we persevere. We ache for our country now.
We value intellect and thoughtful debate in my family. We value humility, and commitment to community. I could say so much about your article and the experiences we share albeit from vastly different cultures. All that needs to be said is that we arrive at similar conclusions.
I say it here that I support Obama and Biden. We need their strength, knowledge and experience. And, we need more people like you to speak truth to power. Thank you so much for your thoughtful voice.
Diane E. Benson
September 29, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Ms. Goldie Taylor, Thank you for your article. It was posted 9/15 which is my birthday and it is the best birthday present I could have received. I’ve been so upset that an unqualified woman that does not speak for most women is running for this office and understands so little.
October 1, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I love your article, you really spoke for me. I am a single mother of four and raising my three year old nephew. I think the talk about Sarah Palin is nonsense and she does not speak or represent none of us. Yes, her daughter is pregnant at sixteen, so what! When young black girls were having children early we were thrown into a pack of wolves by anyone, (especially white) because we were having children at such an early age.
Thank you for reminding me that my views are also the same as someone else and that I do not have to be afraid to feel the way I do.
October 2, 2008 at 12:48 pm
563,274 died in WWII, thats world war two for all who have forgotten or never cared enough to look it up. Mostly men, and most of them white men, but some were Afro-American men, fighting in separate units, and doing more with less and accomplishing with greater losses than most other units in fatalities. And one in particular who I have been told stories about for forty years who did the family proud, proud enough to say that America is a place to be proud of, maybe now more than before, but to say that one is not or has not been proud of America, is to denigrate the deaths of those who went, for whatever reason, and died for this country. So Im still at the station, I havnt gotten on the victory train yet, because I havnt heard yet an explanation of the statement that
I have only just begun to be proud of America.
October 5, 2008 at 5:44 pm
AS a woman of color, and I use that term very deliberately, because my origin is West Indian, I could not agree with Goldie more. Too long have we sat silently in the arena of change and said let someone else do it. This year will mark the first occasion since becoming a citizen of these wonderful United States, that I will vote differently from my husband. I know that it is too important to support “her” because she is a soccer mom and a woman. This election has taken on “a life of its own”. Many of us seem to forget the fundimentals of our constitution and the fact that we all have a voice. Let us not sit idly by and hope that others do the job we have the right to do ourselves. VOTE! This one of the things that makes this country the wonderful place it is.
October 8, 2008 at 10:12 am
Congratulations on speaking out not only your personal thoughts but you hace echoed what a lot of us are thinking.
As a Canadian I wathced with horror the recent debate. This road that America is now trodding is dangerous not to mention who will be left behind. It is the same old same old . Palin is a disgrace to women…. As a possbile leader of the greatest nation where is the leadership talent? Is it in her speech that is filled with betcha, gotcha, soccer mom…
As the saying goes If America sneezes Canada catches a cold. I am sure there were better qualified women in the USA…..
My 2cents
October 8, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I totally agree with you and I have been saying the same thing about Gov. Palin. She might be a woman, but we don’t believe the same things or live by the same creed. The only error you reported was Alaska being a “small” state. Having lived in Anchorage as a child, I know that Alaska is 3 times the size of Texas and is typically not drawn to scale on most maps. Other than that, you are so on point. Thank you.
October 10, 2008 at 4:12 pm
(Actually I’m Alan’s wife writing this comment, he can’t vote, he’s a Brit). Yes I’ve been proud of America, but not always. I’m white, but was always uncomfortable travelling in Southern States in the 1950s and seeing the ‘separate’ water fountains, bus facilities, and other signs of segragation. Sorry to harp on the issue of color, but where I live in rural Pennsylvania, the locals say they cannot bring themselves to vote for ‘someone of color’. It’s essential for inspired, bright writers such as Goldie Taylor to speak out and be heard. I think it’s critical that Sen. Obama be elected . He is as qualified as many other Prsidents before him, not only because of his intellect but a President does not serve alone, he meets with varied advisers each day, and can call on anyone in the world who he thinks has necessary data to offer. With his election, AMERICA benefits by having thousands of little black children suddenly wake up in school, seeing that yes it is possible for any American to become President. Inner city school students have lagged behind the rest of the country, but not always their fault, too many schools are underfunded, and the students feel there’s no point in applying themselves. With challenges we face today, we cannot afford to lose the varied contributions of those children who will rise out of hopelessness and reach their potential. All that aside, I’m convinced Barack Obama is well suited to lead this Nation. We need a little class in the White House.
Anne-Rosemarie