A lot of faux-controversy has been stirred up over the past few days in regards to Killer Mike’s recent introduction for Bernie Sanders at Morehouse College in Georgia:
"When people tell us, hold on, wait a while, and that's what the other Democrat is telling you. Hold on Black Lives Matter, just wait a while. Hold on young people in this country, just wait a while. And then she get good, she have your own momma come to you, your momma sit down and say, 'Well, you're a woman.' But I talked to Jane Elliott a few weeks ago and Jane said, 'Michael, a uterus doesn't qualify you to be president of the United States. You have to be, you have to have policy that's reflective of social justice.' Paying women a fair wage is social justice. Making sure that minorities have jobs is social justice."
Even today, a poster on Daily Kos continued to take the quote out of context to make it appear that Killer Mike was making a sexist statement. Now Jane Elliot herself has spoken out on Huffington Post in Killer Mike’s defense, calling this ginned up controversy “ridiculous”:
"I think the reaction is because a man said what I said. If a woman had made that statement there would have been no problem, but because a man said it, it becomes a sexist statement. It's a ridiculous thing to be upset about," Elliott told The Huffington Post. "It should be a fact of life that neither gender nor skin color should determine whether you are appropriate for leadership of the government of the United States of America."
Jane Elliott has had a long and remarkable career:
Jane Elliott (born May 27, 1933, in Riceville, Iowa) is an American former third-grade schoolteacher, anti-racism activist, and educator, as well as a feminist and LGBT activist. She is known for her "Blue eyes–Brown eyes" exercise. She first conducted her famous exercise for her class the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. When her local newspaper published compositions that the children wrote about the experience, the reactions (both positive and negative) formed the basis for her career as a public speaker against discrimination.
And from her own website:
Jane Elliott, internationally known teacher, lecturer, diversity trainer, and recipient of the National Mental Health Association Award for Excellence in Education, exposes prejudice and bigotry for what it is, an irrational class system based upon purely arbitrary factors. And if you think this does not apply to you. . . you are in for a rude awakening.
Awesome video of Jane Elliott:
Maybe instead of engaging in divisive, fake controversies, we can take a moment and learn a little bit about someone who has devoted her life to making the world a better place?
Killer Mike’s powerful introduction can be seen here: