Don’t fuck with Maya Angelou.
Someone has taken Hillary Clinton’s supporters to task for the umpteenth fucking time on this site today. That’s no news. But this one attempts to use the words and image of the great Maya Angelou to damn Hillary and her supporters.
Among the many ironies is that Maya Angelou loved Hillary Clinton and supported her throughout her 2008 bid for the nomination.
Don’t believe me? Here: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jan/20/usa.poetry
Angelou is steadfast in her loyalty to Clinton. She said recently: 'I made up my mind 15 years ago that if she ever ran for office I'd be on her wagon. My only difficulty with Senator Obama is that I believe in going out with who I went in with.'
The very public marital problems suffered by the Clintons during their time at the White House seem to have reinforced Angelou's admiration for Hillary.
'When he had his brush with Ms Lewinsky, the whole world was looking under Mrs Clinton's bedclothes. Many people expected her to fall or to become as hard as a rock,' she has said. 'She did neither. I love that about her. She didn't pretend she wasn't hurt and she didn't become a virago.'
Words mattered greatly to Maya Angelou. Don’t try to turn her into some sock puppet, especially not to attack someone she loved.
I realize that this apparently heretofore unknown praise of mean old Hillary means Maya Angelou will only be thrown under the Purity Bus with John Lewis and Dolores Huerta and James Clyburn and anyone who doesn’t hate Hillary Clinton with the irrational passion that some around here do, but I suspect she’d enjoy the company. I know I do.
Here are Maya Angelou’s words on Hillary Clinton—not what some BS-supporter wishes she had said, but what she actually wrote in January 2008:
State Package for Hillary Clinton
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
This is not the first time you have seen Hillary Clinton seemingly at her wits' end, but she has always risen, always risen, don't forget she has always risen, much to the dismay of her adversaries and the delight of her friends.
Hillary Clinton will not give up on you and all she asks of you is that you do not give up on her.
There is a world of difference between being a woman and being an old female. If you're born a girl, grow up, and live long enough, you can become an old female. But to become a woman is a serious matter. A woman takes responsibility for the time she takes up and the space she occupies. Hillary Clinton is a woman. She has been there and done that and has still risen. She is in this race for the long haul. She intends to make a difference in our country. Hillary Clinton intends to help our country to be what it can become.
She declares she wants to see more smiles in the family, more courtesies between men and women, more honesty in the marketplace. She is the prayer of every woman and man who longs for fair play, healthy families, good schools, and a balanced economy.
She means to rise.
Don't give up on Hillary. In fact, if you help her to rise, you will rise with her and help her make this country the wonderful, wonderful place where every man and every woman can live freely without sanctimonious piety and without crippling fear.
Rise, Hillary.
Rise.
So please, don’t try to use Maya Angelou to smear Hillary Clinton. Don’t embarrass yourself. And don’t ever try to put words in Maya Angelou’s mouth. She can speak for herself loudly and clearly—even from beyond this world.