Being liberal/progressive does not mean you have to champion every cause or group. You may even have a different initial reaction to an issue that a marginalized group has because of your privilege or different worldview, but we’re supposed to be able to rise above it and AT LEAST not push back to our allies in the war against inequity and bigotry.
Unfortunately, a lot of people at epically-failing at this when it comes to Cam Newton’s sexist remark toward a female beat reporter during a recent press conference:
www.si.com/…
Today, Dannon (mostly yogurt) announced they are dropping Newton as a spokesperson:
www.facebook.com/…
Now, when a white dude gets caught being sexist and is called out in the media, the vast vast majority of social media detractors are (shocker), white males.
But now that it’s Cam Newton, the commentary gets a lot more...diverse:
That's really not cool. The comment by Newton was indisputably sexist and disparaging.
To to be fair,
any person of color I've seen commenting on this issue on Twitter or Facebook has been supportive of the reporter and critical of Cam to a T, including Jemele Hill and several well-known comedians.
When a person of color says they're a victim of racism, believe them or at least support them first. If a woman is publicly the target of sexism and misogyny, AT LEAST don't criticize her or tell everyone else to lighten up. If a transgender person says they feel uncomfortable, don't tell them to be quiet because your kidney stones are worse.
This isn't a hard concept folks, though it can be challenging to our own internal sensibilities. If we aren't there for each other, no one will be there for us.