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1、Unit 7 Id Rather Be Black than FemaleShirley Chisholm1.Being the first black woman elected to Congress has made me some kind of phenomenon. There are nine other blacks in Congress; there are ten other women. I was the first to overcome both handicaps at once. Of the two handicaps, being black is muc
2、h less of a drawback than being female.2.If I said that being black is a greater handicap than being a woman, probably no one would question me. Why? Because “we all know” there is prejudice against black people in America. That there is prejudice against women is an idea that still strikes nearly a
3、ll men and, I am afraid, most women as bizarre.3.Prejudice against blacks was invisible to most white Americans for many years. When blacks finally started to “mention” it, with sit-ins, boycotts, and freedom rides, Americans were incredulous. “Who, us?” they asked in injured tones. “Were prejudiced
4、?” It was the start of a long, painful reeducation for white America. It will take years for whites including those who think of themselves as liberals to discover and eliminate the racist attitudes they all actually have. 4.How much harder will it be to eliminate the prejudice against women? I am s
5、ure it will be a longer struggle. Part of the problem is that women in America are much more brainwashed and content with their roles as second-class citizens than blacks ever were. 5.Let me explain. I have been active in politics for more than twenty years. For all but the last six, I have done the
6、 work all the tedious details that make the difference between victory and defeat on election day while men reaped the rewards, which is almost invariably the lot of women in politics. 6.It is still women about three million volunteers who do most of this work in the American political world. The be
7、st any of them can hope for is the honor of being district or county vice-chairman, a kind of separate-but-equal position with which a woman is rewarded for years of faithful envelope stuffing and card-party organizing. In such a job, she gets a number of free trips to state and sometimes national m
8、eetings and conventions, where her role is supposed to be to vote the way her male chairman votes. 7.When I tried to break out of that role in 1963 and run for the New York State Assembly seat from Brooklyns Bedford Stuyvesant, the resistance was bitter. From the start of that campaign, I faced undi
9、sguised hostility because of my sex. 8.But it was four years later, when I ran for Congress, that the question of my sex became a major issue. Among members of my own party, closed meetings were held to discuss ways of stopping me. 9.My opponent, the famous civil-rights leader James Farmer tried to
10、project a black, masculine image; he toured the neighborhood with sound trucks filled with young men wearing Afro haircuts, dashikis, and beards. While the television crews ignored me, they were not aware of a very important statistic, which both I and my campaign manager, Wesley MacD. Holder, knew.
11、 In my district there are 2.5 women for every man registered to vote. And those are organized in PTAs, church societies, card clubs, and other social and service groups. I went to them and asked their help. Mr. Farmer still doesnt quite know what hit him. 10. When a bright young woman graduate start
12、s looking for a job, why is the first question always: “Can you type?” A history of prejudice lies behind that question. Why are women thought of as secretaries, not administrators? Librarians and teachers, but not doctors and lawyers? Because they are thought of as different and inferior. The happy
13、 homemaker and the contented darky are both stereotypes produced by prejudice. 11.Women have not even reached the level of tokenism that blacks are reaching. No women sit on the Supreme Court. Only two have held Cabinet rank, and none do at present. Only two women hold ambassadorial rank. But women
14、predominate in the lower-paying, menial, unrewarding, dead-end jobs, and when they do reach better positions, they are invariably paid less than a man gets for the same job. 12.If that is not prejudice, what would you call it?13.A few years ago, I was talking with a political leader about a promisin
15、g young woman as a candidate. “Why invest time and effort to build the girl up?” he asked me. “You know shell only drop out of the game to have a couple of kids just about the time were ready to run her for mayor.” 14.Plenty of people have said similar things about me. Plenty of others have advised
16、me, every time I tried to take another upward step, that I should go back to teaching, a womans vocation, and leave politics to the men. I love teaching, and I am ready to go back to it as soon as I am convinced that this country no longer needs a womans contribution. 15.When there are no children going to bed hungry in this rich nation, I may be ready to go back to teaching. When there is a
