Ruth Rosen: Berkeley Blues
The young man in change of checking people’s identification cards as you enter the University of California, Berkeley library noticed my faculty card. He stopped me.
“Say professor,” he said, “could I ask you a question?” I looked at his serious face. His eyes were deep brown, his skin even darker. His smile was warm and appealing. “Sure,” I answered, knowing that I was early for a two-hour library class to teach my students how to do electronic research.
“Do you think this country is ready for a black or a woman?” He asked as if he really cared, so I took his question seriously. “I don’t really know,” I answered honestly, “because Americans tend to lie to pollsters in public and vote differently in private.”
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a black man could overcome all the terrible stereotypes about men in prison, violence men, and urban gangs? " “It sure would,” I said. “And I have been very impressed by Obama so far. It’s remarkable to see a white woman and a black man competethirty or more years after we struggled for basic civic rights.
“Yea,” he said. “But you know what?” I don’t think a woman should ever be president.” Looking down at the book he was reading, he told me how the bible insisted that a man should head his household. “So a man should rule the country.” Memories of working in the civil rights movement flooded me. “So I believe in racial equality,” I said, “but you don’t believe in gender equality?”
He hesitated and said, “Look I think it’s okay for women to do important things but men must rule the home and the country. They each have important but different things to do in this world. That’s what I learned from the bible.”
I paused, knowing that I needed to meet my students at the library computer lab. “Well,” I said, “do you realize you’re proposing a kind of “separate but equal” solution whichwas outlawed for blacks in the 1950’s? We discussed this a little more and then I said, “I think we’ll have to agree to disagree. We clasped our hands in friendship, rather than shaking them, I met my class, all of whom wondered why I had been talking so animatedly with the guy who checks your identification card. I told them about our conversation. And, it was at that moment that I understood what I have intuitively felt for a very, long time--that women of all races and ethnicities will probably have far more difficulty, in this nation, running for president than will black men.
“Say professor,” he said, “could I ask you a question?” I looked at his serious face. His eyes were deep brown, his skin even darker. His smile was warm and appealing. “Sure,” I answered, knowing that I was early for a two-hour library class to teach my students how to do electronic research.
“Do you think this country is ready for a black or a woman?” He asked as if he really cared, so I took his question seriously. “I don’t really know,” I answered honestly, “because Americans tend to lie to pollsters in public and vote differently in private.”
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a black man could overcome all the terrible stereotypes about men in prison, violence men, and urban gangs? " “It sure would,” I said. “And I have been very impressed by Obama so far. It’s remarkable to see a white woman and a black man competethirty or more years after we struggled for basic civic rights.
“Yea,” he said. “But you know what?” I don’t think a woman should ever be president.” Looking down at the book he was reading, he told me how the bible insisted that a man should head his household. “So a man should rule the country.” Memories of working in the civil rights movement flooded me. “So I believe in racial equality,” I said, “but you don’t believe in gender equality?”
He hesitated and said, “Look I think it’s okay for women to do important things but men must rule the home and the country. They each have important but different things to do in this world. That’s what I learned from the bible.”
I paused, knowing that I needed to meet my students at the library computer lab. “Well,” I said, “do you realize you’re proposing a kind of “separate but equal” solution whichwas outlawed for blacks in the 1950’s? We discussed this a little more and then I said, “I think we’ll have to agree to disagree. We clasped our hands in friendship, rather than shaking them, I met my class, all of whom wondered why I had been talking so animatedly with the guy who checks your identification card. I told them about our conversation. And, it was at that moment that I understood what I have intuitively felt for a very, long time--that women of all races and ethnicities will probably have far more difficulty, in this nation, running for president than will black men.