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.
-Maya Angelou, Jan 20, 2008, published in The Observer
What a lovely thought… all of it!
Yes and rabid Obama fans on the site Bossip called Angelou a Ho for not supporting Obama, “even though they were not calling her a ho”. Figure that one out.
Nevertheless, WAOD’s did not take kindly to it and started a campaign that caused Bossip a sponser or two. Got to love it!
http://whataboutourdaughters.blogspot.com/2008/01/oh-heyeeeeel-no-bossip-calls-maya.html
Well, this Obama voter loves it and loves Maya as much as ever! Thanks Maya, and Heart for posting.
awesome
i loved this.
Maya, please try to steer Oprah in the other direction, please. She loves you. Hillary needs all the help she can get. Please endorse her. Obama isn’t black, he’s green.
Obama’s green? As in, inexperienced? As in, four years older than Clinton (who had no D.C. experience when he became president), JFK, and Teddy Roosevelt when they became president??
It’s about time!
I was surprised when Alice Walker endorsed Obama. And confused - I thought she could see through the veil. I expected her to endorse my favorite candidate, Cynthia McKinney.
Please remember that neither of these candidates will help
us: they work for the same corporate giants and do not care about the poor, the working poor, average people, and those of us w/o health care!
This could be a brilliant time to re-create a women’s front for human rights.
shy virago,
I thought Walker would endorse McKinney, too. I didn’t see her as an establishment Dem type at all!
Winfrey and Angelou supposedly fell out over this political difference, interestingly enough. They used to have a mother-daughter type of relationship. It’s no big deal to me or anything, since I’m not a fan of Winfrey (no one on TV is more pro-capitalist, pro-male, pro-heterosupremacy, etc.), but it’s kind of sad anyway.
McKinney. Kucinich. I want a peace candidate not a war candidate, and Hillary is a war candidate. Never regretted the lets-go-to-Iraq vote, doesn’t think the death penalty needs reconsideration, voted for the Patriot Act, and so on.
Very heart-warming. I wonder why the main stream media has not given this a bit of attention it surely deserves!!
I really hate having to be forced to defend Hillary Clinton, who has supported the imperialist and dictatorial forces in our government.
But the sexism directed against her is absolutely poisonous, I don’t think Obama will be any better and so I can’t help but wish for her to win out in spite of all the misogynist opposition against her. (No she won’t do anything to make our foreign policy problems better but neither will any other major candidate).
Maya Angelou is eloquent and compelling as always.
Blessings to Dr. Maya Angelou, for standing-up for trust and truths.
I know Hillary is for ALL peoples in America and the world and for future generations to come. For peace, love & contentment.
If you reseach President Bill Clintons accomplishments for 8 years it is the top of ANY President.
I would want him for my teacher and mentor, if I were in charge of the American peoples.
(at this time more then ever)
Research everything and everybody that has your interest and future America.
Thank you, Dr. Angelou. In the early days of these campaigns, I wasn’t certain who I would choose because I knew it would be groundbreaking to have 1) a woman as president and 2) an african-american as president. (Most of all, I can’t believe that those statements are such a big deal in the a country that is supposed to be the #1 world power.) Today, there is no indecision after watching and listening. I simply could not vote for anyone but Hilary Clinton. She is who she is and we know who she is, unlike the other candidates. There are several things that have stood out for me in the campaigning, but I will mention two:
1) The scene where Obama does not salute our flag and he wants to be president (would someone please explain that to me??????) and 2) The recent incidents in which Chelsea was addressing college crowds and idiots in the audience asked about personal matters between her parents (and these folks are college students — seems to me they need to go back to the sandbox to learn how to behave), I was really proud of Chelsea for her responses. Go, Chelsea.
[...] The new Hillary ad campaign in Pennsylvania, and Obama’s diminishing returns on his cash investments, means that Hillary has probably passed her low point in Pennsylvania (which was not much of a low point) and will now - in Maya Angelou’s words - RISE . [...]
Hello Maya Angelou! my name is mary jane tina mortimer. but feel free to call me tina. I am 11 years old. I love to dance, sing, and write songs and music. you and oprah are my only roll models because you two are thee two peaple i can relate to. I am a rape victim. I’ve been raped in my church inside a room. And you guys helped me some what to kinda move on. I’m a very stronge christen. I know you get this a lot but I LLLLLOOOOOOVEE the things you do. and here is a little bit of my poem of mine and feel free to put a little feed back. so here goes.. and the poems name is If; Just If.
If I could have that one chance I would show the world who I really am inside, I would’nt step back on anything or just find a palce to hide. I would except who I really am even if I’am not the best or even if I’m not worth a BIG GRAND PRIZE I’m worth more if I suggest. I may not be the smartest or I may not be the prettest I’m worth all that in gods eyes, I still can’t change what peaple say about me but trust I will survive. Don’t take any any bad thing people may say about you to to heart cause your worth better than that, not even the personal things like your ugly or fat. Cause God made you the prettyest any boy or girl could be, you can chang the world trust and you’ll see.
Wow, Tina, what an amazing story and an amazing poem, thank you so much for posting it here! I’m not Maya Angelou, I’m Heart, I just posted Maya Angelou’s youtube on my blog. But I’ll try to get your poem and letter to Maya Angelou– I’m betting she’d love to read what you’ve written.
What an inspiration you are. Thanks again for posting to my blog.
Heart
Any woman who models her notions of strength and toughness on the very worst characteristics of male machismo and stupidity is not the role model we need for women to achive. I do not honor Clinton simply because she happens to share my gender when she emulates foolhardy bravado and demonstrates an alarming lack of integrity, honesty and integrity. She exploits her gender to appeal to woman who have been exploited by men, and through her vicariously feel vindication. The irony is Clinton channels the very aspects of authoritarian swagger that victimizes women–and her stooping to divisive racial-baiting should make every women who honors the superior traditional feminine values of nurturing and compassion, ashamed.
What an inspirational message by Maya Angelo!Another ‘compssionate’ voice, like Hillary’s, speaking out for all Women… Women that have not been afraid to rise up and meet the challenges of Life and, for the ‘good’ of all mankind… And, for Maya to cut through the ‘racial divide’ and endorse Hillary in this critical Race; is definitely a ‘historical’ moment in and of itself and, makes a statement to all Woman….in a Man’s World, if you will! It is time that we bond together…no matter what our race, nationality or, creed… If we don’t stand up as Sisters, we cannot expect change or solutions or, equality!
“traditional feminine values of nurturing and compassion, ashamed.”
Oy vey, do I have to get stuck being a traditional woman till the end of time…no thanks! What about the traditional Amazon virtues of strength, daring, courage and stamina?
What about the power of the woman out in the world speaking in public, telling a story? (Remember the days when it was considered “unfeminine” to even be able to give a speech in public?
Sometimes, I just get sick of being put in the “compassion’ ghetto or the “nurturing” ghetto — in fact, if I can think of one word that makes my radical lesbian ax weilding blood boil the most, it is being labeled as “nurturing!” Ugh! Where have all the women warriors gone? Long time passing!
Yeah, Hillary Clinton can tell a story. The problem is, some of those stories are self-serving whoppers. That story about her dodging sniper fire visiting Bosnia did not exactly demonstrate her prowess as a woman warrior. She earned those large numbers of people who think her untrustworthy. That story was no fluke. In one of the debates she referenced that old lie about Saddam Hussein kicking out the weapons inspectors. Now she is claiming she is ahead in the popular vote. In her dreams, her fuzzy math might add up. She is a disgrace to feminism.
Satsuma,
you bring up a point that is NOT BEING ADDRESSED IN THIS CAMPAIGN WAR,
so I will address it now…
the POLITICAL CLIMATE
if we think its bad for women [AND ITS GOING TO GET WORSE--WELCOME TO THE FOURTH REICH SISTERS, CONTROLLED BY BOTH BLACK WHITE AND BROWN]
IT is going to be HELL
FOR LESBIANS AND BIS.
THE ENTIRE GLBT COMMUNITY,
of which Both
McCain and Obama camps–HATE.
Stalinist antisemitic nationalism and Hitler type or Capitalist white type of nationalism
BOTH HATE GAYS
AND THEY BOTH
KILLED GAYS.
Stalin HATED LESBIANS
and you want to know something,
THE FAR LEFT STALINIST CAMPS TODAY
HATE
LESBIANS.
The far right moonbats will march and scream and kill lesbians and GLBT in the fields, when they can
THE FAR LEFT–
WILL ROUND THEM UP,
AND KILL EACH AND EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM, RAPE THE LESBIANS/BIS TO ‘CURE US’,
THEN
THEY’LL SAY,
“IN OUR COUNTRY WE DON’T HAVE GAYS”
AND AT THE UNIVERISITIES THEY WILL SAY THIS
AND THE
NATIONALISTS AND WOMEN HATERS
WILL
CHEER.
for the GLBT community to Support the far left-
IS SUICIDE.
YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST STAND IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR AND JUST STAB YOURSELF TODAY
BECAUSE
WHEN THEY GET IN TO POWER
THEY
WILL.
ON THAT–I PROMISE.
This is a VERY dangerous time, and WE ARE BEING SOLD OUT BY MEN
AND BY
WOMEN.
Today, is the Day sisters,
we draw the lines,
WE ARE FOR WOMEN
ARE WE ARE NOT.
CAN’T BE BOTH–SITTING ON THE FENCE.
AND THERE IS A REASON–WHY THE BOTH CAMPS ARE BEING SILENT ON THIS ISSUE
one more thing–the far left that say they support gays,
yea,
GAY MEN
NOT LESBIANS…
when I was booted and persecuted in far left for standing up for Women’s HUMAN RIGHTS
there was another, woman, they did the same shit to her,
FOR STANDING UP FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS,
in fact we worked some together on GLBT RIGHTS…
when they got the PRO-WOMAN HATING LETS WEAR THE BURKAS IN POWER IN THE PARTY APPARATUS
the FIRST THING THEY DID
they got Rid, of the GLBT RIGHTS COMMITTEE.
IF you ain’t sucking dick you aint’ got no rights to even live–
hate to be really just blunt here, but thats what WE ALL
are up against…
its not just women’s human rights that are in danger
its GLBT rights that are in even MORE DANGER.
DO NOT BELIEVE THE LIES AND PROPAGANDA THAT SOME IN FAR LEFT SELL YOU…
they are worse–when it comes to how they view women who COMPLETELY REJECT BOTH PATRIARCHY AND HETEROSEXUAL SUPREMACY,
and the women who cave in and bow down on their knees worshiping the MALE DEMI GOD CULTS OF PERSONALITY
WILL DO NOTHING AND THEY WILL EVEN SUPPORT AND CHEER
WHEN THEY HANG
BOTH FEMINIST WOMAN
AND FEMINIST LESBIAN-BI WOMAN
ON THE CRANES.
mark my Words on this one…
Tasha
Hey Tasha,
You’ve got all that right!