Sheila Leslie

Progressives’ good week Changes one world

Progressives had a very good week. So good Caitlyn Jenner and Rachel Dolezal each has that the New York Times dubbed self-idenified as something they it the Liberal Spring. So good that were not. Each has inherited genetic Republican Sen. Ted Cruz called it characteristics but has altered their “some of the darkest 24 hours in our cultural characteristics to become nation’s history.” After the humilia-something different. Caitlyn tion of the 2014 elections, it felt good is transsexual, while Rachel is by by to be hopeful and inspired again. transracial. Sheila Leslie Brendan As the Confederate flags started Genetic makeup is determined

Trainor coming down in solidarity with the by your birth. Caitlyn was born murdered citizens of Charleston, Bruce because he had male genitaa nation seemed to wake up to the lia. Dolezal was white because her dangers of homegrown right-wing parents are apparently white. extremism. But your cultural identity is Then the Supreme Court affirmed shaped by more complex factors. Obamacare, and the 17 million Gender is largely what society defines Americans who now have health it as, behavior not biology. Well insurance breathed a huge sigh before modern sex reassignment of relief, escaping the chaos of an surgery, some men dressed as women adverse decision. and women as men. The surgery And finally, marriage. What makes the cultural construction physiseemed impossible in 2009, when it cal, forcing us to confront the reality was all the Nevada Legislature could directly. What exactly is the self? do to override Gov. Jim Gibbons’ Others have passed for different veto of domestic partnerships, is now races as well. Since being lightthe law of the land. Social media skinned confers more advantages could barely contain itself. in Western society than being There were naysayers, to be sure. dark-skinned does, many pass for They said it wasn’t a flag or a gun that white if they can. Although more killed the church members, it was a deranged young man, and we’ll never know why. This, despite the photos and words that clearly portrayed a racist white man, fueled by hatred, who bought a gun to express his views in the most despicable way.

Republican leaders refused to give up their holy war against health care for the millions of Americans who need Obamacare because their employers won’t provide health insurance and their Republican governors refuse to expand Medicaid to cover low-wage workers. And don’t think they’re giving up now, just because the Supreme Court has ruled.

The rhetoric was predictable with rants from Mississippi’s Gov. Phil Bryant about “the socialist takeover of health care forced down the throats of the American people,” not to mention all the Republican presidential candidates and congressional leaders who vowed to continue their fight to “repeal and replace” Obamacare. Not one provided even a glimmer of what the replacement plan would be, even as more than a few of their consultants acknowledged they were relieved the Supreme Court decision meant the phantom replacement plan could now remain a secret forever.

Nevada’s Republican leaders were more muted in their criticism, realizing that Obamacare has had a tremendous positive effect here through the expansion of Medicaid and access to subsidies on the exchange. While avoiding any praise for the president, Gov. Sandoval couldn’t help but point out that the number of uninsured in Nevada has been cut in half since Obamacare was implemented.

But it was Friday’s decision to allow all to marry that made progressives giddy with happiness. And not just those who suddenly had the right to marry. Straight friends, neighbors and family members were genuine in their joy, witnessing the shift to equality many thought would not arrive in their lifetimes. The ruling was a testament to the courage so many individuals showed over the years through quiet and difficult

rare, some whites have passed for conversations with family members black as well. Most notable was as well as suffering through angry Effa Manley, the only woman in public confrontations with right-wing the baseball Hall of Fame. She zealots who portrayed homosexuality was inducted for her career in the as a sin against God and country. Negro Leagues. She, like Rachel Again, Republican leaders Dolezal, was a white woman who remained mired in a pitiful and passed for black. increasingly petty litany of personal

Historian Thaddeus Russell religious opinions and arguments of believes this cultural shift started states rights to explain their discrimiwith blackface minstrel shows, natory views, despite evidence that which he said were not racist, many in their own party, especially but a crude way for the masses young people, have fully embraced to appreciate black culture. Then equal rights. it progressed to jazz hipster, The triumphs of last week arrived Motown lovers and now hip-hop like a thunderbolt, as President culture. Dolezal does not dream of Obama suggested, even to those who performing in the cafes of Paris like had anticipated the Supreme Court Josephine Baker, but rather being decisions. While many Republicans featured on the cover of Ebony vow to move the country backward magazine with her $2,000 updo as through constitutional amendments a competent, upper-middle-class, or replacing jurists, it falls upon the black woman. Like, allegedly, rest of us to harness renewed progresElizabeth Warren, she used her sive energy toward other intractable self-identification to obtain race- problems: corporate corruption in our based benefits. Dolezal insists she politics, gender equity, and ensuring is black, which crosses a line for every American is able to vote. some people. But transsexuals also Last week proved it can be done.Ω live on a continuum from part-time transvestitism to full-time surgical realignment. Should Dolezal be blamed for gaming the affirmative action mess we created? Genetics does not determine racial identity. In fact, race is not genetic. There really is no genebased race except human race. The traits that differentiate races and ethnicities are based on geographical and cultural development and adaption far more than the minor genetics involved with the levels of melanin in the skin or how the skin wraps around the eyes. Modern medicine has made the future for the Caitlyn Jenners of the world brighter. Now people really can construct a physiology around their self-identification that defies genetics. Medical advances could even one day allow childbirth for transsexuals. Unlike Dolezal’s story, the Bruce-to-Caitlyn life story has been met with a sense of wonder by the world, not headscratching wonderment. Both stories illustrate the individuation that our increasing wealth and education allow. Every generation can expect to have the opportunity for even more selfexploration and experimentation. The mentality of the herd that enabled survival of our species since the Ice Age is being cast off and replaced by the self-creating individual. There are still vestiges left, of course. Collectivist thought often dominates much of our PC big government world. Race- and gender-based violence still exists, but the united outpouring of love after the Charleston massacre reveals the revulsion most feel about hatred of superficial differences today. Outspoken racists like Dylann Roof are thankfully more rare now. For libertarians, the next big step will be the ability for individuals to choose their own government. Most today cannot even imagine what that will be like. But then again, no one could imagine only a few years ago what Caitlyn Jenner would look like, either. Ω

Occupy Wall Street has a pretty good explanation of white privilege: http:// occupywallstreet. net/story/explainingRepublican presidential candidates had a white-privilege-brokewhite-person spectrum of responses to the marriage decision: http:// tinyurl.com/qbj74ha.