Over the weekend, Squad member Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) spoke at the Netroots Nation conference in Philadelphia, and brought the house down with her fiery comments about identity politics.
To recap, here’s what she said:
Rep Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) “We don’t need any more brown faces that don’t want to be a brown voice. We don’t need black faces that don’t want to be a black voice. We don’t need Muslims that don’t want to be a Muslim voice. We don’t need queers that don’t want to be a queer voice” pic.twitter.com/2NIj5Vvcor
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) July 15, 2019
In other words, if you are one of those minority voices and don’t 100% toe the Squad’s line on black issues, LGTBQ issues, Hispanic issues, and Muslim issues, you are an inauthentic minority and your voice doesn’t count.
North Carolina resident and Trump supporter Shemeka Michelle had some issues with Pressley’s narrow-minded opinion, and took to the Twitter machine with a video to ask if her black voice would meet with the Congresswoman’s approval:
Can someone ask #AyannaPressley how a Black voice sounds?
Here’s the latest edition of #blackfacesblackvoices
I’m not sure if she’ll approve, but I did my best. 😎 pic.twitter.com/yqeNuHvB9a
— Shemeka Michelle (@ShemekaMichelle) July 17, 2019
“Can ya dig it, home skillet?” I love it!
Pressley’s rant is just another example of the Democratic party’s duplicity when it comes to being a so-called “big tent” of ideas. They’re only into “diversity” if the “diverse” members of their party march in lockstep with the liberal line.
As a woman, I don’t meet with their approval because I’m not on board with the pro-abortion agenda of radical left-wing feminists. It doesn’t make me an extremist in the real world, but to the activist left, it makes my voice inauthentic, unworthy of serious consideration, but yet at the same time “dangerous.”
For black conservative voices like Shemeka Michelle’s, that goes double, sadly.
Is it possible that Pressley, who comes off as the more serious-minded of “The Squad”, would reconsider her divisive Netroots Nation words in retrospect?
Of course not. Here’s what she said when asked about her remarks a few days later:
“I’m trying to understand why you can be a veteran and say you want to fight for veterans’ rights. You could have battled and overcome substance abuse disorder and say I’m going to fight for the recovery community. You could be a former iron worker and say I’m going to fight for workers’ rights, and no one flinches. But as a woman, you have to apologize for wanting to affirm your rights as a woman. And as a black woman, I’m expected to be an apologist,” she said.
That’s a 100% strawman argument, because criticisms of opinions like the one Pressley expressed have nothing to do with wanting women – black, brown or otherwise – to be apologists for who they are, but you go with that, ma’am. You go with it if it makes you feel better about marginalizing people’s voices because they have the nerve to have a different viewpoint than you.
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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –
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