How We Are Fighting Back

WomenCount Pac placed a full-page ad in yesterday's New York Times emphasizing that Hillary Clinton is still very much alive in this race. I am proud to report that I was of the contributors for this ad. There is a spontaneous movement to confront the sexism behind the assumption that Obama will be the nominee. Groups across the country are creating websites and blogs and raising money to purchase ads. WomenCount is just one of many. I am working with a PAC in Newton, MA, CounttheVotes, to place ads in regional papers. Women are mobilizing to lend support to Hillary Clinton, whose campaign is becoming a feminist issue. I have pasted below a statement about the ad from WomenCount Pac and a letter by Dr. Lynette Long about the politics of race and gender. I could paste much more information, as I am receiving several notices a day about new efforts to fight back!

Team Hillary - please read the email below and if possible please send acontribution by following the directions below. Kay Khan _____ From: Susie Buell [mailto:susie@buellofficesf.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 2:38 PMTo: Belinda V. Munoz; Baribeau, ElizabethSubject: Today's New York Times, page 9 Dear WomenCount PAC Supporters: Have you seen the ad on page 9 in today's New York Times? It's been another HUGE day for WomenCount PAC and the work we're doing forHillary and her supporters around the country. Our "Not So Fast" ad ran thismorning in the New York Times, and once again the response has beenenormous. Already today the ad has been featured on The Today Show, GoodMorning America, and CNN. We have interviews lined up with ABC, FOX, andothers. It's all over the web and print press and the calls are still comingin. All of which ONCE AGAIN underscores the passion, the strength, and the sheerforce of the voices of women all around the country. Now, WE MUST NOT REST.We must continue to spread our message that every vote must be cast, andevery vote must be counted before this race is over. In addition to the NewYork Times, our ads have also run in USA Today and local papers throughoutKentucky and Oregon.We are currently working on new ads to run at the end of the week. We willkeep you updated about the content and placement of those ads. For now, weneed your support to keep our message going by supporting the costs of theseads. WILL YOU HELP US? PLEASE DIG DEEP AND CONTRIBUTE TO WOMENCOUNT PAC sowe can shout out to the world that our voices count and must be heard. Wehave attached a contribution form. Just print it out and fax it back withyour credit card information. It's so easy. You just need to do it! To contribute using a credit card, please fill out the attached form withyour signature and fax it back to: (415) 732-7701To contribute with a check: please make it payable to WomenCount PAC andsend it to:WomenCount PAC c/o: Megan AsmusThe Sutton Law Firm, PC 150 Post Street, Suite 405 , San Francisco, CA 94108t: (415) 248-7825; f: belindavm@buellofficesf.com Here's some more exciting news. Our web site is up!!!! Check outwww.womencountpac.com <http://www.womencountpac.com/> . Thank you for your continuing support for this very important effort.Last but not least, below is a letter by Dr. Long that we'd like to sharewith you. Read it if you want to be moved into action! (NOTE: The lastparagraph of this letter has been omitted.) From: Dr. Lynette LongFirst I want to thank each and every one of you for writing to me. I wantto apologize for sending a group email, but I got hundreds of letters. Iwant you to know you are not alone. There are millions of women who feel asyou do, that the Democratic National Primary Campaign uncovered thepervasive and insidious sexism that runs rampant through our country. ThatHillary Clinton is the most qualified candidate, and that she is beingcheated out of the nomination by the good old boys network, the DNC and theMainstream Media. You are angry. You are in a rage. I am too. Underneath that rage is sadness, sadness that we are second class citizensin a country where we are the majority. What's especially disquieting to meis that many young women are blind to the sexist nature of the world inwhich we live. It's our job, each and every one of us, to educate them.Economically, women earn seventy-seven cents on the dollar for the same workcompared to men. Women are in significantly fewer managerial positions, areless likely to own a business and more likely to live in poverty.Politically, women comprise fifty-two percent of the population and an evenen larger share of the voting public yet only sixteen of the current onehundred Untied States Senators are women. Similarly, only sixteen percentof the current members of the House of Representatives are women. There isonly one female Supreme Court Justice on a nine member court and mostremarkably America has never had a female president or presidential nominee.Women did not get the right to vote in the United States until 1920. Theglass ceiling is real on both economical and political fronts. Men wantparity for their daughters and granddaughters but not for the women sittingbeside them. They are not going to give us the power that should be ours,we have to take it. Are we ready? Women have no sense of their own power. White women are the largestrace/gender voting block in the country. White men compose the secondlargest voting block, black women the third largest block, and black men arethe smallest race/gender block. White and black women together womencomprise more than fifty percent of the electorate and if were fullycommitted to a single candidate, we could determine the outcome of anyoffice in the country. It is our turn. Are we ready? I am sad that black women do not support Hillary in greater numbers. Manymembers of the black community wrote to me and said they were afraid tostand up for Hillary. They explained how black radio is pressuring it'slisteners to vote for Barack Obama. White men and women alike wrote me andtold me that they were called racist for supporting Hillary Clinton. I wantto remind each and everyone of you that, in 1969, Shirley Chisholm the firstblack woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives said, "Of my twohandicaps, being female put more obstacles in my path than being black."The impact of the "handicaps" of race and gender has not changed in the last40 years. As women we need to come together, and take the power that couldbe ours. Racism and sexism are both terrible barriers, but one is notworse than the other. On average, a black man with a college degree earnsmore than a white woman with the same degree, and a black woman earns lessthan both. Black male physicians earn more than white women physicians, andblack male professors earn more than white female professors. Yet ninetypercent of black women voted for Barack Obama indifferent to the impact ofgender on their struggle or how electing a female president might help them. I want to change the world. I think we can. I think by electing femaleleaders we can create a gentler America. We need to be counted. We needto stand up and let the DNC know we will not get in line. As one woman whowrote me so eloquently put it, the DNC thinks we will vote for Obama becauselike abused women we have nowhere else to go. To be removed from this list, please send an e-mail with "remove" in thesubject line.The Office of Susie Tompkins Buell & Mark BuellP.O. Box 29921San Francisco, CA 94129-9921t: 415.248.7820 f: 415.441.6381