Then again, how can you be what you never were? I had a diary on this written earlier and it went poof. Made a comment about it in another diary and someone suggested it was still worth diarying so here 'tis.
As a woman of color who's had countless people throughout my life remind me that I was "different", this just pissed me off.
Roger Ailes: Soledad O'Brien Was 'Named After A Prison'
I don't expect anything decent from Roger Ailes. But it is illustrative of the Pat Buchanan / John Derbyshire / Roger Ailes view of the world and how anything that's not white or Anglo-Saxon in origin is to be mocked or treated as less than, and there solely for the purpose of your "jokes".
For those who don't speak Spanish, the word "soledad" means solitude. It's also a fairly common female name. In this case, it applies to Soledad O'Brien of CNN. But as far as Ailes and his icky ilk are concerned:
"that girl that's named after a prison."
Yes there is a prison in Soledad, CA that's commonly referred to by only the name Soledad. But funny how that's the first and only thing that comes to mind for Ailes to mention. Is that because in Ailes world prisons are filled with brown and black people?
And what of his "that girl" comment? Yet another example of the "not War on Women" from the right. Does Ailes get away with referring to the women on his network like this? Diminishing their adulthood with Mad Men era references? Do they take it? Sadly, I think they may.
Got news for you Mr. Ailes. It's not 1950 and this shit isn't funny. Women, and women of color and all ethnicities are in the workplace to stay. We may not all have first names of Sally, Ann, and Jane (and I'm not picking on Sallies, Anns, or Janes) but we're here. We may not all have impermeable blonde Callista Gingrich hair that wouldn't move in a hurricane but we're here.
Melissa Harris-Perry with her beautiful braids that match her beautiful brain is far more worth watching than the vapid bobble bots, both male and female, that you employ Mr. Ailes.
A little more about María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien:
O'Brien's parents married in 1958 in Washington, D.C. Her father Edward, an Australian (from Toowoomba, Queensland)[5] of Irish descent, was a mechanical engineering professor.[6] Her mother, Estella, who is Afro-Cuban, was a French and English teacher.[6] O'Brien is the fifth of six children, who all graduated from Harvard College; O'Brien attended Harvard from 1984 to 1988, but did not obtain a degree until she returned in 2000.[7] Her siblings are law professor Maria (born 1961); corporate lawyer Cecilia (born 1962), businessman Tony (born 1963) - who heads a documents company;[5] eye surgeon Estela (born 1964); and anesthesiologist Orestes (born 1967).[6][8]
Doctors, lawyer, business person, professor, journalist. From a couple who are the quintessential American immigrant success story. Despite:
At the time, interracial marriage in Maryland was illegal, so O'Brien's parents married in Washington, D.C. where marriage laws were less restrictive.
Yes, ignorant blowholes say ignorant things. Why should today be any different than any other day. After a lifetime of hearing them however, it just pissed me off today. I'm just sick of the overt and covert racism and sexism. Just effing sick of it.