Remembering Shirley Chisholm: A Legacy for Obama and Clinton

Throngs of people as diverse as the people living in these United States flock to hear the powerful words and unifying presence of a dynamic leader whom they believe will become the next President of this nation. Traveling across the country, the "Change" candidate asserts the right to be present in the election. War, the economy, healthcare, education and taxes are the issues of the day and stepping into the historical moment, American politics is faced with its own reflection and legacy of race and gender.




This was 1972. The "Change" candidate was Shirley Chisholm. And while much has changed in 2008, more has remained the same. Senator Obama and Senator Clinton owe the mere possibility and the unprecedented success of both their campaigns to Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, the first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Congress representing the 12th Congressional District of New York and the first Black person and the first woman to run a serious campaign for a major party's nomination for the U.S. Presidency.

As I reflect on the reality that Senator Barack Obama will be the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party, it compelled me to revisit again the life of Shirley Chisholm in the documentary, Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed by filmmaker, Shola Lynch. Because she was, he is...and here are her words that send chills through my being knowing so palpably that her existence and her radically progressive political thoughts were lite years ahead of her time. "The hour has come in America that all of us in this room can no longer be the passive recipients of whatever the politics of a nation may decree for us as citizens within this realm. But if we have the courage of our convictions, if we desire to make a contribution to make this nation to bring about the fulfilment of the American Dream so that it is meaningful for every segment in America, we will forget what the world will say whether we were in our place or out of our place."

Shirley Chisholm ran on a similar platform as both Obama and Clinton and it was she who exposed the racism amongst White men and women and she exposed the sexism amongst Black men and sexism internalized by all women imbued in the fabric of American politics and society. Shirley Chisholm bore the immense weight of an American culture in no way "ready" or "prepared" to accept that a woman, Black person or Black woman could ever lead this country. So great a woman was she that a song written during her campaign articulated the hope invested in her historical bid for the Presidency.

"If you're looking for a road to freedom
Take the Chisholm Trail
Of peace and equality
Take the Chisholm Trail

Proposition coalition
Students, brothers, black and white
She will get us out of Vietnam
She will set our women free
Reach out to the minority..."

The Chisholm Campaign amassed a powerful grassroots coalition unprecedented for the time but representative of the unity and change that so many Americans desired. Shirley Chisholm understood the grave challenges her campaign faced including lack of money, lack of support from the Black political structure in Congress - the Congressional Black Caucus - and leading civil rights organization, lack of support from feminist women political leaders particularly in the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the lack of attention from the media. Ultimately, Chisholm wanted to educate Black Americans about the power of our vote in each and every Presidential Election and that we must never "fear to negotiate" for what we are endowed as human beings.

Although Shirley Chisholm did not successfully win her bid for the Presidency in 1972, she was and continues to be a catalyst for change and she served this country as a U.S. Representative from 1969-1983. Shirley Chisholm embodied progressive political reform, political representation of all the American people and political savvy unmatched by any contemporary of her time. The physical life of Shirley Chisholm has ended; however, her soul, her courage, her integrity, her power and her indefatigable spirit continues to inspire to this day for which Obama and Clinton must remember and be eternally grateful.

"I want to be remembered as a woman who fought for change in the 20th Century."

- Shirley Chisholm