In this election cycle minorities, women and working class Americans with democratic leanings should be ecstatic. Instead, far too many of us have been marginalized, insulted, condescended to and dismissed...by our own Democratic Party. I cannot speak for anyone beyond myself, a young African-American female who has voted in every election big and small since she was 18 years old, but I imagine I am not the only one tired of being caricatured as an idiot, regardless of who I support. I am an Obama supporter but that is not what this petition is about. This is about our party not recognizing itself as such. For 40 years the black voter has kept the Democrats viable. In exchange we get the leading party statesman wagging his finger at us for daring to think for ourselves. We have watched elders like Mr. Rangel sell his political clout, ostensibly on our behalf, in exchange for a seat at the table of another Clinton White House. CNN reduced black female voters in S.C. to nothing more than cliches of race and sex, overlooking our ability to think as mothers, daughters, sisters, entrepreneurs, students, activists or Americans. Gloria Steinman suggested that black female voters should ignore the history of racism within the feminist community and forgive her for a poorly written and ill-advised op-ed in the New York Times. Through this all the Democratic Party has allowed its strongest, most faithful constituency to be treated like an afterthought. I cannot be certain what smarts more: their silence in this storm of hatred and race-baiting or the clear assumption that we can be brought back into the fold in time for the general election. I am tired of this. I am betting that I am not the only one. By signing this petition you can send a message to the Democratic Party: the black vote is not to be taken for granted. Neither is it to be bargain-rated. Should this party and its candidates continue to treat us this way, your signature says you will revolt. It is a new day in American politics. The Democrats are not the only show in town. And I do not hate a vote for McCain or an Independent candidate nearly as much as I hate being treated like the help at my own Party. Signed,

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