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Hi Troy, This makes me wonder how I’m perceived in a first sight impression. Am I seen first as a woman, of female gender? Or does my Black skin color overshadow the woman that I am? How does my appearance in terms of my age impact any of this—meaning am I perceived as an older, Black woman or am I a woman who happens to be Black who is up in the years? I would think that one would have to determine how they want to discriminate against you based on his or her perception of who you are. I really don’t know how one discriminates against me without knowing who I am or what I am all about. Lots of time people seem to like me until I open my mouth and share my thoughts—and then they decide how they want to treat me in terms of my race, age, and/or gender or my gender, age, and /or race. This is a tricky one. I would like to think that people discriminate against other people for a combination of reasons based on their perceptions, experiences, ideologies, and beliefs. If, for example, a man who sees me and believes that I should behave in a certain way as a woman and somehow I violate his beliefs, then there it is. But if this same person uses his ignorance to see my Black skin as a threat of sorts, then he will act accordingly. But what if this person has a disdain for woman in general and is prejudice against African-Americans? In this case, I could get a double-dose of discrimination. It’s not so simple to just discriminate against women, black women, or black women in a given age range. For me, when I see a person whose race is different than mine, I think I see race first, followed immediately by that person’s gender. When I refer to another, I usually refer to him or her by saying that Black man or white woman, or that Hispanic girl. I never say that man who is African-American or Black or that woman who is Caucasian. With that being said, I think race-first may be the answer in how first to discriminate against another. As far as Secretary Clinton is concerned, if I had to describe her, she would be the White, woman, Secretary of State who is running for the office President. Now if I were a racist, I think a disdain for her race would trump everything else--I would only see a white woman with no regard for what she stands for or who she really is--my judgment of her would be clouded by an ignorant perception. Sorry I couldn’t resist the trump part. In conclusion, it is is likely that the choice to discriminate may be to notice race, gender, age, and occupation/status in this order. There is nothing research-based in this. This is only my opinion--a very thought-provoking opinion I might add.

I'm not a political theorist and Astrological charts and human nature are informing my position. Trump is one of the most important Presidential candidates since King George I I. Since he signals a tectonic shift in politics. No I don't think he's business as usual since the Republican party aren't endorsing him. There are a few Political Astrologers. Who believe Trump beats Clinton, but Bernie can defeat Trump because they both represent change. I think Trump would be a better President than either Clinton or Bernie. Bernie wants fairness Clinton wants power, and Trump wants his ego stroked. So failure is a bigger issue for him. And I believe be will be Machiavelliapurs order not to be a failure. Will post more about the sinking stocks of the US And the buy ib and sell out of politics. This is the beginning of a bigger Geo Political swing. And a client changing of the guards that will be complete by 2024

Sure how we perceive others is indeed a function of who we are, but who we are is a function of our culture and our position within the culture. Based upon Zane's statement and the apparent lack of universal female support for Hillary's campaign, I think this reveals our culture's marginalization of women relative to men: Surely a man, even a Black one with little experience, or a reality-TV celebrity with zero experience, would be a better president, than even a strongly qualified woman. I'd also image at Hillary's level the people she encounters, of consequence, will be white males, so they will be the ones in a position to jam her up. Therefore Hillary will encounter more sexism than racism. like most successful women of any so called race.

“If the public don’t attach any particular importance to paying for creative work, they’re unlikely to feel a sense of outrage when a company like Huff Post doesn’t attach a great deal of importance to it either.”—James Bloodworth You know when white men start complaining it is REALLY bad. Salon recently interviewed James Bloodworth on this subject which James writes more about in his book The Myth of Meritocracy.

@Dr. Jazzy, thanks for making this post. It is interesting to see how many people sited Park's work (someone I was unaware of until I read your post). This lead me to work of Gunner Myrdal, Marlon Ross, and other scholars who cite his work. Ralph Ellison wrote of Park, "Dr. Robert F. Park was both a greater scientist and, in his attitude toward Negroes, a greater democrat than William Graham Sumner." This will keep me busy for a while, I can't comment as some of this thinking a new to me.

Pioneer, yes! This has been my reason to vote since before I left Brooklyn in the 90s... EVERYTHING happens at the local level. Thanks to the Republican party in Illinois, I saw this from the field...They put me in the game. And that game is brutal and those dudes are gangsta. I mean, drive-by gangsta too. It just so happen I was in the right place to be appointed a precinct committeemen for the Republican party..Precinct committeemen is an elected position but you can also be appointed by the State's county party chairman. I was appointed to the position in 2006 and I held until I voted for President Obama in the 2008 primary. (you cannot be a republican precinct committemen and pull a democrat ballot :heavy sigh:) In Illinois and I suspect most everywhere, as a precinct official, you are responsible for registering the people in your precinct (right there in their homes) and campaigning for the candidates you believe in..The candidates are beholden to you, (kinda). In this position you can literally stop a candidate from making it to the ballot or even to office. I made sure I did my best to make sure one millionaire didn't get on the ballot because he wanted to be involved in too many bedroom issues. But I digress. That is how much power is in the hands of the precinct committeeman at the local level. It was a great learning experience and although I'm a swing voter who votes mostly on issues - I still appreciate the Illinois Republicans for giving me that opportunity. I'm a huge advocate for voting in every single election even those off-off year elections. There are so many referendums on the local ballots that affect everything in our communities from how long judges can serve - to whether state workers can keep their pensions or have the state treasurer raid them (I voted on that one in Illinois before I left) to who sits on the school board to penny taxes that will put lights on our highways (commissioners discussed that last night in our local meeting)... I vote presidential simply because they are on the ballot when I go to vote.

YES! YES! YES!!! I hadn't noticed it until now but I usually review self-help styled books and my reviews are reviewed favorably... those who had the best reviewed-reviews of my book were fans of the genre.. thank you @Cynique for that excellent observation!