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Sexing politics
BY CAMILLE DODERO
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It’s a harrowing question, but somebody was bound to pose it: "What politician/candidate would be best in bed?" The editors of How To Get Stupid White Men Out of Office: The Anti-Politics, Un-Boring Guide to Power (Soft Skull) asked just that of their contributors. Marisol Enyart, a Latina activist from New Mexico, picks Dennis Kucinich (!) because he’s "a crazy boy — I’m sure he’d be creative." Adrienne Maree Brown, a Brooklyn writer and self-professed "pleasure activist" who helped edit the book, can’t decide between Al Sharpton ("He overdoes everything, which can be quite pleasant") and Kucinich (!!), who "has that gentle, determined approach." Meanwhile, Piper Anderson, a spoken-word artist who’ll be promoting the release of How To Get Stupid White Men Out of Office at Cambridge’s WordsWorth Books this Wednesday, isn’t going there. "Hmm ... it’s difficult for me to believe that a politician would be good in bed." (Apologies if this line of thinking has made you sick.) You may have already heard about the League of Pissed-Off Voters’ How To Get Stupid White Men Out of Office, even though it’s less than a month old. It got an unanticipated flurry of press last month after HarperCollins, the publisher of Michael Moore’s Stupid White Men, sent Soft Skull Press a cease-and-desist letter for aping the title of Moore’s book. But apparently, Moore didn’t have anything to do with the order. "Michael Moore’s totally down with this project," says Anderson over the phone from New York. "It was his publisher who made a fuss. But it didn’t go anywhere." Not only did How To Get Stupid White Men Out of Office get to keep its name, but the book also got a ton of free publicity. So what’s the book’s objective, y’know, aside from giving the boot to those dumb white guys? "It’s a tool to inspire young people to get involved in electoral politics," Anderson explains. "To show them that electoral politics is not a dead end, that young people can create change." Written in straightforward, conversational prose by 12 different contributors — eight of whom are people of color, Anderson points out — How To Get Stupid White Men Out of Office pulls together 20 success stories of progressive, grassroots organizing, from that of a 21-year-old Green Party member elected to the Providence City Council to that of a 24-year-old black woman who scored a Georgia legislative seat in "the heart of Newt Gingrich country." But the ultimate goal of How To Get Stupid White Men Out of Office isn’t to place the Democrats in office indefinitely — the donkeys are useful only as a means to an end. "The goal is to create a progressive majority within our lifetime, within the next 30 years," explains Anderson. "So a lot of folks will say, ‘Does that mean we endorse John Kerry?’ No, we don’t necessarily endorse John Kerry. But we understand that if we first put Democrats in office who will work with the progressives, then eventually there will be more progressive people in office." As long as they’re not stupid white men, Anderson and her co-conspirators will be happy. Piper Anderson and Malia Lazu will appear on Wednesday, April 28, at 7 p.m., at WordsWorth Books, 30 Brattle Street, in Cambridge. Call (617) 354-5201. For more information about the League of Pissed-Off Voters, visit www.indyvoter.org.
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