Saturday, November 13, 2010

Helen Keller : Great American Woman Activist

This post better get many hits and I mean it!!! I'm tired of how marginalized Helen Keller is by the Left (and everyone else for that matter). Let us be honest, Keller fits into a condescending role of cutesy survivore victim. Even this youtube has a somewhat childish aesthetic. No matter how great her legacy, she is never presented in the heroic way Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or Che Guevara would be. Helen Keller struggled for the rights of the disabled, she was an ardent Socialist, fluent in several languages, spoke live to the Japanese after the bombing of Hiroshima, and lashed out at Nazis for burning books. There are too many things to write and say about her. At least this documentary clip does give brief highlights of her incredible history. She deserves a special place for the American activist in particular. She belongs in posters on radical college students walls. If only she would have donned a beret instead of a bonnet.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Many disability rights activists don't care for her. Mostly because of how often she's linked with Annie Sullivan. Also, she seems to be pusing (and is certainly used for) a narrative of overcoming. What about contemporary activists like Justin Dart? "Her lack of sight and hearing in no way deminished her ability to enjoy life"--why would it? I guess it comes down to how she's talked about rather than what she herself did.