I've given #MrsAmerica a chance bc I wanted to see how they wrote Shirley Chisholm. I'm really glad to see they showed patriarchy from Black men and white feminism from liberal white women.

But this is SO sympathetic to Phyllis Schlafly so far I don't know if I'll make it.

In Ep. 3, Phyllis cuts off an overtly racist white housewife like she stands in opposition to such beliefs.

The reality is she, as a staunch conservative, consistently minimized the issue of race and what she actually stood in opposition to was an aggressive integration timeline

(Sources:

1) https://slate.com/culture/2020/04/mrs-america-accuracy-fact-fiction-fx-hulu-miniseries.html

2) https://www2.illinois.gov/alplm/library/collections/OralHistory/illinoisstatecraft/era/Documents/SchlaflyPhyllis/Schlafly_Phy_4FNL.pdf

I really hope we get the Shirley Chisholm biopic we deserve and her character doesn't have to appear in the shadow of or in relationship to white women, conservative and liberal.

I've listened to a lot of Chisholm speeches- Uzo did a great job of capturing her tenacity.

And not for nothing, but as a Black girl growing up in St. Louis, I've known about Phyllis Schlafly my whole life.

Her brainchild, STOP ERA, the anti-equity movement of white housewives that literally stood for "Stop Taking Our *Privileges*" tells you all you need to know.

This miniseries spends a lot of time in Ep 3 downplaying the deep ties between conservatism and racism, both covert and overt.

It is UTTERLY ridiculous and is making my head hurt.

To tacitly approve of an actively invite overtly racist membership is to approve of it. Period.

She was racist even if she softened it w midwestern charm. She was deeply homophobic-no charm there. She may have been a hero to some women, but she stood fundamentally against the equality of all women.

This series seems to be confused by that in a time when we can't afford it.

Why couldn't there have just been a miniseries about the fight to pass the ERA and this era of women's political engagement? All characters, at the very least, being seen equally, instead of a whole xenophobe as the central character?

I'm usually impressed by FX's provocations but Mrs. America is, at least, lazy and cowardly, flinching too many times at the harsh, destructive truth of Phyllis Schlafly's legacy. But it's not operating at its least-which means it's more than lazy.

It's harmful & irresponsible.

And if the people from home that I know will read this take offense (I know exactly who you are), ask yourself why you're more offended by this than the permissiveness with which we look at her history.

And to be clear: any media that depicts the North (which Schlafly's Alton, IL *barely* is because it's actually considered a suburb of St. Louis, MO and MO was a slave state) as somehow not being racist and that cancer being relegated only to the American South is lying to you.

St. Louis was one of the most segregated cities in the country when I was growing up. It still is. I drove past confederate flags *in the suburbs*

#Ferguson happened for a reason.

Polite racists, overt racists & racist systems. We have them all. https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/money/2019/07/20/detroit-chicago-memphis-most-segregated-cities-housing-policies/1780223001/

I may just fast-forward through to all the liberal scenes to see Shirley & Flo & Gloria, because...

ugh.