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So aren’t we relieved that things are so much better now? We shouldn’t be, because they aren’t. While The Help may pitch itself as a peep into the past, as another Southerner, William Faulkner, has written, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” There are 2.5 million domestic workers in the States - the vast majority of whom are women of color, working without the federally recognized right to collectively bargain, organize, or receive overtime pay. Nor do they receive protection from most anti-discrimination or occupational safety laws. That was the situation during the time of The Help, and that is the situation now - an unresolved part of our bitter history with slavery.

The problems in The Help are uncomfortable to watch because they are problems we still grapple with today. 

The Wrath of Women in Wisconsin

Pema Levy spoke with EMILY’s List president Stephanie Schriock to get the inside scoop on the role of women in today’s recall elections. An excerpt:

How did we end up in a situation in which five of six candidates in Wisconsin are women?

The fact that five of six are Democratic women, we haven’t seen that in, well, have we ever seen that? I mean, women are only 17 percent of Congress right now. This is huge.

What I think we’re already seeing this year in 2011, and we’re going to see a lot more of in 2012, is that the entire debate going on in Congress, in state legislatures, and all around the country is really being driven by Republicans’ war on women. Republicans want to dismantle our education system, tear apart our health-care system, change Medicare, knock out Social Security, and, of course, defund Planned Parenthood. They are attacking programs that have been set up to ensure the economic security and provide opportunities for women and children in this country. Women are just fed up. Enough’s enough.

Read the rest of her Q&A here.