Gwen Ifill and her cousin

Gwen Ifill's cousin, Sherrilyn Ifill, a Law Professor at the University of Maryland, was quoted in a local Maryland paper, The Community Times, “From the first day, Palin presented herself as shooting a bear in the morning, field dressing it, cooking up the breakfast, diapering the babies, passing legislation in the afternoon, cleaning the house, satisfying her husband, etc., etc., etc. And it’s just not true,” she wrote in an e-mail interview. “It’s hard to be an average working mom, really hard. And when women who are privileged present as though they have it all together, it’s offensive to black women.”

She continues “black women are not easily confused by false claims to feminism. When women like Palin lay claims to ‘representing’ average women, I think that black women have a visceral reaction to it.”

She thinks that Sarah Palin “missed her opportunity when she announced Bristol’s pregnancy to explicitly talk about how painful it was to her as a mother - instead of making it as though this too was also part of her perfect life."

“Hillary has the sympathy of women because of what she went through with Bill in front of the whole country. Michelle [Obama] takes pains to be self-deprecating and to talk about her concerns and fear about her girls. She insists that she couldn’t do what she does without the help of her mother. Most importantly, both champion issues that affect the lives of real, average women - universal health care, equal pay, choice, etc. To do so is a recognition that real working women (not political wives or politicians) need policies that will help them maintain their families. What’s the point of Palin’s brand of feminism if it doesn’t translate into real returns for average women?”

Ted Graham, from News Busters, states the following:
"Gwen Ifill’s family pride came through in her monthly washingtonpost.com online chat on October 4, 2007:
Pittsburgh, Pa.: Is Professor Sherrilyn Ifill at the University of Maryland Law School, who's spoken out so eloquently and thoughtfully on symbols of racial hatred lately, any relation to you?
Gwen Ifill: She is indeed my brilliant baby cousin, and the author of an excellent book 'On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 20th Century.' "