Dear White Women, You Never Fail To Disappoint Me

Another post from the fabulous creative force behind the award winning Womanist Musings blog

I had the opportunity to speak to a friend of mine whom I love dearly this weekend.  She identifies as a feminist and is one of the few White feminist women that I trust wholeheartedly.  Inevitably, the conversation turned to Slutwalk and she told me that she was upset because their response to the sign hurt not only me, but several women of color that she has befriended over the years. Obviously, I don't hold her accountable for the actions of another, especially because she has proven over the years that she is more than willing to challenge her racial privilege and learn. In the process she has become a beacon to me when it comes to learning to challenge my own privilege.

When I learned about the 'Woman is the Nigger of the World' sign at Slutwalk NY, I was not surprised. Call me jaded, but centuries of ignoring the womanhood of women of color, actively enslaving us, and engaging in racist actions does not suddenly disappear when a woman becomes a feminist.  For some it might lead to heightened consciousness, but it is the rare few that will take the identity a step further to examine the ways in which one not only is oppressed but actively oppresses.  Feminism is not some magical elixir to enlightenment, despite the White men and women who seem to believe it is.

There was a time in my life when if a White woman told me that she was a feminist, I would automatically have given her the benefit of the doubt but today, trust is something that must be actively earned over time and not given freely.  I am no longer surprised when an event aimed at women's organizing suddenly has a racist bent.  I am no longer hurt when racism raises its ugly head because I have come to expect it.  I am however amused that White women fail to catch a clue when White feminist men interject themselves into the conversation to defend them.

As much as White women have been oppressed by White men, they have also gained from their association with them.  They may rail against patriarchy, but if a White man comes rushing to his damsel in distress to declare her actions to be decidedly not racist, they are more than happy to accept the aid with a feeling of relief. See, a White guy said so, so it must be truth.  If a White man were step forward to declare that an action is not sexist, their input would be soundly attacked, yet WOC are expected to simmer down when the White man speaks.  The fact that White men and women often collude when they have a common purpose has not failed to register with us, despite the whole ya ya sisterhood of the traveling suitpants routine.

If you don't belong to the group in question, you are not in the position to declare that an action or statement does not rise to offensive level, of course this doesn't seem to apply when it comes to White men rushing in to battle on the side of White women. This is further problematic because WOC are often chastised for bringing up issues that involve the men in our lives, as if their struggles don't directly impact our life's chances. It's not that issues which directly involve men are problematic in discussions regarding gender, it's that if they serve to challenge White supremacy in anyway suddenly they are not deemed relevant.

It comes down to the fact that many self labelled White feminists aren't really interested in equality for all, they are interested in equality with White men.  It's never about tearing down the system, but assuring that they have the power to oppress others.  If even on social equality exists then there can be no claim that women have achieved equality because the category of woman is broad.  It means that gay rights are a woman's issue, race is a woman's issue, class is a woman's issue, disability is a woman's issue etc,. There is no issue that is specifically outside of women's activism.  So when I hear White women saying things like, "think about it from a woman's perspective," when WOC are calling out racism, I know they are really pushing  for WOC to solely put our energy into improving their lives and not ours.The only way I will ever be surprised by White female activism, is when they learn that world isn't all about their pain alone.

James Craig Anderson Was Killed Because He's Black Not Because He Was Gay

TransGriot Note: A guest post from Renee of Womanist Musings.



Hopefully by now you have heard about how James Anderson died but for those who haven't,  seven White youths in Mississippi decided to beat him while yelling racial slurs, and then drive a truck over his body. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a racial hate crime. I found his murder incredibly triggering and that is why I didn't write about it before. I have however been following this story very closely.  As a Black mother with Black sons, what happened to Anderson represents my worst nightmare.

This weekend as I was going through my reader, I noticed that several gay blogs have finally gotten around to writing about this story. Please note that Black blogs have been writing about Anderson's death since it happened, and I doubt that without their constant attention, that this story would have made the national news.  At any rate, reading these gay blogs I learned that Anderson was Black and gay. A light bulb clicked on, and I realized why his death had suddenly been deemed worthy of coverage - his sexuality.

When Anderson was just another Black man, who was a random victim of White supremacy, none of the GLBT blogs had a damn thing to say about it.  I suppose it was considered not to be a gay issue. Now that it has been revealed that Anderson was a gay man, being beaten and then driven over by a truck is suddenly deemed horrifying.  To that I say fuck you - fuck you ten thousand times over. They weren't screaming gay slurs at Anderson, they were screaming racial slurs at him and believing  that you can appropriate his death to advance the cause of gay rights is repulsive.

The moment that it was revealed how and why Anderson died, it should have been an issue for every single social justice blogger, because his life was worth something.  It should never have been about what group he did or did not fit into, because looking at any individual is never enough to know exactly what oppressions they have to negotiate on a daily basis.  Social justice is supposed to be about intersections, because most people will negotiate multiple site of oppression throughout their lifetimes, but for the GLBT blogs that decided to ignore what happened to Anderson, until it was revealed that he was gay, apparently that is not a truism.

As I read the commentary about how horrified these writers were about how he died, and the racial slurs aimed at him while he was being beaten, the bile rose in my throat. Only caring when it was revealed that Anderson was a part of the LGBT community is a reflection of White privilege. This coupled with the fact that Blacks are continually framed as uniquely homophobic and the fact that Black LGBT members are constantly erased made me absolutely sick.

I don't believe that these White GLBT bloggers represent the entirety of the BLGT community, but they most certainly represent a faction that is determined to place their oppression over and above the oppression that others face.  This kind of appropriation is something that we have seen repeatedly, because it serves a political purpose. It manifests in things like Gay is the new Black, or the outright appropriation of the civil rights movement and civil rights sheroes and heroes. Caring about racism, only when you can redirect it or make false analogies is racist.  I say again for emphasis, it's racist.

Since the first Black person set foot in the new world, we have been the victims of White supremacy. From slavery, to Jim Crow, to the present day, Blacks are still under assault.  It does not always manifest in brutal murders, but it is an everyday occurrence, which effects life chances, health care, education, the media etc,. There isn't a single social institution that is not effected by racism, because White supremacy is insitutionalized.

Ignoring any kind of ism because it does not directly effect your life, only encourages the idea that under certain circumstances, oppression is not only natural, but good.  Deciding that just because you would never yell racial epithets or run over a Black man with a truck, does not erase the fact that your daily actions directly support the institutionalization of racism, or that you benefit from such oppression on a daily basis. Silence in the face oppression is participating in the marginalization of another human being. 

The moment it was revealed how Anderson died people should have been horrified and waiting until his death could be used political is absolutely disgusting.  I found myself wondering how these people sleep at night?  This is not ally behaviour and I would have much preferred them to completely ignore Anderson's death, than to twist it for their own ends.  In instances like this, silence and erasure is a good thing.

I know that some of these blogs have justified their failure to talk about Anderson's death by wrapping their commentary around the fact that James Bradfield, Anderson's partner is unable to file a wrongful death suit.  To me this just stands as more proof that they viewed his death as irrelevant, until it could serve their purposes.  I cannot begin to properly express my rage at all of this.  I will however say, the very next time I hear that Blacks are uniquely homophobic, Anderson's name will cross my lips because he is the perfect example of the various ways in which some members of the White LGBT community fail the very same people they claim to want as allies and the way in which some members of the White GLBT community fails to realize that they are not representative of their communities. There are Black GLBT members, and if you had not spent so much time framing gay rights as a White issue, you would have realized that oppression, no matter how it manifests is a terrible thing. Finally, Anderson died because he had the nerve to take up space as a Black man, and any speculation beyond that or an attempt to insert yourself in his death, only cheapens your fight for justice. Homophobia will never trump racism, but they are each in their own way a terrible blight on humanity.  

Yes, You Do Benefit From White Privilege

One of the things that is guaranteed to start drama in Internet and other discourse between the races is when the discussion turns to white privilege and persons of color describe how they have been victimized by it. .   

The fun starts when the non-POC person tries to claim that white privilege doesn't exist or is a figment of the POC's imagination.

For those of you who think that this is a post-racial society and you exist as an individual free of white privilege, no you don't..    When I run into people in the course of my Internet forays surfings that try to have this argument with me that they don't have white privilege and I call them on it, it takes less than 5 minutes for them to reveal that they do by the jacked up comments they say in response to being called on the WP that reveal for all to see that they are swimming in denial of its overpowering vanilla flavored scent.


The best way I can visually explain this is comparing WP to a moving sidewalk.  When you get on a moving sidewalk you have the option to stand to the right or if you're in a hurry or walk at a brisk pace to the left if you're not..

The people who actively revel in their white privilege are bigoted, et cetera for the purposes of this post are ones you can compare to the peeps who are walking briskly to the left on the moving WP sidewalk.   They act in concert with it, are aware of it, and do so in order to keep themselves and in their minds their people at the societal head of the line.     

Those of you who are cognizant of white privilege, try to eradicate it, are indifferent to it or try to ignore it are like the people on the right side of the moving sidewalk   You're not actively trying to move in concert with it or engaged with itt, but because it is ubiquitous and permeates society, the result is still the same.   You still get the benefit of being moved to the same spot at the head of the societal line by that moving WP sidewalk.

The point I'm making is that white privilege is so insidious that just by dint of having white skin in this country, you are afforded the benefits of white privilege.   What has made it so hard to eradicate is that whites are afraid of losing something (WP) that they claim doesn't exist, but gives them a societal advantage.

So yep, you do benefit from white privilege.

PETA And Racial Appropriation

TransGriot Note: I just had a feeling the editrix of Womanist Musings would be putting PETA on blast for their latest racial hijinks (snicker, snicker) and shady behavior.   And now, Renee's take on it. 

PeTA has a terrible record when it comes to marginalized bodies.  From dressing up as the KKK, to employing the slogan "Are animals the new slaves," whenever possible, they have appropriated freely from Blacks. PeTA currently has a new exhibit across from the Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.

The six double-sided panel display exhibits images of animal cruelty next to images of human cruelty. One panel includes Dr. Martin Luther King’s quote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and some images show elephants in shackles and overcrowded conditions for pigs and animals next to images of Blacks in similar conditions.

A PETA spokeswoman told BET.com "that the goal of the exhibit is not to equate nonhuman animals with African-Americans" but "to compare the oppression of certain groups of people in the past to the continued oppression of animals today. It points to the terrible level of suffering that has been inflicted upon various individuals throughout our history and points out some of the cruelty that still goes on in society today. PETA's message is that oppression is wrong, regardless of the race, gender, age, nationality or species of the victims," wrote PETA's communications director in an email. (source)

Uh huh, they didn't mean to refer to African Americans, and they just accidentally chose a quote from an African American civil rights leader.  How can anyone possibly give PeTA the benefit of the doubt given their history of racist actions?  They were absolutely making an analogy to the African American history of slavery and the struggle for civil rights. When Dr. King said those words, he was not speaking animals, he was speaking about the historical state of inequality between Blacks and Whites.

I will not deny that the condition of slaughter houses are horrendous, but the very idea that it can and should be compared to something as horrific as slavery, Jim Crow, etc., is not only racist, it is ridiculous.  By juxtaposing these ideas, they are suggesting that Blacks are the equivalent of animals, a suggestion by the way perpetuated by Whiteness to justify the outright inhuman oppression that they have historically engaged in. I know that biologically speaking we are all animals, but only people of colour have historically been labelled animals to justify White supremacy.

PeTA seems to feel that because their cause is just, that any damage that they do is unimportant.  After all, who could possibly object to wanting better treatment for defenseless animals?  Celebrities jump on board, because this seems like a harmless cause to support, and by doing so, they ignore that PeTA routinely attacks the most marginalized members of society to push their agenda. 

PeTA's goal is for humane treatment for animals and ironically, they often behave in the most inhumane manner.  No matter how many times marginalized people have spoken out against their tactics, they continue onward, because for them we are just the othered remnants of society.  You cannot fight hierarchy by perpetuating hierarchy, and this is a lesson PeTA has yet to learn.  Though there are members of PeTA that are undoubtedly of colour, their leadership, like many organizations is White. This is specifically why they refuse to recognize the damage that they have done to people of colour.  If you don't have to face the consequences for your actions, what is to stop you from continuing to harm beyond a personal conscience? This is why I can say without a doubt that PeTA is a white supremacist, heterosexist, cissexist, sexist, organization and anyone who supports them, is not defending the rights of animals, but defending the right to oppress at will.

And Y'all Think I'm Being Hard On Your Azzes...

When I call y'all out about being not being cognizant of the vanilla flavored privilege that you operate with and how you consistently do the same clueless crap over and over again, note that I'm not the only African descended person saying this.

I'm just one of the few who is bold enough to say it and put it in writing.  

Inside the African descended community our frustrations in dealing with white privilege is one of the conversations about whites that we have with each other on a regular basis.  


Peep this post on some of the stuff Moni tells y'all about on the regular.