in the interest of disclosure, i am going to go on record as saying- i am a white woman, mid-thirties who has lived predominately in rural and semi-rural settings my entire life. i have never been a part of any organization and, indeed, have more of the go-it-alone sentiment over grouping together. alright, i guess i grew up thinking- if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. so- with that in mind- i am completely out of my understanding or depth with tackling this topic i am about to throw out there. i am not a person of color and i am not a feminist. consequently, i know next to nothing about either. i guess it’s rather simplistic of me to say i am a humanist- i try to see people as people regardless of race or gender. now, that doesn’t mean i always succeed. societal implants are hard to change when you have lived them for 36 years- but i am trying.

as i have said before, i attempt to learn from folks- and tooling around the blogosphere- i get to learn quite a bit. i really feel that we have to challenge ourselves to think outside of ourselves once in awhile- and if these last 8 years plus haven’t done that- well, you must be a neo con. yes, that was snarky. this particular democratic primary has raised some important topics that we need to be having as a society- and as a planet really. i recently finished national geographic’s february issue- and the article on the ‘black pharaohs‘ got me thinking. the article basically said that in the ancient world, there wasn’t racism per se.

“The ancient world was devoid of racism. At the time of Piye’s historic conquest, the fact that his skin was dark was irrelevant. Artwork from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome shows a clear awareness of racial features and skin tone, but there is little evidence that darker skin was seen as a sign of inferiority. Only after the European powers colonized Africa in the 19th century did Western scholars pay attention to the color of the Nubians’ skin, to uncharitable effect.”

whether it is entirely accurate is, i suppose, debatable- but it made me a bit sad too. i began to think about the fact that millions of folks here in america were without a history and a sense of connection that we with european ancestry take for granted. but then i thought- holy crap! what if the folks who are actually living in the land of their ancestors have been robbed of a history too- by colonization; by dictatorship; by greed. the clinton/obama matchup shouldn’t be about race and gender- but it is to many. it is about who is best to lead us through the upcoming dark times ahead- but is being reduced to who has had it worse- women or black men. that’s a shame. there are bigger issues to focus on in the fight for civil liberties for all- and this is where things got really eye opening for me.

there are millions of ‘feminists’ out there- and there are millions of people struggling every day against racism and discrimination- all over america and the globe. to me- it was a no brainer- these folks have a common cause- they must be working together. yeah. color me surprised to find out that many of these groups exclude lgbt folks and non white folks. yeah. i was naive to think that gloria steinem ‘got it’- because to me- the 1960’s was before i was born- so i didn’t realize that not all of those chicks i thought were fighting for me- were really fighting for their own agenda. whose rights are they fighting for exactly? white women’s apparently. now, this is where white folks get defensive and claim that they aren’t like that and they feel kinship and sisterhood and whatever- with everyone. strains of kumbaya. but the biggest complaint i have heard from the various lgbt blogs and women of color blogs- independent of each other- is- you can join up for sure- as long as you understand the hierarchy. you don’t challenge the status quo of the sisterhood. white women get to feel good about themselves- or you get shown the door. that’s oversimplified of course- but it is the biggest issue i have seen- but please share if you have others.

“What I do agree with is that we ought to be in coalition. But I think we’ve got to be in coalition on fair grounds. Part of what, again, has been sort of an anxiety for African American women feminists like myself is that we’re often asked to join up with white women’s feminism, but only on their own terms, as long as we sort of remain silent about the ways in which our gender, our class, our sexual identity doesn’t intersect, as long as we can be quiet about those things and join onto a single agenda. So, yes, I absolutely agree, we must be in coalition, but it must be a fair coalition of equals.”
melissa harris-lacewell

my biggest issue lately with the white feminists anyway- voting for clinton along gender lines. it really, really steams me. instead of looking at her for her platform and behaviour- they steadfastly defend her to the last woman. i won’t link to the particular blog i am thinking of- simply because it is so typical of what i read- and i know that the mind would not be changed but the heel dug in deeper. trust me- i have challenged this person. you think fundie christians are bad- try dislodging feminist loyalty to gender. recently, a group of feminists put out an open letter designed to get people aware and to join the fight to improve women’s rights globally. i think it’s a noble cause. certainly, there are places in the world where women’s lives are more at stake daily than here in america. no amount of useless photo ops are going to change that anytime soon. it is our duty as women to help lift other women up and to help protect, not only their rights, but their lives. but it should be a group effort- not along color or sexual lines. until we get our own house in order, we will not be successful building coalitions globally. if ‘white is right’ is the attitude, good luck building unity with women in africa or the middle east or southeast asia. those women are strong and proud- and we are not out to re-colonize them. we are allegedly trying to help them by supporting them. can we do it?

the nation- morning in america- a letter from feminists on the election

for the real feminst movement- check out- hbo’s iron jawed angels

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