Read This Week

This is my 47th Read This Week feature! Every week since Gradient Lair’s inception (it’s a year old now!) with the exception of a few weeks, I’ve posted essays, articles, journal articles and/or papers that I’ve recently read and share with you based on your interest in this blog.

Below are great reads…

I Don’t Mean To Be Dramatic… by @liberated_lez is a great read. TRIGGER WARNING for childhood sexual abuse and violence. She shares an honest and brave essay about a male family member who abused her, how some of her family engaged in victim blaming, and how years later, she knows it was NOT her fault.

The Perils of Funny Feminism by @graceishuman is an important read that addresses White middle-class feminists and their defense of comedy that attacks marginalized women, as well as their goals to make feminism “fun” even to the point that its purpose becomes fragmented and even kyriarchal.

The Racial Politics of Atheism by Sikivu Hutchinson is a fascinating read. This is an interview for her new book Godless Americana: Race and Religious Rebels. She states “There is no evidence that people of color—especially women of color—are rejecting organized religion, much less God, in any significant numbers. I wanted to explore the reason for this, while at the same time providing a radical voice for the growing numbers of openly identified non-believers of color.” She critiques mainstream White atheism and its lack of commitment to social justice as well. A lot folks ain’t ready for this level of intersectional thinking! Most think it should be team theism or team racist atheism, as if other perspectives cannot exist, such as one without theism but also committed to social justice.

Call for Papers: Women of Color Beyond Faith Anthology is a post that is asking for writing from women of colour who identify as non-believers, atheists, humanists etc. The anthology is going to be edited by Black women, including Sikivu Hutchinson herself. Why I included it in this particular Read This Week is because the questions posed at the bottom, as possible topics for writing, are interesting and probing.

Why We Can’t Blame Parents For Educational Inequality by Bruce Foster at Still Furious and Still Brave is a great read. He writes: “Placing the onus on parents to ensure that their children have equitable educational experiences and outcomes excuses the ways in which inequality is often embedded in school, state, and national policies. Blaming parents also fails to recognize the extent to which they face different constraints based on their social and economic background.” 

Stay tuned for new suggestions next week!

A Black Man Asked “Whose ‘Side’ Are Black Women On?”

While I was perusing tags related to feminism on Tumblr, I came across a post by a Black man with a sentiment that I’ve seen many times. He posted a photograph of a Black man’s lynched corpse with a White woman looking at it with laughter. His commentary suggested that “feminazism” is destroying Black men (as its goal) and whose side are most Black women on, Black men’s or White women’s?

First of all, the fact that a Black man would conflate feminism with Nazism, when both Black men and Black women faced multiple holocausts during slavery is astoundingly ahistorical and hyperbolic. The word “Feminazi” rose to popularity via Rush Limbaugh. Funny how this “conscious” Black man quickly aligns with White patriarchy, and a racist at that, when the critique is of Black women.

Secondly, interestingly enough, he chose a lynching photo with no White men present. Why? Because his perception of Black men as victims can’t include critique of White men if assuming the patriarchal power that Black men (and White women) want to share with White men, versus questioning oppression itself, is an ultimate goal. Black men who heavily critique feminism and demand dog-like loyalty to patriarchy from Black women tend to want to mimic or share the power White men have. This means that they will never truly critique White supremacy itself, beyond what power they critique White women for (and some won’t even do this due to sexual interest in White women), because why critique the type of corrupt power that one desires? (I critiqued this very same line of thinking before, which fuels many Black men’s love for the film Django Unchained.)

White fear of Black male sexuality and economic, political and social competition is what fueled lynching as a practice. Even if the charge against a Black man was due to a White woman’s claim (and these same women watched and enjoyed lynching as an entertainment of “strange fruit”) ultimately White men had to physically engage in the practice of lynching. Thus, for him to choose a photo where no White men are present is quite telling. Oh and…Black women were lynched too.

Thirdly, some Black men just as some White women tend to view Black women solely as “sidekicks” to “their” causes, not women and humans with our own causes and needs, ones most definitely shaped by intersectional experiences. We aren’t only Black. We aren’t only women. He didn’t include any images/stories about Black men street harassing, committing domestic violence, raping or murdering Black women. He chose to show Black men only as victims and posits that Black women are responsible for Black men’s victimhood. This is fascinating since Black women, from Billie Holiday to Ida B. Wells were some of the most outspoken against lynching of Black men. Today, Black women like Michelle Alexander are incredibly outspoken against how Prison Industrial Complex impacts Black men. Black women are often deemed not to be supportive enough and ahistorical, decontextualized “evidence” is always proffered by Black men as proof. (Some even have the audacity to cite that racist and misogynoirist Moynhian Report from ‘65. Disgusting. Read Patricia Hill Collins’ critique of that report in Black Feminist Thought.) Amazingly enough, not interpersonally obeying patriarchal orders from Black men and in their perception, not being committed “enough” to being sidekicks of “their” causes versus full human beings and voices for our own and collective Black causes is viewed by some Black men as “aligning” with White women.

I can only laugh at this. They obviously have not heard any actual discourse and dissent between Black and White women, feminist or not. Black womanists/feminists and White feminists have not walked this magical path of unity that Black men seem to think we have, especially one based on destroying Black men. Black men who think so know nothing about women’s actual lives, I suspect.

The idea that Black women are just “copying” White women in terms of womanist/feminist theory and praxis proves again that some Black men know nothing about Black women beyond what they would like us to be, stereotypes and externally constructed notions of Black womanhood. (Once, one of my sisters responded to an extremely disgusting drawing posted on Facebook; it had the same sentiments of Black women being monsters out to get Black men and controlled by Whites.) If being a whole human being as a Black woman, not a sidekick of “team Black men” (or “team White women”) is viewed as a “threat” to Black masculinity, then Black men need to examine why our dehumanization is needed for them to feel like men. Will they ever be able to visualize and embrace masculinity without domination? At which point will they actually critique White men and White supremacy itself for the issues that they think dog-like loyalty from Black women is magically going to fix?

I am not on a “team” in that feminism is a gimmick; I am not going to choose between race and gender for sport. I am TIRED of Black men (and White women) suggesting this. At the same time, I am committed to the liberation of all oppressed people, which INCLUDES me and other Black women, as people, not platforms for Black men to stand on. Intersectionality or bust. I will not be anyone’s doormat, especially for wiping ahistorical boots with soles made of patriarchy, sexism and misogynoir.

“It was painful to realize that many men rarely consider reading what women write, or bother to listen to what women are saying about how we feel. How we perceive life. How we think things should be. That they cannot honor our struggles or our pain. That they see our stories as meaningless to them, or assume they are absent from them, or distorted. Or think they must own or control our expressions. And us.” - Alice Walker

What’s Really Going On With White Feminists’ Critiques of Beyoncé?

Yesterday I posted a photograph of Beyoncé on Ms. Magazine with some probing questions that I have for the article, which included this text:

I will be interested in seeing if the article reveals the nuances of her perspectives (such as ones revealed in her documentary), whether they challenge or affirm patriarchy at times (as she, like many women do both) or will the article solely hold her to an unreachable standard where she has to be bell hooks to be feminist while Lena Dunham, not Gloria Steinem appears to be the bar of White feminism. Again, nonfamous womanists and feminists should not be overly THIRSTY for celebrities to validate feminism. At the same time, I am interested in reading more of Bey’s perspectives on self-esteem, empowerment, confidence, inclusion, sexuality, LGBTQ, friendships and romance/marriage, for example. (I am DEFINITELY not interested her (or anyone) being labeled “unfeminist,” as I wrote about before. That word, specifically, is problematic.)

Silly me; I originally thought the article was an interview. Apparently, it is not. Since yesterday, I learned that: 1) The article is behind a paywall and not accessible to poor women or anyone without a subscription. 2) The Facebook thread for the article is disgusting, as expected. Many of the comments have the typical misogynoir and respectability politics that people seem to have confused for feminism. 3) The thread itself ends with a question, which part of it reads “Has Beyoncé ‘earned’ her feminist credentials?” Credentials and feminism should NEVER be used in the same sentence. This reeks of the merge of White supremacy, “legitimacy” and education.

In my post on Storify today, Is Beyoncé Going To Be Critiqued By White Feminists Ad Perpetuum?, I shared some Twitter conversation on the topic and raised six points as to why this critique, in general, seems never-ending and is non-productive, three of which include:

1) White women want to control and police feminism, which is actually quite White supremacist and patriarchal. It seems that theist, cisgender, heterosexual, thin, middle class, White women in the West think that feminism is their plaything and country club. It isn’t. Even White women without some of these privileges still stand firm against Beyoncé in a way that they would not do to any White woman, feminist or not, celebrity or not. They still view Black women as “allies” to their feminism, not actual women or feminists.

2) Feminism tends to have an element of inaccessibility by class and education, which definitely connects to race. By class, of course, Beyoncé doesn’t have this issue. She can access whatever she wants in any space. She has a platform. However, many of those with literacy/formal education privilege do not want Beyoncé to be considered feminist because she is not an academic. Black women have to be bell hooks to be considered feminist, but the bar (which should not even exist for any women) for White feminists is Lena Dunham? Beyoncé has no college education and she was home-schooled for a lot of her education as well. She is not the picture of a “scholar.” But neither was Sojourner Truth. Neither were Black blues singers or Black women who worked as domestics. Many still were the faces of resistance for Black women.

3) Some women, both White and Black, view Black women’s sexuality as automatically deviant, even if that woman is heterosexual, with heterosexual privilege. White heterosexuality is deemed the “norm” of heterosexuality. Heterosexual Black women are still deemed sexually deviant, even if they have the privilege that lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans* Black women do not. Thus, Beyoncé being sexual with her art, despite being in a highly heteronormative, presumably monogamous, heterosexual marriage and being a mother is not “enough” to deem her “respectable.” The problem is respectability politics are constructs of patriarchy, NOT feminism. Then there is the concept of sexuality within art itself. When is it “too sexual?” The fact that Miley Cyrus in a White body is not deemed “dirty” for twerking, yet Black women and our bodies automatically make the dance “dirty” reveals this race-specific misogyny, or misogynoir.

The fact that Jenna Jameson (a White woman deemed “mainstream” now) is a porn star in a patriarchal society and receives less criticism for her sexuality than Beyoncé speaks to the racism involved in the perception of sexuality. Beyoncé has been blamed for everything from teen sexuality and poor health to sex trafficking, and people think this criticism is normal and logical. This reveals how deep racism and sexism runs in our society, as it pertains to Black women, specifically.

A Black woman does not have to pass a certain “bar” of entry that White women hold before she is “acceptable” to feminism and this suggestion is most certainly racist, especially since White women are automatically assumed to be feminist. Even White women who openly hated feminism, such as Margaret Thatcher, has had the label “feminist” placed upon her post-mortem. White women can be considered feminist even when clearly operating in ways that reinforce imperialist White supremacist capitalist hetero-patriarchy, like Thatcher did (examine her damn record, one that is as patriarchal and imperialist as any White male leader), yet Beyoncé is consistently attacked for not meeting some arbitrary standard as White women stand GUARD over feminism?

I’ve also noticed that some Black women and other women of colour do not want Beyoncé associated with feminism in any way, and unfortunately, their reasoning seems to be tied into respectability politics. They think choosing the “positive” side of patriarchal binaries is what feminism is about, such as being a “good” role model and exemplifying “perfect” womanhood, as dictated by theism and patriarchy. This is also a mistake. Even so, it seems that the largest voices against Beyoncé amidst feminist spaces are White women’s voices—probably because there are so many of them and because their voices are amplified due to White privilege. When most of them dissent, it hits a major blog or newspaper. When most Black women dissent it’s via tweets or personal blogs. The access points differ in scope. Even when a Black woman or another woman of colour writes about Beyoncé for a major publication, ironically (or not so) her views seem to match White feminists’ views against Beyoncé. Perhaps this is what it takes to be published.

Critique is important. No one is above it. But this perpetual critique of Beyoncé is no longer productive critique. (I am not sure that it ever was.) This critique is creating arbitrary standards that Black feminists have to meet that White feminists do not. This is racist antagonism towards Black women if they are loved, are considered beautiful and are successful. This is respectability politics and misogynoir masquerading as feminism. This is intellectual elitism. This is double standards—ones where Beyoncé’s experience with capitalism is evil but Sheryl Sandberg’s is good, where Beyoncé’s sexuality is deviant and Lena Dunham’s is empowering, where Beyoncé being married and a mother is just her succumbing to patriarchy but for White women, it’s deemed a powerful choice, especially if coupled with a career.

If White women view Black women as inferior and White feminists view Black feminists as inferior at worst or as “allies,” “sidekicks” or just Black women to “save” not actual feminists, at best, the problem is theirs, not Beyoncé’s or Black women’s at all.

White women need to stop guarding the invisible gate to feminism. It’s not a country club. That was never the point. Leave the gates and hierarchies for patriarchy.

When Male Privilege and White Privilege Shape “Progressive” Conversations

Several years ago, I worked at an educational program for adolescents facing a plethora of socioeconomic, legal, and sociopolitical (oppression via racism, sexism, misogynoir, homophobia and classism) challenges. The staff was more diverse there than at any other job I’ve had, while still of course reflecting the usual hierarchies; White women in higher positions than Black women, White men in higher positions than White women etc.

One day after a long day of work, some of the coworkers decided to go out for wings and beer. It happened quite a bit, perhaps bi-weekly. This time, one of the Black male employees (one of the few times I’ve had a Black male coworker in my adult life) decided to come too. We sat down at a table; it was about six of us. The conversation moved from politics to Civil Rights-era specific politics and the Black male coworker asked me if I would have been a Black Panther.

Those “would have been” questions can become problematic. I don’t know what I would have done then (though I do not buy into the myth that racism is gone solely because it CHANGES appearance). I may have been killed long before I had a chance to join. Conversely, I may have been overcome with fear and tried to live my life as best as possible under the radar, knowing the price of resistance was often immediate death or elaborate COINTELPRO and other State-sponsored surveillance and terrorism meant to dis-empower and destroy Black people. Even if I didn’t feel “political” then (or now), being a Black woman means I could’ve faced the same things that those who were considered “political” faced then (or now). Black people were spread over a spectrum of political action and resistance, and not all resistance looks the same. (Check out Patricia Hill Collins’ book Black Feminist Thought for how she articulates how Black women engaged in resistance in a plethora of ways; her writing on Black domestic workers and Black blues singers is great.)

I told him that I am not sure; the sexism of the Black Panther Party was palpable and could also be seen amidst the Civil Rights Movement itself and other movements. (And to be clear, this is not an “in hindsight” response; many Black women DURING the time spoke of the sexism). It doesn’t erase their accomplishments, however. These both can exist at the same time and be embodied in the same people. However, the end of my response was ignored by my coworker. He was angry that I mentioned their sexism (and colorism and misogynoir too, actually) and said that his father was a Black Panther so my nuanced response could not be true. (He himself was quite the sexist and colorist as a Black man, so I found his paternal reference rather comical.)

Then a White female co-worker jumped in; she was about 20 years older than I am. About me she said “no way, she would have been burning bras with us.” Us? Would this be with the White women from Susan B. Anthony to the ones who fill Twitter today obscuring or straight up ignoring Black women’s experiences? Would this be the ones who will gladly acknowledge sexism while pretending that any claim of racism (or the intersectional experience of racism and sexism, with misogynoir) is an “overreaction” by Black women and other women of colour? I just laughed when she said this. I found them both painfully amusing and amusingly painful to be around. And these were theoretically “progressive” people. They couldn’t see me beyond whatever category applied to them, race or gender. Their privilege obscured their views.

I simply told them that I am not interested in any group where I would be marginalized or silenced. In fact, modern Black feminism (I say “modern” in that Black women have embraced womanism and Black feminism LONG before the terms were even common) came about because of the marginalization Black women faced in pro-Black and pro-woman progressive movements, in addition of course to what they faced in the larger society.

(Both of them got upset and then another co-worker changed the topic. Ever since that time of hanging out, it was never the same with me and those two co-workers. I eventually left that job and never saw or spoke to the White woman again; I saw the Black man again a few months later at a store and of course he was rude. I was with a friend who was surprised by his actions.)

Often times, people forget that even in “progressive” spaces, Black women’s voices are drowned out or disregarded. Worse, some Black men and White women engage in the same oppressive acts or ones that reinforce the same imperialist White supremacist capitalist hetero-patriarchy that Black women expect “outside” of “progressive” conversations and spaces.

I am not interested in the cultural reductionism that dictates that Black women be “team Black men” or “team White women.” As I’ve mentioned before, much of the interpersonal social headache that I deal with outside of feminist spaces involves street harassment by Black men and dealing with microaggressions from White women, even regarding my hair. In progressive spaces, I’ve encountered some feminist Black men that seem to want trophies for not being misogynoirist and White feminists who think I must like what they like (and who they like), and only view me as an “ally” to their feminism, as if that’s all Black women can be—distant allies.

Maya Angelou already told us when people show you who they are, believe them. I am not interested in having “allies” where my experiences talking to them or sharing progressive spaces with them mimic experiences with those who know nothing of justice and are committed to the oppression of others. What’s the difference then?

Related Posts: The Predictable Cycle of White Liberal “Humor” At Black Women’s Expense, I Am STILL HERE For Feminism

A Black Woman Does Not Have To Perform Stereotypes To Have A “Personality”

I am always highly suspicious of people when they suggest that a Black woman “doesn’t have a personality.” Everyone has a personality. Personality refers to the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character—what makes them different from someone else. Thus, while Black women share sociopolitical characteristics and have common experiences based on our social location, we each have differing personalities (even if characteristics such as MBTI also reveals overlap).

It’s rarely a matter of a particular Black woman not having a personality. It might be one that people do not like (though few know how to critique Black women without using “isms”). It might be one that people do not have enough exposure to in order to make a judgment of. Perhaps that Black woman is an introvert and these people, like most Americans, have a persistent bias towards extroverts over introverts. In fact, many people seem to define “personality” as “extroverted expressions.” Perhaps these people bring out the worst in her, either through their own bigotry or by being assholes, in general. Perhaps these people only associate ONE WORD emotions with the labyrinth of nuance that is personality. How eager are some people to label a Black woman’s entire personality as “bitter.”

Many times when I’ve heard people suggest that a certain Black woman (famous or non-famous) didn’t have a personality, it was because they felt that she did not conform to external constructions of Black womanhood (though they don’t always realize that this is what they are suggesting), either through historically racist controlling images (mammy, Jezebel, Sapphire), stereotypes shaped by White supremacy, racism, sexism and capitalism just as much as misogynoir (welfare queen, welfare mother, Black matriarch, “corporate” Black “maneater”, “evil” single Black woman, “hoochie” or “whore”), or patriarchal labels via binaries (“strong” vs. “angry” or “queen” vs. “bitch”).

I’ve encountered Black men who will literally write a Black woman off as “fake” or “phony” or “boring” or suggest that “she has no personality” if he cannot place her in one of these racist and misogynoirist categories. They reject how White supremacy in the media shapes Black manhood (though many still embrace patriarchal masculinity, which is a construction via White supremacy) but will gladly suggest that all Black women are like reality shows etc. And here’s the thing, for the ones who are argumentative like reality shows, so what? Men don’t argue? I won’t even bother citing the violence and wars that manifest from their arguments. White women don’t argue? They do the same things on their reality shows without being expected to represent “all” White women. The luxury of male privilege and White privilege allows this.

Next time a person decides that a Black woman doesn’t have a personality, I will be interested in knowing if she’s simply an introvert, disinterested in the person making the assessment or expected to be a one-dimensional stereotype and not a person.

I am interested in full human beings. Black women are full human beings. Black women do not have to perform extroversion or be 1-dimensional stereotypes to have personalities.

On The Fear Of Being Different: Childhood, Audism and Able-Bodied Privilege

I was afraid. My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Worthy, told my parents that there was something wrong with my hearing, or that it was not as good as it “should” be. I don’t remember exactly how it was phrased. I only know that I had to have hearing tests at school, and I was afraid.

I loved this teacher. She was an older Black woman who really nurtured her Black students and made us excited about learning. She was funny too. Whenever we would say “I’m done” she would say “what did you cook?” We would laugh and say, “Mrs. Worthy, I am finished with the assignment” and she would nod her head. She didn’t like us yelling out “I’m done!” I liked her so much that I felt betrayed that she thought that something was “wrong” with me.

As a little Black girl at a predominantly Black elementary school, I was familiar with the intraracial teasing that we did as children. Some of it was harmless. Some of it, upon reflection, revealed the impact of White supremacy, racism, sexism and misogynoir on young Black children. Were you light skinned enough? Colourism. Eurocentric beauty myths. Internalized racism. Were you thin enough but not too thin as a Black girl? Eurocentric beauty myths. Fatphobia. Did you begin to physically develop as early as the other girls? Misogynoir via controlling images of Black sexuality and hypersexualization of young Black girls because of the combination of racism and sexism. (Black girls are viewed and socialized as adult women because of this.) I didn’t want anything else to make me stand out. I didn’t want to be teased in a way that revealed young children’s ableism—learned from adults and a society where at the time the Americans With Disabilities Act had not even passed yet. Though people still do it now, back in the 80s when I was in elementary school, it was more common to call someone “retarded” and laugh it off. Even teachers would use that word at times, so I was afraid. I could hear…but apparently not well enough.

I passed the hearing tests, however. Even so, I remember when I started the 5th grade, my mom told my math teacher Ms. White that I have trouble hearing. Ms. White called me aside and said if I ever needed any “extra” help, to let her know. This offended me. There was nothing “wrong” with me and I did not need her help. This caused me to withdraw during class and my grades started to slip. They blamed this on my hearing. I felt even more annoyed. I decided to focus and bring my grades up. Meanwhile, one of the “popular” girls laughed and said “I thought you were supposed to be smart!” I thought, wow, they think I cannot hear well, and if I cannot, then I am stupid? I started focusing to prove them wrong. But after a while, it was just to prove it to myself that there was nothing “wrong” with me.

As a young child, I didn’t realize that ableism is bigotry and able-bodied people are complicit in the oppression of people with challenges. Audism is defined as “discrimination that is based on a person’s ability, or lack of ability, to hear. Because it does not directly affect the hearing community, it is not a form of prejudice that is often discussed. In many cases, people who are not deaf have not heard of audism and may not realize that this form of discrimination exists.” I just knew that I did not want people to pick on me beyond already being picked on for not being as light as the light skinned girls (though I was not considered dark skinned either, so I was expected to join the light skinned girls in picking on the dark skinned girls, while knowing my “place”), for not having long hair, for being too thin, and for not developing breasts/hips when others did. I was also picked on for attending a church more extreme than other girls; after a while, I couldn’t wear pants to school and I dreaded them seeing me wearing a lace prayer veil, which actually happened one day as was leaving church with my mom and one of my sisters. No matter how different I felt, I was always “middle level” popular. Not quite the dance team or light skinned girls; not quite outcast like very dark skinned girls or heavier girls. With all of this going on, I really didn’t want people to mock me if they thought I had a hearing problem.

The 6th grade was the last time that I had a school-issued hearing test. Again, I passed. I couldn’t figure out why my mom thought I couldn’t hear as well, at the time. Later on in high school years, I realized why. I daydreamed a lot. A LOT. All of the time. I tuned people out. I grew up in a large family in a small home (and often tuned my siblings out when I didn’t want to play) and men started street harassing me at 12 (I tried to tune out as they insulted me). I think my mother processed me ignoring everyone and almost dissociating from the world as a hearing problem. In reality, it was both.

Now in adulthood, I have trouble with low pitch sounds and I watch American films with the English captions on so that I don’t miss any of the script. I have to play my iPod above the midpoint in volume to hear lyrics properly. Even so, I can hear well enough without hearing aids. Further, I am not deaf. I still have able-bodied privilege.

According to the National Institutes of Health, about 2 to 3 out of every 1,000 children in the United States are born deaf or hard-of-hearing. 9 out of every 10 children who are born deaf are born to parents who can hear. Approximately 17 percent (36 million) of American adults report some degree of hearing loss. Hearing loss or deafness cannot be seen by the eye as some abilities can be; however, people are still judged, shamed and even lose opportunities because of this, even as legal protection under the law should prevent this. Worse, safety can be at risk.

A mutual follower of mine on Twitter mentioned that being deaf alters her experience with street harassment. Men assume she is ignoring them (without say, headphones on) and become even more belligerent and aggressive. I realized that of all of the street harassment experiences that I have endured for over 20 years, I never even thought about how they would react by assuming they’re blatantly being ignored in that way. The reveals my able-bodied privilege, despite both me and this mutual follow being Black women and enduring misognyoir via street harassment.

Obviously as a child, I could not have known then what I now know. I do know that my parents would have loved me regardless, even if I was not able to get by with the level of hearing that I have now. I wish I was not so afraid then when I was a child but when I reflect on it, I actually did have more courage than I thought. I navigated through a world that’s very complicated and painful for Black girls and Black women. And now, I’m committed to the intersectional perspective needed to fight oppression and check privilege.

I mess up sometimes though. I have said phrases like “blinded” in regards to someone not understanding a perspective or “fall on deaf ears” in regards to someone being willfully ignorant. These phrases are ableist, however, and I will continue to work to not use them.

Read This Week

This is my 46th Read This Week feature! If you’re new to Gradient Lair, each week (though I’ve missed a few) I post essays, articles, journal articles and/or papers of interest to me that I think will be of interest to you, based on your interest in my blog. Below are good reads:

Violence Against (Trans)Women Today by CeCe McDonald herself is an important read. She has faced a gross and disgusting injustice, where once again, self-defense was not applicable to a Black trans woman. This essay is an important read.

Sister Assata -  This Is What American History Looks Like by Alice Walker is an important read! She has met and spoken with Assata Shakur on more than one occasion. She speaks to the psychological warfare, capitalism, imperialism, racism and misogynoir involved in Shakur being labeled as a terrorist in this country, someone she is NOT. Best believe that this labeling and two increases in the bounty in the last decade is psychological warfare against Black women in this country.

Framing The Panther: Assata Shakur and Black Female Agency [PDF] by Joy James is a fascinating read. She examines the similarities between Harriet Tubman and Assata Shakur in terms of rejection of the State and also examines how not being anchored by or known in relation to a heterosexual male partner that was also “icon,” impacts perception of her.

We Cannot Have It All Because We No Longer Have Dreams by Flavia Dzodan on Tiger Beatdown is an exquisite essay. She went IN! She writes: “I do have to bring up my disillusion with most of mainstream feminism. I do have to denounce this hegemonic feminist discourse that promotes success without questioning the very context in which said success is supposed to take place. I do have to protest the increasing promotion of corporate participation as a measure of “feminist achievement” and women’s prosperity. Because for as long as we do not question at whose expense we are succeeding, we are going to continue creating a deeper gap between those women who are allowed to succeed and those who never stood a chance to begin with.” READ THIS.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it needs to be mentioned again, hence the suggested read below. We must STOP placing Black women in patriarchal binaries, and then calling such placement “feminist” if we worship the “positive” side of the binary. Respectability politics plus benevolent sexism are NOT feminism. In fact, they can quickly become misogynoir.

Queens of Consciousness & Sex-Radicalism in Hip-Hop:On Erykah Badu & The Notorious K.I.M. [PDF] by Greg Thomas is a good read. He explores the “consciousness without sexuality” versus the “sexuality without consciousness” binary (or in other words “queen” versus “females/bitch” binary), revealing that listeners and fans NOT the artists themselves type them as one or the other. Erykah’s music reveals a connection to the erotic just as Lil’ Kim’s music reveals thought and exploration on a variety of topics. A must-read before EVER comparing two Black women in music ever again.

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions! And, to keep up with the books that I am reading, check my Pinterest board for 2013 or for past reads, view the 2012 one.

I Don’t Want To Have To Deal With Racism In Order To Support LGBTQ White People

In the last several years, I’ve found it very difficult to talk to many LGBTQ White people. Everything I learn about LGBTQ experiences is primarily from LGBTQ Black people and other ones of colour. Because I am a cisgender heterosexual Black woman, often times LGBTQ White people approach me with the assumption that I am homophobic, transphobic and theist (where theism justifies the bigotry, as if theism is arbitrary [without history] and only applies to Black people). I am none of these. I’m a Womanist. My feminism is intersectional. I’m an agnostic atheist.

There’s been several times on social media networks (and in person) where a LGBTQ White person started speaking to me with the assumption of homophobia and theism. Once a gay White man assumed the sheer mention of Tracey Morgan meant I defend him. He accused me of homophobia, mentioned that my avatar revealed the truth about me (since in America, to be Black is to be deemed homophobic) and actually hashtagged the word “black” in his tweet reply. For the record, I don’t like Morgan’s comedy; I pointed out how his White audience and White fans laughed at his homophobic jokes, but as a way to punish Black men in general, and uphold White supremacy, White homophobes must be obscured and ignored. This angered LGBTQ White people (others came along) who felt that attacking me with racist tweets was better than recognizing that I didn’t defend Morgan and that yes, Whites, not solely Blacks are a part of the problem of homophobia in this country.

Why would they think racism is the best way to respond to presumed homophobia? Well, as long as this society is White supremacist, media figures like Anderson Cooper and David Gregory continue to push the idea that Black people are virulently homophobic, and Whites receive awards despite homophobia or homoantagonistic policies (i.e. Brett Ratner, Bill Clinton) while Black people are repeatedly and statistically inaccurately portrayed as “exceptionally” homophobic and the “real” problem, White supremacy will not only remain unchecked but LGBTQ Whites privileged in every other area can unequivocally blame Black people for their oppression while ignoring White supremacy, racism and White privilege. His approach ignored what I actually tweeted and was not intersectional.

Another time I discussed media stereotypes and a White trans woman said the media will see me as a “criminal” and her a “whore.” Her response considered my race not my gender and intersectional experience. This isn’t to say that Black women aren’t the most punished and incarcerated women in the country; we are, just as Black men are the most punished and incarcerated of men. But I doubt that she was thinking of women’s incarceration statistics. She was thinking of the stereotype of the “Black male criminal” because I am Black. However, overlooking my experience as a woman, a Black woman no less, she wasn’t able to see how the stereotype “whore” that she thinks could harm her life has harmed generations of Black women and even has hegemonic controlling images (Jezebel/welfare queen/hoochie mama) associated with it. I was expected to listen to her experience as a trans woman since cis privilege shields me from her experiences yet to her, I was interchangeable with a Black man. Again; not intersectional.

Recently I had an exchange with a different White trans woman who felt that I derailed her criticisms of cis women by mentioning Black trans women who felt supported by cis Black women. I apologized, as it wasn’t my intent. She didn’t want to continue to speak with me to continue the conversation. However, she started the conversation by mentioning that I was the only woman of colour that she’s ever encountered who mentioned cis privilege/support trans women and no women of colour really do. How do you say that as a White trans woman and not realize it sounds like “you Black women are transphobic just like Black men are homophobic.” She didn’t critique cis White women. She specifically mentioned ones of colour, as a White trans woman. That’s why I mentioned what I did—not to obscure valid critique of cis privilege but to repudiate the White supremacist idea that cis Black women or ones of colour aren’t supportive and cis White ones are. The imperative for me to check my cis privilege (important) yet ignore her White privilege and endure racism (painful) is exhausting to me.

What some LGBTQ White people fail to realize is LGBTQ Black people deal with homophobia AND racism. Will the former write the latter off as automatically homophobic too? I shouldn’t have to be called a homophobe for rejecting racism from LGBTQ White people any more than when I am called anti-Semitic for rejecting Jewish men’s cinematic interpretations of Blackness through a racist lens or Jewish comedians’ obsession with blackface.

This doesn’t mean that I don’t acknowledge cis and heterosexual privilege. For example, I see how Black women who are marginalized and oppressed by race and gender (and class, complexion, weight, ability, education, immigration status/citizenship, nation, for being trans etc.) are further marginalized and oppressed when their sexuality is deemed deviant. Even heterosexual Black women, with heterosexual privilege, deal with our sexuality labeled as a deviant form of heterosexuality; pathological, hypersexual and “unrapeable.” (“Deviant sexuality” is more than a label—it facilities oppression on multiple institutional, structural, systemic and social planes). I also listen to and talk to queer Black men about the intraracial and interracial difficulties of navigating or rejecting patriarchal masculinity and the emotional/physical violence that homophobia breeds. Clearly an intersectional perspective is needed, especially in regards to Black women who are bisexual, lesbian, queer and trans. It’s not one that I can always exhibit effectively because my cis and heterosexual privilege have to consistently be checked. Further, some experiences I won’t even have the experiential knowledge (which culturally for Black people is highly valued as an epistemological approach) that some bisexual, lesbian, queer and trans Black women have, so listening to them and not speaking for them is important to me.

When I see LGBTQ Black people without heterosexual privilege like I have, stating the exact same things that I just wrote above, there’s a problem. That’s their own community that they’re being excluded from by LGBTQ White people. I see this a lot, actually, and I feel stress and pain for them because despite dealing with the same racism as them and for some, the same sexism, misogynoir, colourism, classism, and more, and even with stereotypical constructions of my heterosexuality as deviant, I still don’t face the homophobia/transphobia that bisexual, lesbian, queer and trans Black women deal with, for example. While I face one of the highest risks for rape or assault as a Black woman, I don’t risk being beat up just for “looking gay;” something that Black men face in a hetero-patriarchal and homophobic society. (Gay Black men and Black women have a lot of overlap in experiences since homophobia and misognyoir are honestly two sides of the same coin.)

I don’t understand how to communicate with LGBTQ White people if the assumption is that I am homophobic and theist because I am a Black woman, if the conversation cannot be shaped with an intersectional perspective, if White homophobes are always off the hook and if they continue to believe that Black people are “exceptionally” homophobic and responsible for America being a homophobic nation. If the price of connection is me admitting homophobia that I didn’t exhibit, checking cis and heterosexual privilege that I do have but enduring racism along the way as they deny its existence and pretend like White supremacy and White privilege are figments of my imagination, that’s an impasse.

I don’t want the price of dismantling oppression in one area to be suffering in silence in another. I don’t understand how to support LGBTQ White people who exclude and oppress LGBTQ Black people and ignore intersectionality, racism and White privilege in regards to heterosexual Black people who aren’t homophobic and aren’t using heterosexual privilege to silence them. I most certainly do not condone homophobia from anyone of any race, to be clear. There ARE Blacks AND Whites who are homophobic, and this is a problem. And homophobic or not, ALL heterosexuals benefit from heterosexual privilege, just like individually racist or not, the historical, institutional, structural and systemic manifestations of racism, White supremacy and White privilege benefits all Whites.

I know the possibility of intersectional thinking exists because videos like this powerful spoken word performance with a queer White woman and a heterosexual Black woman help me visualize the possibility. Maybe such a possibility will materialize into common, not fluke experiences for me.

Examining White Supremacy and Heroism: When Both White and Black People Value White Lives More

I want to share a critically important comment that Son of Baldwin made on my essay On Charles Ramsey: A Black Hero Cannot Exist At The Intersection of White Supremacy and The Media

Everything Gradient Lair said, and, as I said yesterday: But please keep in mind that we are only really considered “good” or “heroes” when we’ve saved white people’s lives (perhaps because they believe only white people’s lives are worth saving; and perhaps, sadly, we believe that, too), when we’re acting as the Uncle Toms and Mammies of their imaginations, doting over white people’s children and acting as guard dogs for their safety (stories of heroism and life-saving within our own communities rarely seem to be newsworthy, but “black-on-black crime”, whatever that means, is a perennial media favorite). From Uncle Tom’s Cabin to Gone with the Wind to The Help to The Butler to the evening news, most whites can only see us as only subservient to their needs, nursemaids to their well being, necessary for their superiority, or dangerous to their acquisition of property. The more selfless for their own benefit we appear, the more they believe things are just the way they’re supposed to be. They don’t allow us the complexity of a full human life; they would rather that our lives remain in the margins, expressed only in the most distorted and inaccurate of extremes.

YES. Many Black people DO have more empathy for White suffering than our own suffering. I’ve seen Black women (and this really hurts) cry over experiences that White women have had yet turn a cold shoulder to fellow Black women. I’ve seen some scold their children harshly then overly smile and be kind to biracial or White children. White supremacy and internalized racism is why we absorb the idea that our lives are inferior and our pain doesn’t matter as much. (This and the hegemonic controlling image of The Strong Black Woman is used to fake “deify” us when in fact it is dehumanization that we absorb over time and allow our own lives and own pain not to matter as much.)

Then with Black men involved, they too have absorbed the message of the devaluation of Black life over White life (while Whites value Whites over Blacks). This is why a Black man could easily beat a Black woman and then save a White woman. Because Black women are dehumanized through racism, sexism and misogynoir, Black men learn the message that we are “less” feminine and “less” worthy of protection, and that protection can only exist with complete surrender to patriarchy. Because Black women are portrayed as “dominant” and White women as “submissive” (and this harms both Black and White women, they are sexist tropes where though we are placed below White women, they are not viewed as fully human either UNLESS juxtaposed to Black women), the message is received that White women are the only ones worth saving AND in order to be worthy of saving, one must completely submit to patriarchal domination, as a woman. 

Thus, saving someone White is deemed more heroic than saving someone Black, EVEN as the media will not allow someone Black to truly be a hero without the White supremacist clause that one must be objectified as a joke or a criminal.

(I totally agree with his comment above, especially when he mentions two things. 1) “Black on Black crime” as a unique pathology is a MYTH in that MOST CRIME is intraracial. PERIOD. There is no “White on White crime” label used, ever. I discussed this years ago in grad school and the White students were FLOORED that I would not accept this racist label for intraracial crime. 2) The construction of White saviors/Black servants/Black Magical Negros etc. in film and used as constructs to racially oppress. Read: this, this, this, this and this, just to scratch the surface.)

(via sonofbaldwin)

Black Women Were Lynched Too

In 1887, a Black woman named Gracy Blanton was lynched in Louisiana. The charge against her was theft. In 1895, a Black woman named Hannah Kearse was lynched in South Carolina. The charge against her was stealing a Bible. In 1898 a Black woman named Dora Baker was lynched in South Carolina. The charge against her was…”race prejudice?”

In 1906, a Black woman named Meta Hicks was lynched in Georgia. The charge against her…none. Her husband was charged with murder, and she was lynched by consequence. In 1911, a Black woman named Hattie Bowman was lynched in Florida. The charge against her was theft. In 1914, a Black woman named Jennie Collins was lynched in Mississippi. The charge against her was aiding in an escape. In 1918, a pregnant Black woman named Mary Turner was lynched in Georgia. The charge against her was just being “taught a lesson.” In 1923, Sarah Carrier and Lesty Gordon were lynched in Florida (Rosewood). The charge against them was “race prejudice.”

In 1946, a Black woman named Dorothy Malcolm was lynched in Georgia. The charge against her was being able to identify mob members. In 1956, a Black woman named Angenora Spencer was lynched in North Carolina. The charge against her was miscegenation, and a charge that predated the historic Loving v. Virginia ruling by barely over a decade.

Black women were lynched too. These are only some of the recorded cases. Recorded—in that not all were recorded.

In addition to all of the punishments via White supremacy and racist oppression meant specifically for Black women (i.e. rape as a tool of power, control, and capitalism), this punishment associated with Black men was also used against Black women.

While some will be quick to think of this as just “Southern racism” while the North was without racism, it would probably be best to read a NYT article, King Cotton’s Long Shadow and this quote by James Baldwin, as a start.

Related Post: Black Bodies: Objects For White Profit, Power and Pleasure

The Predictable Cycle of White Liberal “Humor” At Black Women’s Expense

The Onion and other “liberal” White comedians (see @scATX’s comment on “The Bill Maher syndrome”) love to engage in “isms” in their humor and expect not to be called out on it because they are, well “liberals.” They want feminists and other progressives to ONLY focus on Conservatives as “racists.” At this point, I am tired of the cycle below, which seems to be a recurring cycle.

White men with White male privilege + platform/money/power insult Black woman → the world laughs → Black women, womanist/feminist or not and true allies pushback → anyone who doesn’t like the “joke” is called stupid, obtuse, and/or has their tone policed → prominent White feminists defend insults → Black women, womanist/feminist or not and true allies pushback → White feminists engage in White Tears™ → a handful of Black people defend the attacks as well so that they can feel “powerful” and identify with the aggressor or because of internalized racism plus misogynoir→ a handful of Black men somehow blame Black women for the insult because we aren’t “submissive” enough or team up with White feminists against Black women → division among those who identify as feminist or not continues

The fact that White women are scrambling to defend The Onion, again, for their disgusting recent attack on Rihanna, after so many did the same for the attack on Quvenzhané is BORING, PREDICTABLE and ANNOYING. A few White feminists are not doing that, including @Shakestweetz who has a great post: The Onion Can Go To Hell.

It’s troubling to see the hypocrisy involved because when Donald Trump rationalized rape of women (read: White women, despite the fact that 30%+ of women in the armed forces are Black women) in the military, many White feminists were outraged on Twitter. Why is it wrong for Trump to rationalize rape but okay for The Onion to mock Rihanna as a victim of domestic violence just to make some “point” about Chris Brown? (Some White women are very invested in painting Chris Brown as the only example of domestic violence.) Further, how is it that White male celebrities who engage in similar behavior or their White female victims are not used as satire points by The Onion? White supremacy and casual racism to justify it; White privilege to pretend it is not happening.

I do not applaud ANY man who engages in violence or violence apologism; it’s not “extra” bad if the man is Black, as that would be internalized racism on my part if I thought so.

When you represent a position of power (White, male, money, platform, media) and you use that power to facilitate the disenfranchisement of people already disenfranchised (and let’s be clear, even with beauty, light skin, cis, heterosexual and class privilege, NONE of that protects Rihanna from patriarchal masculinity, sexism, misogynoir or racism) then you aren’t funny, you aren’t progressive, you aren’t creative. You are simply a part of the machine—the propaganda, systems, structures and institutions that facilitate oppression in this society.

The Onion should check with Black Twitter on how to do satire. #whitehistoryclasses and #blackprivilege are a start.