(ThySistas.com) After the Presidential election results, I found myself in spaces having uncomfortable conversations with a few white women as they were trying to understand the space of Black women. One of them began speaking about Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman” speech in the context of what feminist need to go to protect women’s rights. Through everything that I saw and heard about the election that disappointed me I had not reached a point of anger. I say this because though I wanted a different outcome and voted for Kamala Harris, deep in my heart I did not have faith that America would do what was necessary to protect itself and its future. However, there was a heated anger that crept into my bones as this woman explained to me the importance of this speech for feminism. I calmly began the read needing her to understand that what feminist needed to do was vote in the interest of women’s right, and more importantly they need to confront other White women about said issue.
In other words, why are so called feminist having the conversation with Black women…that is preaching to the choir. To actually do the work they would have to confront their family, friends, co-workers, and other White women in their village. Throughout the conversation one thing that became clear was the speech was not truly understood, and Black women are a source of strength, brains, and energy for the feminist movement to our detriment. Sojourner Truth gave a description of what the treatment of a “woman” should be, and then question whether she too is a woman because none of the things that a woman is said to deserve applied to her. Yes, she was concerned about women’s rights, but it was centered along side race.
Black women need to deeply understand what happened. We have been used to advance the fight of White women against their men, and each other…while being betrayed at the same time. When it’s time to vote the betrayal happens, and we are left to ponder why this continues to happen. Our community dynamic, soul spaces, how we see the world, and how we engage with our men & children is different. The risks we face every day when our family leaves the home is not the same. Feminism was never for us as it was not created by us, nor does it best serve us when interacting with those in our community. Feminist saw great strength, heart, and loyalty in us…they saw how we navigated our oppression and how we fought back. They had to get us away from our men because the relationship issues are not the same.
We couldn’t be allowed to heal and bond with Black men because that would make our community to high powered. We were set apart to fight for women’s rights as if that is the first thing Black women must center. No, we are Black, and this truth fuels the majority of the hate and suffering we have experienced in this nation. This was never respected by White women. They needed feminism to “protect” their interest and children and yes, their sons…while our interests fell on deaf ears, and our children were murdered in the streets. While trying to make us all believe we are feminists together we mourned our children and the implication of their deaths alone.
Black women have never been truly accepted as feminists, hence why some of us identify as womanists, though we showed up to every fight; we used our voices and resources to try to progress the movement of women’s rights through feminism only to be reminded of what we’re losing.
Race for us must come first…clearly because we are not equally respected as women. The truth is Black women are not seen on equal footing with White women, and our causes are not seen as on par with those of said White women. What the election has taught us through this deep rooted betrayal is we were wrong to trust White feminists. We were wrong to believe they would ever truly align with our needs and concerns as Black women. In the voting booth they choose race over gender. They chose their husbands and sons over the movement they yelled in the street about. The problem is the choice meant damnation for women, and Black women directly.
I know it is hard for many of us to understand why we must divorce feminism instead of just walking away from the causes of White women. The answer can be found in listening to our ancestors. Sojourner Truth spoke about her womanhood being stripped which in turn stripped her humanity. She called on men to let women fix what was wrong with the world know that “women” did not include her by the standard of others…White women included. We can embrace womanism and continue OUR movement in a way that fights for our rights, builds sisterhood, invokes healing, and even help to rebuild the relationship with Black men. It is important to acknowledge the systemic hands involved in the battle between Black men and Black women. A hard truth is a White woman’s feminism is a part of that system. This feminism has betrayed us countless times, and it is time to walk away from it. We can no longer allow ourselves to be a weapon in their battle with White men…especially since it benefits us nothing. We must forge a different path that allows us to center ourselves and our people.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
May connect with this sister over at Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitter; http://twitter.com/MrzZeta.