The Belle Jar

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White supremacy and patriarchy are interlocking systems of oppression. On the one hand, because those systems are interlocking, it binds your liberation to people of color. On the other hand, because those systems are interlocking, it amplifies our oppression compared to white women. So when Christine Ford is not believed, it is not the same as when Anita Hill is not believed. Yes, it matters. No, I am not discounting Dr. Ford’s heroic feminism and confrontation with patriarchy. Yes, we need to talk about it right now.

When Anita Hill testified, she had to not only fear the consequences of patriarchy (both white and Black- yes, they have distinct features) and racism (both overt and covert, both individual and systemic, both exogenous and internalized). She also had to face an additional jeopardy that results from falling simultaneously in the social constructs of blackness and womanhood. Yes, there is a form of oppression that is unique to Black women that neither Black men nor white women experience. If you cannot fathom this, you should read up on what separated our feminists movements throughout the first couple of waves. Black women scholars came up with a term for it: intersectionality. You have obviously heard of it, but you might be using it incorrectly.

It is not racist for us to tell you this. It is racist for you to ignore it. It is not divisive for us to tell you this. It is oppressive for you to tell us to stay silent about it. It is never a bad time for us to bring it up. Timing suggests choice, and the effects of white supremacy and patriarchy are omnipresent. We can never opt out. Ay, that’s the privilege you can’t seem to see. White supremacy- the overlapping system we are fighting- bestows upon you a permanent right to opt in... to opt at all, really. And hear me loud and clear: WE WANT YOU TO OPT IN.

If you aspire to be an intersectional feminist, you have to learn that when women of color express their pain, it doesn’t negate yours. When we remind you that the fight against patriarchy didn’t start with the election of Donald Trump, we are not attacking you, we are trying to give you hope. When we ask you to do more, we are not saying you haven’t done a lot, we are extending you the opportunity to join a bigger movement- a more inclusive circle that taps into the experiences and resilience of black women, trans women, disabled women, indigenous women. We can help you understand the pain and social distortion that has you spinning with anger and despair right now. Instead we have been silenced throughout history and are being silenced now. Sometimes, yes, at your hands when you find our pain inconvenient, distracting or- for some reason- incendiary and causal.

You have the power, white sisters, to amplify our pain or to amplify our voice. At the moment, some of you are doing both- at times doing the most- and it is your failure to see it, not our need to say it, that is causing fragmentation. Match your words with your actions. Contextualize your actions in history. Protest wide instead of just hard. If you can’t see the opportunity in that critique, you are not what you think you are and your feminism is caged. You should aspire to bind your liberation in ours, because if we free the most marginalized of our sisters, we free ourselves. #AintIAWoman #YouMustUnderstandAnitaHillToBelieveHer

But that can't happen without actual discussion and hearing of Indigenous pain.

Wearing an orange shirt is great, but it's a meaningless token. You may as well just be posting one of those chain memes on Facebook for the good it does. Your orange shirt alone is not going to advance any reconciliation efforts, and to be honest, it feels trite, at least to me.

I need to see actual efforts towards reconciliation. If you work in a school, tell your principal to call an assembly and invite Indigenous people who are willing to speak about what happened in a child-friendly manner. Ask members of the community what they need - money? Do a fundraiser. A listening ear? Listen and don't inject yourself into the conversation. A place to practice traditional beliefs and crafts? Provide it.

As the colonizers, it's on you to initiate this. Indigenous people have been talking too long and too hard and being completely ignored. Also, reconciliation means focusing on what still needs to be done in this country. 75% of prison inmates are Indigenous. Indigenous people are most likely to be victims of rape, violence, and murder. They're also most likely to live in abject poverty. And no one seems to care.

Work must be done to really focus on reconciliation. It must be started by you, the settlers.

An orange shirt just isn't enough.

(Also: do not police how Indigenous people feel about Orange Shirt Day. Some may be fine with it. And that's valid. This is one perspective from one Indigenous woman. The point is to listen to us, not assume you already know.)