EXAMINING THE HURDLES FOR BLACK FEMINISTS AND WHITE FEMINISTS

I have written a few posts on race issues in the past few weeks.

Black Women Blow The Trumpet invited a guest writer, Ginny, to speak with black women about issues that impact gender solidarity. We had an honest and engaging dialogue and I encourage you to read "Ginny Speaks To The Sistas On Gender Solidarity". Ginny will be happy to continue answering questions so please feel welcome to continue to post comments for that discussion after reading her post.

As I have toured the black blogosphere, I have read a lot of discussion about the chasm between white feminists and black feminists. This link, MY ECDYSIS, was from Tami's blog, titled "WHAT TAMI SAID". The history of black feminism is summarized by this post: FEMINISM'S BLACK ORIGINS and in this article, "BUT SOME OF US ARE BRAVE: A HISTORY OF BLACK FEMINISM IN THE UNITED STATES".

I have also read discussions about why black feminism has been incorrectly defined as womanism by many white feminists. The difference between womanism and black feminism is described on this blog: FEMINISM-GENDER.BLOGSPOT.COM.

I am not a feminist. I am not a womanist.

I have never been either one. I have no plans to ever become either one.

Why am I writing about the hurdles that impede gender solidarity between black feminists and white feminists?

I believe that as we examine those dynamics, we will arrive at some new solutions about how to engage with non-black allies. We will begin to learn from our past mistakes and will be able to identify more beneficial strategies for alliance building by identifying better approaches to long-term tactical maneuvering.

The women who come to these discussions have a desire to identify new solutions and strategies. Part of our process of identifying new solutions will be to fully understand the mistakes that we can learn from. This level of introspection allows us to use wisdom in an entirely new dimension for our future exploits as a collective.

We have had several discussions on this blog about the need for black women to have allies. We haven't thoroughly discussed HOW to engage those allies. There is a vetting process for allies that I believe we must implement more effectively. What must this vetting process consist of? How has the current vetting process failed?

Whenever I have said that black women MUST begin to understand how to correctly enlist non-black allies, I have heard many counter-claims about the dangers of engaging non-black allies. It seems that the common "excuse" is that our attempts to engage with non-black allies have failed.

Consider this question in the context of our relationships with allies: If I enter into a relationship without defined criteria for who can enter into the relationship with me, and without any expectations that I have communicated to the group that I have entered into a relationship with and without any conditions for continuing each stage of the relationship, then whose fault is it if my needs are not a priority and remain unfulfilled?

As I read the conversations on the blogs of many black feminists, I hear a recurring complaint that white feminists do not fully understand the struggle of black women. I need to make this very clear to all of my sistas so we can stop whining about it once and for all: NO ONE understands the struggle of black women and NO ONE ever will. Can we agree that today shall be the last and final reality check regarding the fanciful notion that non-black women will ever fully understand our struggles?

Entering the mind and heart of black women can NOT become a criteria for our allies. It is an outlandish and unrealistic expectation. No one needs to understand my mind and my heart to contribute to the objectives that I have placed on the table. Do us all a favor and please leave your heart outside of the room when we come to the negotiating table as a collective to leverage the influence of our non-black allies. Black feminists embraced feminism as an identity and this provided leverage for their allies. Once any movement becomes part of one's identity, it is more painful to leave it. Read the blogs of black women who are no longer aligned with the feminist movement and you will hear the pain and outrage.

Black women, we need to have some requirements for our allies. Our allies must:
(1) understand and embrace the objectives we have on the table
(2) understand and embrace the vision for how those objectives can be accomplished
(3) understand the resources that they are being expected to leverage in order for those objectives to be met for our mutual benefit
(4) have a clear understanding of how "mutual benefit" is being defined by us
(5) understand how the contributions of our allies will be defined and measured
(6) examine how milestones will be identified and measured

No one has to become an honorary black woman in order to advance the priorities that matter to black women. I would encourage all of my sistas to examine why it seems so necessary for someone to understand your personhood in order for you to extend trust. There are different levels of trust involved in alliance-building. In many conversations that I have participated in, it seems that many black women adopt an "all-or-nothing" mentality when it comes to extending trust. Trust becomes an emotional issue when it should be a strategic issue. This "all-or-nothing" mentality regarding trust is detrimental to the tactical maneuvers of alliance-building.

In this link, a white feminist blogger speaks about the strains between black and white feminists: TINYCATPANTS.WORDPRESS.COM. There are so many online discussions that address the assumption of white feminists that sexism is equal to racism. Many black women have observed that white feminists, as a collective, have not studied the dimensions of white privilege that they benefit from. For this reason, white feminism has attempted to place white women's experiences of sexism in the same tier as sexism experienced by women of color.

From what I have read, it seems that most white feminists do not thoroughly examine the white supremacist patriarchal constructs that black women must confront regularly and therefore, they can not articulate how those constructs pose different barriers for women of color. Ask any white feminist who believes she is socially-conscious to describe the different levels of white supremacist structure that are functioning within society and to explain how those structures have generationally subjugated women of color. Silence.

It seems clear that most white feminists do not consider the implications of the reality that black women in white America will find themselves in. White women have one America to navigate through - white America. Most white people I have encountered have no real concept of the two Americas that exist for black people in this country. White patriarchy has not had the same result on white women and black women. As I read discussions among white feminists concerning women of color, many do not think deeply about the fact that black women:
(a) do not have white privilege
(b) regularly confront class prejudice within their race
(c) continue to face degrees of hueism within their race
(d) face social exclusion within their race, if lesbian
(e) endure racism in different dimensions from non-blacks (Asians, whites, other immigrant groups)
(f) battle sexism in and out of their race, and
(g) face black misogyny from men and women in their race.

White lesbians often believe that their plight as lesbians in the white race is somehow equal to the plight of black lesbians in the black race. It is ludicrous to assume that all dynamics in each race would be similar. Many white people assume that the way white people relate to other whites is the way black people relate to other blacks. It is an outrageous assumption that has gotten a great deal of traction.

I mention this because it is important that black women understand the misperceptions that non-black allies could potentially bring into the alliance. It is important that we (black women) identify methods to work through and around those misperceptions. We must also re-examine the misperceptions that we bring to the equation when we are engaging with non-black allies. It is puzzling to me why black women would ever assume that white women who were practicing gender solidarity among other white women had worked through their race issues and had addressed the mindset of white privilege. Black feminists didn't expect to encounter overt and covert racism within the white feminist movement? There are many socially-conscious people who still operate with a host of "isms".

It is unrealistic to expect non-black allies to operate with black consciousness when most black people don't even function with black consciousness. Most black people are still exhibiting thinking that was fostered in slavery, are still justifying the choices that reflect white supremacist logic and are still unable to conquer racial inferiority. Entering the negotiation with non-black allies with an expectation that they must exhibit black-consciousness is outlandish and unrealistic.

When we look at the dialogue between white feminists and black feminists and attempt to examine how that alliance became fractured, there's blame to place on both sides of the fence. This is where I would like to focus our dialogue. When reviewing our history with non-black allies, it is clear that we need to re-visit and re-examine our patterns.

The reason why black women often leave the table empty-handed when building alliances with non-blacks is NOT because they are at the table with non-blacks. If we pretend that THIS has been the area of fault - the race of the ally - then we are refusing to truly engage in self-introspection and self-accountability. It is ludicrous (and dangerous) to cling to a mentality that our only "true" allies will be within our own race. Black women, we are going to categorically eliminate 86% of the population in this country as potential allies? How does that mentality benefit our progress?

Let us consider why we can not accept that 14% of the population is the only segment in which we can identify our "true" allies. Black women are now floored when they see black adolescents raping and torturing adults. How did these boys learn to harbor hatred towards black women? In the 2007 Juneteenth rape at Dunbar Village Housing Project in West Palm Beach, Florida, the police never apprehended all ten suspects. The U.S. government could find Hussein in a hole but the West Palm Beach Police Department can not find black teens who have probably never left the zip code? Let us not forget that the police department did not initiate a manhunt for the black rapists who forced a woman to have sex with her own son - and the police department is led by a black woman. If ten black teens had raped the white wife of a millionaire white mogul in their own home in the affluent section of West Palm Beach, all ten black suspects would have been apprehended within days, under the direction of this same police chief.

How realistic is the mentality that our "true" allies are only those within our race when black preschoolers (presumably those who have spent their first four years of life around black people) are still choosing the white doll? Preschoolers who are favoring the white doll are manifesting a dynamic that exists widely in the black community. I continually challenge the notion that only black people are the "true" allies of black women.

Let us look at this relationship between the black feminists and the white feminists as a case study. Let us examine its beginning. Let us examine its demise. Let us walk through the maze and put solutions and lessons on the table that we can use as stepping stones.

What can black women learn from the mistakes made by black feminists in the alliances they attempted to foster with white feminists that can benefit us as we seek to identify new methods of building new alliances with non-blacks?