Kimberle Crenshaw, in her talk “The State of Women in America” tells an anecdotal personal story of when she was a representative of Anita Hill’s defense team when, in 1991, she was under charges for testifying that Clarence Thomas, nominee of supreme court justice in the US, had sexually assaulted her. Kimberle goes on to explain that Anita was not taken seriously due to the reaction of the public which was that she had been “acting white by claiming that she had been sexually assaulted,” thus, claiming that sexual abuse, in that era, was a white woman’s issue. Of course, then, the history of sexual abuse of African American women seems to have not at all been a recognized part of racial history, exemplifying a “radical disconnection between the history of anti-racism and history of feminism.” (http://thefeministwire.com/2015/02/black-girls-matter-an-interview-with-kimberle-crenshaw-and-luke-harris/) (State of Women in American: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-qFYaI-ePY)
She discusses this issue further regarding Obama’s response to the murder of Trevon Martin by a white male police officer in February 2012, and subsequent non-conviction in July 2013, in which he enacted active programming in schools and communities called “My Brother’s Keeper” designed to support and enrich the lives of young black men and boys. There was no address of black women and girls. Beyond problematic, the program only further marginalizes women and girls from the spectrum of what should be government-focused, and causes further dissintegration of any potential for equality in society.
“In the Black community,” she continues, “we often don’t even see rape and sexual harassment as Black on Black crimes. In fact, we sometimes avoid talking about these issues out of a fear that to speak of such matters would be to fuel and encourage destructive racial stereotypes about Black men.” Intersectionality, a consideration of how all oppressive institutions (racism, sexism, classism, etc.) are interconnected, is at the forefront of Kimberle’s proposed feminist ideology. She boldly states that, for the most part. the movement has lost momentum due to its intersectional failures. Simply, if we cannot come to a place of acknowledgment for how race, gender and class come together, we will never live to see equality in our realities. Marginalized groups such as LGBTQ folk, as well as people with disabilities, should be considered intersections as well. (My Brother’s Keeper: We can’t wait: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw78Urme_gk)
twobillionrising 