For that I give all African-American women and men props from here to eternity. Doug Jones is a good, decent, white man, but he’s still yet another white man who is problematic in his own right by virtue of his own privilege – yet POC came out in droves to elect him. We should all take a moment to think about that.
I certainly have. I’m going to be as honest as I can be right now, and I may not articulate it well. Fuck it and castigate me for for it. Here goes. My initial reaction to the “black women saved the election” narrative irritated me. I was like, “Hey! Me and a bunch of other white women I know worked hard as hell!” Then. Then, I stepped back from my privileged bubble. Why did I have the time and allowance to work on the campaign? Because I have a job that has paid time-off in a non-profit organization with a liberal boss who encourages me to do so. Because I have a computer and Internet at home which allows me to engage on social media. Because by virtue of my privilege, I have the TIME to do so, and that is the most privileged asset of all.
I’m consistently infuriated with the #notallmen trope. When I have the opportunity, I teach classes about it. I say to young men in classes: “When we talk about privilege, we are not talking about you personally.” Yet, until this election, I’m not sure I had wholly internalized that message myself. I, too, am such a product of privilege. Any notion of #notallwhitewomen is bogus.
Yes, when we suss out the numbers, it was mostly white evangelical women who voted for Moore as opposed to secular white women voters. Whatever. I think this is a red herring that at once comforts and distracts us white women from our own privilege. We can say, “Oh, it was THEM. THOSE PEOPLE” without acknowledging the way in which we white women, too, benefit.
This ain’t the first time this train has arrived at the station – there’s much scholarship about the feminist/women’s movement’s paleness.
Anyway, I’m just a silly, privileged white girl, standing in front a strong, black woman, asking her to forgive me. I swear to god I want to know better.
