Don’t let white women off the hook for continually supporting white men
They’re not being duped; they just love white supremacy.
Another day, another example of white women supporting racist, predatory white men. After the Kavanaugh hearings, people seemed desperate to understand why, yet again, white women support white men set on taking away their rights. And this reason always bubbles to the top: White women are being fooled into standing by their white men.
It’s simply not true.
White women aren’t stupid. I mean, some of them are, but in general, they’re intelligent people. You might ask why they don’t support causes that help protect women. You might wonder why any woman would vote for a candidate who’s said he wants to prevent women from having certain rights even to their own bodies.
It’s all about white supremacy, folks.
As a black woman, I fight for my rights, the rights of other women of color and the rights of any other marginalized people. It’s in my blood to stand up when I see one of us violated, abused, condemned or dismissed. But white women are missing this protective instinct. In fact, they’re missing any instinct that would align them with fighting for the rights of anyone other than themselves. Even when it comes to their own rights, they’ll vote against their best interests if it means they have a shot at a piece of the white supremacist pie.
It’s how Trump landed in the Oval Office, and it’s how Kavanaugh gained a seat on the Supreme Court.
White women are stupid when it comes to one thing: assuming white men will one day reward them by handing over some of their power. What white women don’t know that the rest of us do is this — white men will never share power with anyone else other than other white men. Even then, they’re stingy about what they’re willing to give up.
So stop saying white women are stupid. They’re throwing their support behind white supremacy, hoping it continues to win. We can’t depend on most of them to suddenly decide fighting for the rights of marginalized people means more than the slim possibility they’ll share power with white men. Right now, they have their sights set on one thing, and until they realize that dream will never happen, they’re disinterested in anything else.
Historically, white women have been right beside white men when they lynched and beat us, when they prevented us from voting, and when they threatened us for trying to exercise our rights. White women aren’t fragile, innocent creatures who need protecting from the world. They’ve created that persona so white men come charging in on their white horses to rescue them. That’s the leverage white women hope gains them some white supremacist power. So far, it’s not working well for them.
White men see white women as objects, as children. They need protecting, but you just can’t trust them to take care of themselves and make good decisions. That’s what white women are up against, and it’s an impossible belief to overcome if you perpetuate those ideas yourselves.
We can’t wait for white women to wake up. We have to rise up on our own with the allies we already have. We have to take political seats and continue to rage against this administration.
We have to keep fighting.
Follow me on Twitter: @LeciaMichelle11