During the recent Senate Intel hearing, Senator Kamala Harris was repeatedly silenced and told to be more courteous with her questioning. Fortunately, she persisted and stood her ground. This method of silencing black women is all too familiar. Night after night, white conservative panelists try to silence Angela Rye by painting her as an angry black woman. Sean Spicer tried to silence April Ryan by reprimanding her for “shaking her head”, at his absurd comments.Republicans try to silence Maxine Waters through misogynoiristic insults comparing her to a man and insinuating that she is a crack addict.While many people would become deterred by this constant hate, these women are relentless in their pursuit to impeach 45. The former director if the FBI Comey, himself, even said that he wasn’t “courageous enough”, to stand up to Trump, while these women place their careers and safety on the line to stand up for everyday Americans. They are asking the tough questions, confronting problematic views, and reminding us all that the behavior we see from y’alls president is not normal.
Many white liberals talk about how there will be a resistance against Trump and his ideals. However, they only emerge from their veils of white privilege when Trump attacks the legitimacy of climate change, white women, or white martyrs. We can not trust them to lead this resistance because they still partially benefit from Trump’s policies.When the black women mentioned above were being attacked by conservatives, most white liberals were silent. More recently, many white liberals have insisted that we forgive Bill Maher for using the N-word on live TV because he is an ally. An ally to who exactly?
We, as black women and other women of color, need to uplift each other to increase our representation in these positions of power. White supremacy and the patriarchy flourishes when we try to tear each other apart or when we are silent about each other’s struggles. Starting in childhood, young girls are conditioned to believe that they are not qualified or fit enough to be leaders. This message is reaffirmed by videos of women being silenced by powerful male figures. So, join or start a women’s club at your school to uplift the women and girls in your community. The one girl you empower could end up being the next President, Attorney General, Congresswoman, Supreme Court Justice, etc. We, women of color, need to stick together because Lord knows we won’t get support from the rest of the world.
