By Lauren • @@laurenekelly • 10 years ago

Why I’m Not (Really) Commenting on #SolidarityisForWhiteWomen

Last night, I watched the #SolidarityisforWhiteWomen hash tag bloom. I followed the Tweets as closely as I followed #StandWithWendy.  I was fervent about my endorsement and support for “Abortion Barbie,” tweeting and retweeting and celebrating with fellow prochoice women, all whilst streaming her now infamous filibuster and getting as excited as sports fans do during the Super Bowl. I’m pretty easily excitable and am certainly not one to hold back, especially on feminist matters and especially on Twitter. But last night, I retweeted only one tweet, one that was retweeted nearly one thousand times authored by a user I don’t know. Her incredibly poignant argument, which seems too obvious to need to be said out loud can be seen (by scrolling down a bit) here:  https://twitter.com/Lauren_Kelly_NY. You should follow the original author of this tweet.

I am certainly in no way qualified to say that solidarity is not for white women; that women of color should be united with white women in our fight for equality—because I am not a woman of color. I don’t know what it’s like to be engaged in two separate battles for equality and feel, as these tweets indicated, like the B team (not to mention members of the LGBTQ community of color).  Am I really educated enough to make a statement that implies I understand the meaning of garb I consider oppressive purely because of my cultural ideals? A little xenophobic  and presumptuous to say yes.
We all want to be part of the movement, believe me, I am pretty much always ready to go with my virtual protest sign, and observing is often much harder than engaging, but sometimes it’s not our fight to fight and it really is time to take a seat and listen.
This post originally appeared on my blog. 

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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