Solana Pasqual
Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault, Racism
“We have still to recognize that being a woman is, in fact, not extractable from the context in which one is a woman — that is, race, class, time, and place.”[1]
During this time of political and social turmoil, there has been an unprecedented show of strength, courage, and resilience by people around the world. I am proud to be a friend, family member, and witness to these individuals. In an effort to contribute towards the Black Lives Matter movement, I decided to highlight the added weight of being a Black womxn to sexual assault, societal stigma against consent, and speaking out against abuse.
I was initially very hesitant to speak on the experiences of Black womxn due to a fear of co-option and appropriation of experience. Only a Black womxn has the right to dictate the fear, and joy, of living as a Black womxn. However, as an aspiring ally, I believe that it is not the job of the Black womxn to educate us on how to be better. Black womxn have been speaking out on injustice for centuries, and most of the world has turned a deaf ear in favour of comfort. This includes me, a woman of colour.
Tarana Burke
Did you know that the #MeToo movement was created by a Black woman?
In 2007, Tarana Burke created Just Be Inc. in response to a thirteen-year-old girl who had confided her experience with sexual abuse to Burke [2]. Burke committed herself to be present and supportive of individuals who had been sexually abused [3]. Her movement’s name? Me Too [4].
In 2017, Me Too became a hashtag spurred by white actress Alyssa Milano when accusations of sexual assault and harassment were made towards Harvey Weinstein [5]. Burke stated that when she first saw Milano’s tweet, "I felt a sense of dread, because something that was part of my life’s work was going to be co-opted and taken from me and used for a purpose that I hadn’t originally intended" [6]. Milano has since publicly credited Burke for the foundations of the #MeToo movement, and Burke received this in good grace [7]. Burke commented that in spite of a great lack of intersectionality across different movements, the focus must be the amplification of the voices of the survivors: “I think it is selfish for me to try to frame Me Too as something that I own… It is bigger than me and bigger than Alyssa Milano. Neither one of us should be centered in this work” [8].
Rosa Parks & Recy Taylor
Did you know that before, during, and after the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycotts, Rosa Parks was an anti-rape activist? Did you know that the men who raped Recy Taylor threatened to kill her if she spoke on her sexual assault… and she did so anyway?
The narrative that Parks was simply tired, and simply did not have the energy to walk to the back of the bus is wrong. The only thing Parks was tired of was giving in to the systemic racism present in America. Not well known to the world outside of 1955 Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery’s bus operators were well known for bullying, brutalizing, assaulting, and murdering African Americans who refused to operate under the racist order of Jim Crowe [9]. Rosa Parks stated in 1956 that women walked to work for 381 days not because of her, but because she “… was not the only person who had been mistreated and humiliated,” and because “other women had gone through similarly shameful experiences, worse than mine” [10].
One of the women Parks was talking about was Recy Taylor. On September 3, 1944, twenty-four-year-old Taylor had been walking home after church and was forced into a car by seven white men, who blindfolded her, gang-raped her, and threatened her life if she reported their crime [11]. She did so anyways, and the case traveled to Parks who launched the Committee for Equal Justice for the Rights of Mrs. Recy Taylor.
Two all-white, all-male grand juries refused to bring charges against the seven white men who raped Taylor [12]. The world moved on and Taylor’s case was soon forgotten for other equally unjust scenarios targeting black womxn. But she will always be known as the woman who witnessed an indifferent and hostile situation, and still spoke up.
Anita Hill
Did you know that Joe Biden, the democrat’s presidential candidate, slandered and humiliated Anita Hill for her speaking out against her harassment by Clarence Thomas?
On October 11, 1991, Professor Hill stood before the Senate Judiciary Committee to detail the harassment by Thomas while he was her supervisor of two years at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [13]. Her public bravery was met with questions such as: “Are you a scorned woman?” and “Do you have a martyr complex?” [14].
When Hill spoke out on her treatment by Thomas, her identity as a Black woman speaking against a Black man running for a seat on the Supreme Court became a defining factor for her. As activist Elliot stated: “Having to constantly weigh the effects of racism against your own safety or your community's safety puts abused BIPOC people in an impossible situation” [15]. Hill risked a continuation of social stereotypes on the character of Black men when she spoke out against Thomas because society views non-white individuals as character references for entire cultures. When white people commit sexual assault and harassment, it is a crime. When non-white people do so, it is a crime committed by a non-white person. This crime then appears to justify the inherent violence of non-white communities, and thus, creates justification for racist stereotypes and behaviors.
Major Griffin-Gracy
Did you know that Major Griffin-Gracy has been a trans rights activist for over forty years, including during the 1969 Stonewall Riots?
Griffin-Gracy is a survivor of Attica State Prison, and a former sex worker coupled with human rights activism and leadership. She is known as “Mama” to many of “her girls:” non-white, trans women who have encountered, survived, and are healing from police brutality, and incarceration in men’s prisons. In 2005, Griffin-Gracy joined Trans Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project, eventually becoming executive director. She is currently creating and building her own organization: House of GG’s, a safe space and family for the transgender community. Griffin-Gracy wants to create an environment in order to help young girls on the street by teaching them how to negotiate with police, and steps to take if arrested.
Black womxn have been facing the same struggles since slavery began in the United States of America, but it appears that we have only begun to pay attention. Griffin-Gracy has been an activist for over forty years, and in order to keep a consistent fight, she stated: “We have a right to be angry, but you have to be angry in degrees. You use your anger to come up with ways to dismantle the bullshit that is oppressing you in the first place. There has to be a way to manage this so you accomplish the goals you set out for yourself. It’s not an easy thing, but you must nurture, take care of, and look out for yourself too. If you don’t take the time to heal your wounds and soothe your ills, you cannot be of any benefit to anybody else.”
And she has a message to white individuals and all allies: “Miss Major is not your token.”
“They’re still killing us, they’re still throwing us underneath the jails, but there are people that are not a part of our community who are bitching about the injustices that they are doing to us. That’s a major step.” - Major Griffin-Gracy
If we learn anything from the four women highlighted above, it is that Black womxn have been alone in their fight for equality, bodily autonomy, and social justice for far too long. I chose to highlight just four out of an inexhaustible list of Black womxn who have paved and fought for paths that have ultimately benefited us. We need to keep exploring this list, adding to it, and sharing it so that Black womxn no longer have to worry about their work being co-opted by white people with good intentions but inherent biases. So they no longer have to worry about being defined only by one aspect of their lives. So they no longer have to worry about choosing between speaking out and holding their harassers accountable and supporting their community against racist attitudes. And so that they no longer have to be alone in their fight for better lives.
I am ashamed to say that I had only heard about Rosa Parks as the woman who started the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycotts and not as the woman who created committees for black women seeking justice against their rapists. I am ashamed to say that I did not even know about Tarana Burke although I am a strong supporter of the #MeToo movement, and I thought that supporting current transgender rights was the same as understanding and supporting the activists who made transgender rights advocacy a trend on social media. We need to understand that our privilege creates blinders that allow us to protest, spread awareness, participate in Instagram petitions, and start conversations because Black womxn started these movements when it was not a popular thing to do. They did it under threats of personal harm, death, or professional and social degradation. They did it because Black womxn matter.
We have the responsibility to demand justice for Black womxn during the #MeToo movement as they have for us. We have the responsibility to protect Black womxn as they have us. We have the responsibility to say their names: Monika Diamond, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Dominique “Rem’mie”, Riah Milton, and countless other trans gendered individuals who have been killed for being transgender. We have the responsibility to care, and to act on it.
References
[1] Hobbes, A. (2018, October 10). One Year of #MeToo: The Legacy of Black Women’s Testimonies. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/one-year-of-metoo-the-legacy-of-black-womens-testimonies
[2] Garcia, S. E. (2017, October 20). The Woman Who Created #MeToo Long Before Hashtags. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/us/me-too-movement-tarana-burke.html
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] Ibid
[8] Ibid
[9] McGuire, D. (2015, December 1). More Than A Seat On The Bus. We’re History. http://werehistory.org/rosa-parks/
[10] Ibid
[11] Mattimore, R. (2017, December 8). Before the Bus, Rosa Parks Was a Sexual Assault Investigator. History. https://www.history.com/news/before-the-bus-rosa-parks-was-a-sexual-assault-investigator
[12] Chan, S. (2017, December 29). Recy Taylor, Who Fought for Justice After a 1944 Rape, Dies at 97. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/obituaries/recy-taylor-alabama-rape-victim-dead.html?login=smartlock&auth=login-smartlock
[13] Schult, E. (2018, September 27). WE STILL BELIEVE ANITA HILL: LESSONS OF THE BACKLASH. Socialist Worker. https://socialistworker.org/2018/09/27/we-still-believe-anita-hill-lessons-of-the-backlash
[14] Ibid
[15] Elliott, A. (2017, November 17). We need to talk about the cost of calling out abuse within marginalized communities. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/arts/we-need-to-talk-about-the-cost-of-calling-out-abuse-within-marginalized-communities-1.4407893
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