Bella Pizzo - Undivided Rights

On page 20 of Chapter 1 of Undivided Rights, there is a quote by Dorothy Roberts about Identity-Based Organizing, stating that reproductive rights and justice have long been thought of in all-encompassing terms that have excluded the most marginalized communities from the discourse. The paragraph then goes on to say that identity-based organizing is the way to successfully work at combatting these inequalities in the structure of fighting for reproductive justice.

The authors discuss the authenticity of experience here, arguing that there needs to be a complete and total range of every kind of experience of women of color in order to truly understand the differing fights for reproductive justice. This idea reminds me of some works from another class about "authentic Blackness" surrounding the work of Marlon Riggs in his film, "Black Is...Black Ain't," where Riggs grapples with the complexity of what having a Black identity means in the United States across class, sexuality, and gender presentation. Is there a "true" way to have a Black experience? This is one of the questions that Riggs asks that I believe can be answered by this piece from Undivided Rights.

Framing reproductive justice through the lens of identity-based organizing and the authenticity of each woman's experience is absolutely crucial to understanding the ways that different institutions and interactions can shape the inequality that affects everyone differently. By looking at the range of Black women's experiences, Latina women's experiences, Native American women's experiences, and so on, the organization around fighting for reproductive justice can comprehend that there is no one single experience of being a woman or a woman of color, or any identity for that matter. Tailoring advocacy, empowerment, and activist strategies based on stereotypes and small views of identities can only lead to more oppression.

Outside of our classroom, this kind of pigeonholing is happening all over the place, interfering with the work that could be done to help so many different kinds of people. Assuming that every woman of color has had the same experience with her gender, sexuality, race, etc... shuts down any discussion on the complexities of systemic injustice. In Orange is the New Black, they discuss that issue with Soso and Poussey. Poussey is a Black lesbian woman, and her girlfriend is a queer Asian woman, Soso. Soso assumes that because Poussey is Black, that she grew up "in the hood" with her parents doing drugs. In reality, Poussey led a very privileged life from a class standpoint and is more educated than Soso. These assumptions are seen as benevolent, only trying to give someone credit, but they are actually really harmful and racist. I was glad to see this kind of problem being spotlighted in a television show that is popular.

I want to then discuss more in class what experiences people of color have had that are similar to this. What are the results of these problematic interactions?