Women of color are often silenced on not only an individual level, but an institutional level. Education, family and the criminal justice system, to name a few, all create a silencing effect against women of color that perpetuate inequality and violence. In the piece Sistas Makin’ Moves: Collective Leadership for Personal and Transformative Justice by the Brooklyn based group, Sista II Sista (2016), we see a solidarity amongst women of color in bringing up other women of color through fighting and finding alternatives to a society that perpetually mistreats them.
I find that the message of solidarity amongst women of color within the piece that of which the organization, Sista II Sista, represents is very important. Not only is it important to an overall hands-on approach to transformative justice, but to women of color as individuals. Because of the silencing women of color face, not often are they represented as leaders within their own communities, despite being heavily involved. Having the kinds of friendships and relationships built over time, through involvement with this organization is so crucial. This is especially major to a teenage girl, who’s future depends on being made to know that they are capable of leadership.
Teenage girls are highly impressionable. If they don’t see themselves represented as working on the part of community and grass-roots activism, they won’t find it worth-while. They will see it outside of their capabilities, as most service-based organizations as Sista II Sista points out, focus on the faults of young people (INCITE! 2016). The way in which Sista II Sista highlights the importance of the involvement of young members, by teaching them that they are capable of involvement is only made possible through this multi-level solidarity. Women of different ethnicities and national origin coming together in one space is what drives this fight (INCITE! 2016).
Once more, my whiteness gives me privilege and fails to bring me to fully grasp the struggles women of color face in finding representation of themselves within community leadership. I can however, see how a young, woman of color might feel about community involvement and more particularly, feminism seeing photos of the recent women’s march.
I went Chicago’s first women’s march a year before the one mentioned in this post and the tone from what I gathered was the same: focusing entirely on issues facing white women, specifically cisgender, white women. I can only imagine this being alienating to a woman of color and silences the efforts of community and grassroots activists. While I did want to choose a picture of a woman holding up a sign that said “Zionists For Feminism”, as it shows how out of touch mainstream feminism is with women of color, I thought a simple shot of the Women’s March really captures the demographic it was meant for. Most everyone in this crowd is white. The sign in focus is incredibly cisnormative, the tone typical, white feminism. Mainstream feminism fails to create spaces for women of color, thus why the work of organizations like Sista II Sista are so important.
QUESTION: Why do you feel solidarity amongst peoples in marginalized groups is so important?
QUESTION: Why do you feel solidarity amongst peoples in marginalized groups is so important?
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