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Doing anti-racist work in white-dominated feminist organizations

Jill

A must must must must must-read piece. A small taste:

What I had planned for my meeting with the white women of TWFC was a set of introductions, and an initial discussion of what, in their opinion, a truly diverse organization would look and feel like. As I expected, their views were universally that a diverse TWFC would be just like the current TWFC, except there would be more women of color attending events and volunteering for the organization. Their focus was on “attracting” more women of color. I urged them to shift the focus in two separate directions:

Question 1: “How do women of color stand to benefit by joining the current TWFC?”

Question 2: “Can you see anything about the current structure of TWFC that might serve as an impediment to attracting women of color.”

Answers to Question 1 were clustered around the belief that TWFC helped “all women” and that a woman of color’s interests were also served by the work of the organization because “they’re women too.” No one on the board suggested that the category of “women” was not universal, and that communities of women (or women from different communities) might have different needs, and different opinions on how to achieve those needs. There was a distinct air, in some of the comments, that women of color should be “grateful” that organizations like TWFC were fighting for “their” interests, and that the failure of women of color to join TWFC was a kind of ingratitude.

But really read it all, it is excellent.

19 thoughts on Doing anti-racist work in white-dominated feminist organizations

  3. This article is so very true. Inevitably, if you can peer beyond the smokescreen, you recognize that a small inner circle does drive the decisions and politics of many organizations. In small churches or faith gatherings, this is often manifest in the form of the one or two major family who founded the church/faith gathering in the beginning. These people have veto power and they are the Kingmakers of everything.

  5. The detail of this story made it so clear and powerful.
    I didn’t see, however, how the feminist organizations described were different from any other non-feminist organization. I see that the author’s primary experience was with white feminists, but I still found it odd that she generalized about them but did not extrapolate to other groups.

  6. Slug, my guess is that the author would consider herself a feminist, and has personal experience and expertise with feminist organizations, where she might not be an activist in a similar role with other sorts of organizations. It’s pretty easy for the reader to see the connections to, say, LGBT organizations they might be part of, while keeping the original article focused on what the author really knows first-hand.

  7. That was amazing. Truly. Thanks for linking. Oh, and Slug? In some ways I think the racism in feminist organizations is more egregious because ostensibly a feminist should be actually fighting for equality for everyone. As the author says, a racist feminist is no feminist at all. And I think pointing out the dynamic as it exists in feminist groups will hopefully get us feminists to take notice, as it hits pretty close to home. The label should demand more of us.

  8. Well, shit. To quote RVCBard*, privilige is one powerful drug.

    (*arts fans should check her out at Ars Marginal).

  9. Wow. This is great, great stuff.

    “One Board president told me it “simply isn’t worth it” to consult women of color about what they want, because she realized it would take the organization in a direction she didn’t want it to go, and serve a constituency she now realized (as a result of our “counseling”) she didn’t want to serve. Other white women said that it would make them “too uncomfortable,” and that, for them, TWFC would no longer be a refuge and a place that boosted their egos by affirming they “did good.” Instead, they’d have to be “careful” all the time, and would be self-conscious about what the women of color thought of them.”

    Yep. Yep.

  10. Wow. I can see how this works now. And how it would extrapolate to the group I do work with in the most painful ways. (but actual inclusion of x group would involve changing what we’re most comfortable with!)

  11. Hell yes. This is the straight up bad news many of us are working with, through, against.

  12. The most shocking take-away is that, this is EXACTLY how male power groups treat WOMEN when they want to be included! You would think the White Feminist groups would RECOGNIZE the whole “Oh it is too much trouble for us to be inclusive to the “out” group” thing; they have surely been on the receiving end of this enough times. The whole throwing the lower-class/WOC groups under the bus reminds me of nothing so much as the Democratic Party deciding that standing up for women’s rights and bodily autonomy was “too much trouble” and would “dilute the message”. SHEESH!

  13. It sounds like this is the basic problem with NGOs–whether it’s about race, gender, class—-the NGO is started by a core group of like-minded people and they pretty much run the show.

    It’s like high school cliques, but on the adult level.

  14. A very thoughtful piece. I hope it will inspire others to write about racist inclinations in other progressive-ish nonprofits. Organizations that focus on the environment, LGBTQ rights, labor organizing, international human rights, mental health, prison conditions, drug law reform, etc. are also blighted by racism and need a similar analysis.

  15. KMTBERRY: The most shocking take-away is that, this is EXACTLY how male power groups treat WOMEN when they want to be included! You would think the White Feminist groups would RECOGNIZE the whole “Oh it is too much trouble for us to be inclusive to the “out” group” thing; they have surely been on the receiving end of this enough times. The whole throwing the lower-class/WOC groups under the bus reminds me of nothing so much as the Democratic Party deciding that standing up for women’s rights and bodily autonomy was “too much trouble” and would “dilute the message”. SHEESH!

    THIS.

  16. Pingback: The Hardest Lesson « Tiny Cat Pants

  17. KMTBERRY:
    The most shocking take-away is that, this is EXACTLY how male power groups treat WOMEN when they want to be included! You would think the White Feminist groups would RECOGNIZE the whole “Oh it is too much trouble for us to be inclusive to the “out” group” thing; they have surely been on the receiving end of this enough times. The whole throwing the lower-class/WOC groups under the bus reminds me of nothing so much as the Democratic Party deciding that standing up for women’s rights and bodily autonomy was “too much trouble” and would “dilute the message”. SHEESH!

    That’s the point. Most feminist organizations don’t fight to eliminate privilege, but to become privileged themselves. White women’s groups fight to gain the same privilege that white men have; for them to support the struggles of WOC would be actively counterproductive to their real goal.

    (I don’t mean to claim that this is peculiar to feminists. This is common to all advocacy groups. Black churches are at the forefront of both the black civil rights movement and the attempt to deny civil rights to gays. (Many) gay and lesbian rights groups discriminate against transgender people. The list goes on. It’s not a feminist thing, it’s a human thing.)

  18. mad the swine: That’s the point. Most feminist organizations don’t fight to eliminate privilege, but to become privileged themselves. White women’s groups fight to gain the same privilege that white men have; for them to support the struggles of WOC would be actively counterproductive to their real goal.(I don’t mean to claim that this is peculiar to feminists. This is common to all advocacy groups. Black churches are at the forefront of both the black civil rights movement and the attempt to deny civil rights to gays. (Many) gay and lesbian rights groups discriminate against transgender people. The list goes on. It’s not a feminist thing, it’s a human thing.)

    Terrific quote. This explains more of how the world works than my entire college education.

  19. mad the swine: That’s the point. Most feminist organizations don’t fight to eliminate privilege, but to become privileged themselves. White women’s groups fight to gain the same privilege that white men have; for them to support the struggles of WOC would be actively counterproductive to their real goal.

    (I don’t mean to claim that this is peculiar to feminists. This is common to all advocacy groups. Black churches are at the forefront of both the black civil rights movement and the attempt to deny civil rights to gays. (Many) gay and lesbian rights groups discriminate against transgender people. The list goes on. It’s not a feminist thing, it’s a human thing.)

    I know someone already did, but I can’t help myself – QFfuckingT.

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