Ashley Judd and her comments....

I've been walking around pissed for two days. Not specifically at Ashley Judd for her comments - but everything they stand for and everything they highlight. Most importantly the relationship between black women feminists and womanists and white feminists. The struggle for me is whom is allowed to speak and who is heard. I am pissed because women of color have been screaming at the top of our lungs about this issue and it never received the level of attention it has this week and that took a white woman to do it --  reminding us of our voicelessness. Simply put - again a white woman is heard and a black woman is silenced.

Never mind that throughout history, and now, white feminist women jump on an justice issue (like reproductive justice) and pretend as though they discovered it. Wading through our community spewing harmful righteous indignation at the easy target when if they simply talked to us first they (we) could have had an effective activist moment.

AND lastly - Who are you to speak for me? I, black woman hear me please for once just listen and let me speak my truth, am affected by the misogyny that white men eat up with glee and impunity in mainstream rap music. Why couldn't this woman come into this conversation and lift lift up the voices of the poor, struggling, no health insurance having, tired, worn out activist of color who have dedicated their lives to this issue? This is one of the main gafts that white feminists make when interacting with black feminists and womanists. It's exactly why we stop blogging with you, writing with you, talking to you and communing with you. Some times your whiteness is bigger than your woman-ness.

So, Ashley - you can kick rocks for picking on hiphop to sell your book and commercial and (some underground) rap can kick rocks too for degrading and dehumanizing your partners for capital gain. And regular black men for nodding your heads to it. For regular black women for nodding your heads to it. To porn for propagating it. For white men who buy and enjoy it without consequence. Ugh - I can't. Really. I'm so pissed.