Mordant Belle

Image Credit: Media Rights

I have just learned about BookTV, a program on CSPAN. I am pretty much overjoyed about it.

And happily, you can watch a (crappy version, my apologies) in-depth interview with bell hooks. I’m still working on seeking out other authors within their horrible, horrible database…it seems I will have to do an individual search for each one instead of finding them based on other criteria (le sigh). Warning: You will need RealPlayer, which is free to download, but that’s a pain if you don’t already have it.

bell hooks is made of awesome. I already have listed one of her books, Feminism is for Everybody, as a great introductory text. I love her because she is not afraid to stand up and point out sexism or racism when she sees it (including pointing out sexism in anti-racist organizations or racism in anti-sexist and feminist organizations), but she does it in a way that make me, at least, want to take responsibility and make a change, compelling me to take responsibility for my mind, my self and my world, rather than putting me on the defensive.

Below the fold: Clip from The Media Education Foundation on her great documentary with them, Cultural Criticism & Transformation, as well as a clip of her interview on Charlie Rose and links to more great information on bell!

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Women, Race, and Class
by Angela Davis, 1983, Vintage, 288 pages
Mel’s Reading Status: UNREAD

Commentary:
Angela Davis is pretty much required reading, especially for feminists who care about understanding the impacts of race and class as they intersect with gender. A word of caution, however: the WOC blogs I read complain about us white folks thinking that reading and quoting Angela Davis (and other prominent WOC authors) at certain times makes us “un-racist”, or serves to address the concerns of minority women and poor women. It does not.

It certainly is a good starting point, though.

Summary, Description, and/or History:
Angela Davis is one of the most prominent multiracial feminists out there. This book was the first of it’s time to really explore the ties between the suffragettes and the abolitionist movement of the first wave. In many ways, the suffragettes (the first feminists, though they did not identify themselves as such; the term became more widely used later during the women’s liberation movement) were compelled to form a women’s rights movement in conjunction with abolition. In both the first and the second wave, women’s political consciousness was born fighting for rights for minorities, only to discover (in the case of the suffragettes) that they could not speak at rallies or appear in public because of stigmas about women (they were expected to stay behind a screen at public meetings). In another interpretation, working for civil rights for others made women more aware of the stigmas and restrictions placed against themselves. So in many ways, women’s liberation was born out of the fight for rights for African Americans.

Davis is an ubernerd in terms of education; she went to many colleges both in the U.S. and abroad, showing her deep love of learning. She was associated with both the Black Panther Party and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in the ’60s and ’70s. She is a socialist and was previously a political candidate in the Communist Party USA. She became famous after she was connected to the murder of a judge who was held hostage during a Black Panther prison escape attempt; she fled underground, and was eventually captured, arrested, tried, and acquitted in a famous trial. She is now a professor at the University of California and Presidential chair at UC Santa Cruz.

Additional Comments always welcome.

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For me, this shit has all been about community. I did not expressly state this in my original post. I was angry enough at the time that I really didn’t flesh out my ideas fully. Having since had the time to think things through more carefully and surf around several of the blogs that are talking about this—part of what I was trying to say was that feminists have a choice in deciding what community they belong to. And they are implicitly choosing to stay away from and otherwise distance themselves from communities that make them uncomfortable or worried for any reason. This has consequences for the communities that they refuse to work with. Most importantly, it has consequences because WOMEN belong to those communities that they refuse to work with.

~Brownfemipower, on her new, one-post-only blog

I heard of your work long ago, when I first dipped my toe into the pond of the feminist blogosphere, but never read more than a post or two. I am white, so it seemed so far removed from me. Now I am filled with regret…I wish, I wish, that I had had the wisdom to read your words before they were gone. I always thought I could come back and read them later.

When I read the first post on the subject by Feministe, I was shocked. I could not believe that Amanda, a feminist, had done such a thing — a feminist, who should understand better than most about the politics of appropriation, discrimination, and injustice.

The more I looked, the more heartbroken I became, because every bit of evidence I saw — even the posts by Hugo, a man I consider a friend and source of inspiration — pointed in the same direction. They were defensive. They were dismissive. They were playing to the letter of the law, rather than the spirit of a feminist community. It could only mean one thing. What you said was true, truer than they were willing to admit. Amanda had done something horrible, and more importantly, she refused to try and fix it, or even admit it was wrong.

Almost everyone I looked up to as a feminist mentor was suddenly perpetrating an amazingly outrageous level of discrimination. I never expected such people, self-identified progressives, to be tinged with such hate, to be clinging and spreading such injustice…and to seem so blind to what they were doing. Can they really be THAT ignorant? I am not sure that I want to know the answer, or what it would mean.

I don’t know where to go from here. I want to let you know that as a result of this I have started to reach out the the blogs of feminists and women of color who I previously thought did not apply to me. I start to see the tiny undercurrents of racism and classism in everyday life that were previously invisible to me, that are now glaring, screaming, and I wonder how in the world I managed to miss them before. I have ordered books on race and class. I tried to find the blogs of other white feminist who “get it”, to see what wisdom they can give.

For what it’s worth, this whole shitpile woke me up.

I don’t know what to do to help, but all I can think is to try, as hard as possible, to make “feminism” something that embraces women like you, something that gives you hope and courage in exchange for inspiration and a powerful voice. Most importantly, I want feminism to BE the community you’re talking about. Community is what it has always been about. I want to make my feminism, my community, one that welcomes a brownfemipower, a blackamazon, an angry black woman.

I’m mentally sending you hugs, tears, friendship, and regrets for my past indifference. I hope one day to be able to see your words, for the first time.

Feminism is for Everybody
by bell hooks, 2000, South End Press, 118 pages
Mel’s Reading Status: UNREAD

Commentary:
I bought this little book, read the introduction, and was amazed. bell hooks is a cultural critic and writer, one of the most well known second wave women of color (at least to me). Here she provides an excellent feminist primer that addresses the history and spirit of the feminist movement, one which DOES do a good job of addressing race and class issues (unlike Full Frontal Feminism, which was much more for white, middle-class women who were “hesitant to call themselves feminist”, though there certainly is a niche for such a book). I would definitely recommend this as an introductory text.

Summary, Description, and/or History:
A description of the book from South End Press’ web site:

hooks applies her critical analysis to the most contentious and challenging issues facing feminists today, including reproductive rights, violence, race, class, and work. With her customary insight and unsparing honesty, hooks calls for a feminism free from divisive barriers but rich with rigorous debate. In language both eye-opening and optimistic, hooks encourages us to demand alternatives to patriarchal, racist, and homophobic culture, and to imagine a different future.

hooks speaks to all those in search of true liberation, asking readers to take look at feminism in a new light, to see that it touches all lives. Issuing an invitation to participate fully in feminist movement and to benefit fully from it, hooks shows that feminism—far from being an outdated concept or one limited to an intellectual elite—is indeed for everybody.

Additional Comments always welcome.

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I am devastated today. I look up to Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon, and I am heartbroken to learn of her appropriation of RWOC brownfemipower’s work, which ultimately resulted in the removal of bfp’s powerful and wonderful blog.

As a female blogger who forged something amazing out of her righteous feminist anger, she was someone I had hoped to be. Her blog is one of those that I check every day, and I alway look forward to her humor and scathing commentary, her unabashed willingness to “call bullshit” when she sees it. Many say that being so caustic is damaging to “the cause”, but to the contrary, a perspective that is blunt, straightforward, rightfully angry, and unashamed is refreshing to me, since I’m so used to rhetoric, hedging, evasion, and empty words.

I’m not going to link to any of the multitude of the conversations taking place elsewhere, because they are too many and too confusing. I believe Amanda when she says she did not “steal” brownfemipower’s content, and it appears that she wrote every word of her original article herself. However, I also believe it is intellectually dishonest for her to claim no credit is due to brownfemipower, whose entire activisim and more importantly her blog was based on the topics covered in Amanda’s article, which Amanda has admitted is on her reading list. This is practically a textbook case of appropriation of WOC work.

I understand Amanda’s defensive stance, and her perception of being attacked…she IS being attacked. The question is whether the attack is warranted. Even if some of the accusations are overreactions - which brownfemipower’s was decidedly not, though some of her loyal friends went much more vocal and accusing - that doesn’t invalidate the original complaint. As a woman and a feminist, she knows and understands the effects of discrimination. She can understand what its like, for example, if a male colleague repeats a suggestion of hers and it receives consideration since it came from a male mouth instead of her own. She understands what its like to be ignored, dismissed, silenced, called “hysterical”. This makes her actions regarding brownfemipower all the more disappointing. I’m not sure how this will affect how I read her blog.

There is a simple solution, which I think could solve this, at least between Amanda and bfp. Amanda, apologize. Say you’re sorry for the lack of mention. Say appropriation was not your intention, and thank bfp for her blog, which you have read, which helps you track the discrimination and racism people of color, especially women of color, experience. Add a link in your article, either at the end or within the text, to brownfemipower’s work. Maybe even link to some other inspirations…you said you were inspired by speeches and texts not from brownfemipower. Acknowledge those too.

That’s all. That’s really all it would take. At that point it is not longer appropriation, but you adding your unique voice to the work of the RWOC. You would be defending WOC and their right to speak and be heard, rather than undermine those rights.

Your unwillingness to do that, for whatever reason, is what the uproar is all about.

This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color
By Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua, 2002, 3rd Woman Press, 370 pages (3rd edition)
Mel’s Reading Status: UNREAD

Commentary:
I really want to read this book, but ran into several issues getting my hands on the 3rd edition, not the least of which being that my library’s copy is missing. Most of the copies of the 3rd edition that I find online are much too expensive; most were over $200, some were only $100. Anything less than $100 was very used. This is the second, and biggest, problem I ran into while trying to locate this book. The second edition, however, is much less expensive, though it lacks the newer material. Both of these editions seem to be out of print.

UPDATE: I finally got my hands on a gorgeous copy of the 3rd edition, by basically stalking the “New & Used” from Amazon.com and AbeBooks. It was awesome, I found one that was barely used, for only $42. If you want to get your hands on this book, I would recommend doing that.

Summary, Description, and/or History:
Originally published in 1984 (1983? ‘84? Sources vary!), this anthology, which includes poems, prose, and essays, was edited by two radical women of color (Chicanas, both). This Bridge Called My Back was groundbreaking, the first well-known book that really held white feminists’ feet to the fire, so to speak, about their deliberate ignorance of the racial disparities within the feminist movement, and called for a radical restructuring of America. This third edition contains all the original material from the first two editions, including their forwards, prefaces, and introductions, as well as a new forward by Moraga that she began writing on September 11, 2001.

Additional Comments always welcome.

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