It is no secret that trying to move forward in a system that was created to hold you back is analogous to the myth of Sisyphus, trying to move a boulder up a hill and having it roll all the way back down for you to have to start all over again. This is what it feels like to be a woman of color in white America. The snapshot that Maram Nahshal posted depicts this perfectly; it feels as though you are being locked in a cage by another person and being stripped of every right and freedom even though you are the same as the oppressor.

Peggy McIntosh points out some of the ways in which individuals who aren’t of the white race are oppressed and discriminated against in her article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” highlighting that those who are fortunate enough to be white “can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me,” or “I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines featuring people of my race.” At first, this may not be something that those who don’t suffer in these circumstances think exist, but they are things that the oppressed see in their day to day lives. Imagine not being able to see any representation of yourself or your race anywhere you went and feeling isolated in the society you live in, the society you grew up in. Certain individuals can’t even receive proper medical assistance such as black women who have a higher post-partum death rate because they don’t receive the help they need like their white counterparts. The only way to battle against this oppression is by seeing it for what it is and making it known to the world as some individuals may not even recognize their own privileges or the damage they cause.

The excerpt from Marilyn Frye’s “Oppression” also demonstrates the message I believe Maram Nahshal was trying to convey through her snapshot of how individuals are stripped of their freedoms and aren’t given the voice they deserve. She demonstrates how there will always be a barrier or impasse to a woman’s decision and autonomy towards her own life in a system that was created to only benefit men. Men are even so praised in society that any small gesture is seen as chivalry or gallantness when they really have no practical meaning to them. Gestures like opening doors for women is infantilizing because in some way it emphasizes the idea of how women can’t do anything for themselves and need a man there to help them make it through the day. Frye even goes so far as to make the analogy that this gesture imitates the behavior of servants toward masters which mocks women since the role of the “servant” is mainly assigned to women who are expected to tend to their husband’s every need. As s society, we need to take these myopic viewpoints out of society and see things in their bigger picture, as a whole and as it is, a façade for oppression.

Living in a society where your differences are easily seen and hardly accepted is extremely difficult. These are the differences expressed in Alok V. Manon’s Beyond the Gender Binary and in Yamilet Martinez’s snapshot. As we have learned in the first week of class, males are taught to be a certain way, and girls are engendered to act in another. Since the dawn of time, that’s all that there has been, a distinction between male and female as if gender was black and white. Gender, in all reality, has many grey zones and not everyone fits into the category of being categorized as male or female. Those who do not fit into this idea of a gender binary are oftentimes discriminated against and harassed for not fitting into the status quo. It is all part of a form of control and power; wanting power over those who seem different seems all too familiar with what was occurring in the Jim Crow era with discrimination against individuals of color. Many individuals who do not conform to the gender binary can’t even go outside without feeling like they are going to be harmed for being who they feel they truly are. Manon exposes how those who judge gender non-conformity are actually insecure about their representation of their own gender and dislike the freedom that one person is able to experience which brings them to question themselves. Similar to the readings from the first week of class, Manon demonstrates how human beings are divided in how they are expected to act and how others are expected to act towards them from infancy and taught their gender binary behaviors. They are assigned a certain narrative to follow and once they no longer conform to it, they are chastised and ridiculed for being different. Society has to recognize that there is variety within the two categories and that many more people fit within the grey area than in black and white like it is portrayed.

The gender binary is all about control. Taking power against those who are different and using any insecurity they can to disseminate hatred and have power over those who don’t fit in. People living outside the gender binary in other countries such as the Hijras in South Asia were regarded as leaders, shamans, and powerful mythic creatures. They were seen as individuals who possessed power and were to be regarded with respect; that is, until Westernization of South Asia brought down this idea and now, if you were to see Hijra’s in South Asia, they are mostly beggars looking for a way to survive and are regarded with the same hatred that non-gender binary individuals face in America every single day. We must learn that jus because people are different, it does not change their ability to be human beings or potentially better than those who are regarded as “normal.” Like Manon expresses at the end of this excerpt, man and woman are two of many stars in a constellation that do nothing but amplify one another’s shine, not bring it down or dim it. Everyone is equal in the world, no matter their differences.

According to the “One Hundred Years toward Suffrage: An Overview“ from the Library of Congress, the 19^th amendment passed in 1920 gave women the right to vote, but this amendment did not protect the rights of all women as there were still discriminatory policies in place that created an impasse for many black women. This timeline exemplifies how the struggle for women to have equal opportunities did not just come out of nowhere, but it has been something that women, especially those of color, have been facing since even before the first date listed in the timeline.  Discrimination based on the color of an individual’s skin barred any woman of color from being able to vote until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Since then, many suffragists and activists have been fighting for the right of all women to vote, without considering the color of their skin.

The video “Untold Stories of Black Women in the suffrage movement” states that activists such as Ida B. Wells had to put their foot down and fight for the advancement of colored people within society. She was set on her mission to accomplish her goals and express her rights in a system that was created to oppress them.  Literacy tests, Jim Crow laws, and scare tactics such as lynching were set to limit the rights of African Americans from voting and were some of the racially motivated horrors that Ida B. Wells fought against for equality. Wells helped women’s voices to be heard and not overlooked and to be included in organizations and activities that gave them more autonomy over the society they live in. Wells faced public disapproval over her ideologies, but her persuasiveness made it easier for black women to have the equal rights they do today and made it possible for black women to stop being so overlooked when it came to basic human rights. This video also opened my eyes to the truth of Susan B Anthony’s ideologies and how, even though she supported black women’s voting rights, she believed women deserved it more than the black man. Although this may seem to empower black women, saying that one group is more deserving than another when speaking about basic human rights is only adding to the problem; everyone is equally deserving of their own autonomy, not just those who are deemed “worthy.”  This is why I appreciate Naftara’s snapshot post that has a black woman holding a sign stating that “Voting is people power,” demonstrating that everyone should have an equal opportunity for voting, regardless of class, the color of skin, or gender identity.

Women are in a constant struggle to have the same freedoms as their male counterparts, whether that’d be the struggle for equal voting opportunities in the 1900’s or their right to abortion which is something still being debated in today’s day and age. I believe everyone should be given equal opportunities and rights and not have to fight and struggle to have a say in the society they live in or control over their own bodies.

Power, like racism, is an imaginary social construct created to make people feel inferior to others and establish control over them. Power is given to someone, it is not innate; if someone is in power, it is simply because they were given that power, but it could also be taken away by standing up for what you believe in if their morals don’t align with yours. As the excerpt, “The Power of Identity Politics” by Alicia Garza states, those who have power have attained and retained it at the expense of others. Garza also explains that part of taking power is about controlling the narrative as to how certain people or groups of people are seen within the public eye. The conservative right has created many narratives that shape cultural norms about black, Latin, and queer people like taking advantage of the government’s systems of support and becoming predators and drug dealers. It is up to everyone to take apart this narrative that has been created by the conservative right to take away the power they hold against us by portraying minorities as inferior creatures and proving that they are wrong. In a country where the minority is becoming the majority like the United States, steps must be taken to hold those who reap benefit off the mistreatment of others responsible and demonstrate how power must be distributed more equally by seeing each other for what we truly are- an equal yet diverse set of human beings living on the same earth.

Separation like this isn’t only seen in white people against every minority group but seen within the minority groups themselves as well.  Many ethnic groups have a way of living and way of going about their everyday lives that brings about a sense of group solidarity within themselves. If this way of living is not seen within a certain individual, they are seen as different and are somewhat excluded from that group or society, making the individual feel like they can’t fit in. This is a phenomenon I know too well being of Mexican descent. I am a first-generation American, but because my parents know how to speak English, they do so at home, and I wasn’t really introduced to my Mexican heritage or language. Being in the United States, saying you’re American automatically brings about the idea of “whiteness,” and, because of my Mexican appearance, I don’t fit into that mold either. This is a response to Servrine Hedouville’s snapshot that depicts images of individuals with many colors; I think this accurately depicts the feeling of having so many parts of your identity and trying to find where you belong within a society, not knowing where you belong because you are so diverse.  I oftentimes find myself at crossroads that, like Aleichia Williams described in her article, “Too Latina to be Black, Too Black to be Latina” makes me feel like I can’t fit into either culture l because of the boundaries and customs that have been set for me. I am too white to be Mexican but too Mexican to be American, which is a struggle I know a lot of first-generation American individuals go through in their day-to-day lives as well, not knowing where we fit in. At the end of the day, we must come to a similar conclusion as Williams, to embrace every aspect of our own identities and not be allowed to be put into a box that doesn’t fit us. We must learn to embrace every part of ourselves, even if that makes us different from everyone else.

The famous statement of one of the most politically influential black men in the name of history seems to have been forgotten. Martin Luther King Jr. yearned for everyone to come together as a community and judge others not based on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character, which is what many people are dismissing in more ways than one. As the article by the Combahee River Collective, “The Combahee River Collective Statement” in 1977 discusses, the American political system has been dominated by a system of white male rule, painting black women as the adversaries. Luckily, activists such as Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, and countless other women have torn down this façade that has been placed upon them by society, demonstrating the true strength women, specifically black women could have in a system that was designed to see them fail. This is why the post made by Naftara is so strong and displays the message that women, especially women of color, are stronger than they are made out to be.
The article discusses how sex is oftentimes seen as a determinant of power in relationships and how traditionally, men are seen as the head of the house and the primary defense for its development. This is what many black feminist movements are about, bringing down the ideology that they are weak or must depend on men in order to survive. Just as Naftara’s post states, they have earned their place at the table and that makes them stronger than the average women who acquiesce to the power that their husbands think they have over them. This is a common theme seen throughout many feminist groups as they attempt to overcome the barrier of being seen as the inferior group and demonstrate that they too are worthy of self-governance and righteousness. This type of treatment towards women can be seen in not only the black community, but in many other communities as well, such as the Hispanic community. In the Hispanic community, women are seen as inferior to men and have to tend to their every need such as preparing the husbands food and taking care of the children while the man goes to work and provides for his family and is something many individuals are fighting to overcome. This post also depicts how, as discussed in the article, “how little effort white women have made to understand and combat their racism,” and not only their racism, but their acceptance of the patriarchal ways of thinking that has plagued society today. Black women not only need to fight for equality in a system that wasn’t created to see women thrive, but also in a system that oppresses the needs of every black citizen. If we continue fighting against this type of oppression by not following the status quo put together by our predecessors and recognizing where they went wrong, it is likely to cease to exist but living in the same mindset will get us nowhere.

This was posted on 11/7 under Naftara’s snapshot post and I forgot to post it under the response 9 tab instead.