The chapter twelve “The power of identity”  by Alicia Garza talks about her experiences.When I read the conversation between Blonde and White, I saw that people are focused on race. Sometimes when I am on the street people ask me” where are you from? I don’t know why they need that, for what. I think that is not important. Blonde says” Oh, my favorite actor was in that movie He’s Egyptian” does she have to be precise? And White replied “ He’s Égyptian? I didn’t know that. That’s great- we need more people of color in movies. I think, White is surprised to know that the actor is Égyptien, a person of color. Maybe they thought people of color are bad at doing something. If white people can do something good, people of color can do too because we are all human. So why White is so surprised? That is why the author says “ Also I’m really sick of hearing all of that syuf, Black, white, blah blah blah. We need to stop doing that shit. It really gets on my nerves” I think the same as the author “ When are we going to get around to being human!” We are all human. The skin color is not important. Black, white, yellow we are all the same. 

“Identity “ by Garza Alicia  says  “ Though there is much to gain from equity among all subjugated genders, it is also true that America has historically subordinated white women under white men but given them power and privilege over Black women”  Black women are more oppressed than white women. Black women are marginalized because people do not give importance to their skin color. They faced sexual harassment. This politic  of subordination was already established since the colonization “ America is built on white identity politics: the attempted genocide of indigenous people in the Americas in order to access the land and resources needed to build a white Christian nation; the enslavement of people from the African diaspora in order to secure free labor to build a white Christian nation; the exploitation, internment, and degradation of Chinese and other Asian and Pacific Islander and Latino/a immigrant labor in order to propel commerce forward, for the purposes of making the white Christian nation the most powered up in the world”

The Combahee Rivers Collective Statement, published in 1977 by a group of Black feminist decided to fight for their freedom because their life were shaped by many experienced such us racism, sexism capitalism, heterosexism. Black women are marginalized in our society. Even though they fight for the black freedom they have come to realize that this freedom is not for all black people , but for only black men. 

The article by Aleichia Williams Williams titled “ Too Latina to Be Black, Too Black to be Latina” also talks about how people struggle with the sling color such as black. Oh my God, why do some people not like this skin color.  The author was very troubled when she said “As soon as I sat down the table was quiet. Then one girl snickered to another in Spanish “Why is she sitting here? I don’t want her to sit here.” Her friend, who had been in my previous class and had heard my class introduction, blushed and replied to her friend in English” She speaks Spanish.” The girls do not want her to sit because she has black skin. All of this because of the conception of white people about race. They put in the mind of people that black people are not view as a human being.The snapshot of Isabella Celentano emphasis well the both article when her post says “ It is one thing for black women to deal with racism, but it is even worse when dealing with colorism all of this turn around the skin color”Black” your own community.” 

The documentary “Paris is Burning” by Jennie Livingston is a film who talk about the issues of racism and poverty of gay African Americans and Hispanic. In 1990, in New York was organized a ball where gay and transgender have to show their costumes. The show opened with an entrance of Pepper Labeija, who wore an immense puff of gold lame , gloves up to her elbows. She was a legendary drag queen. In this film we saw gender issues focusing on drag balls. In this ball the gays and transsexual perform femininity as drag queens. Drag is a form of community for those who are rejecting by the society like gay and transsexuel people. Those people are rejected, and  marginalized because they do not have the expectation of gender roles. If you were born as male, you need to behave as a male, but in ‘Paris is burning’ we saw that men wore women’s clothes, act as female. Pepper Labeijra said:” the mother of house I can never say how a woman feels I can only say how a man who acts like a woman or dresses like a woman feels. I never wanted to have a sex change”.  

 “ The combahee River Collective Statement”  was a blak feminist  lesbian organization since 1974.  But they struggled against racial, sexual, heterosexual and class oppression. Their beliefs were about equality for all, non lesbians separation such as white lesbians and black lesbians sharing the same ideas, and peace between them.They were fighting for their rights because they were faced  with multiple oppressions, such as sexism, sexual oppression, and racism.  Also society must recognize the intersectionality of both men, and women of color. They thought that they have to fight together, people of color and feminist and Lesbians because they experienced the same oppression. So all of them have to feel solidarity about the race.“Although we are feminists and lesbians, we feel solidarity with progressive Black men and do not advocate the fractionalization that white women who are separatists demand.  ” We struggle together with Black men against racism, while we also struggle with Black men about sexism. So to fight for their rights, they found their own strategies:”We realize that the liberation of all oppressed people necessitate the destruction of the political -economic systems of capitalism and imperialism as well as patriarchy.”

The snapshot of Mohammed Ahmed about the myth of race shows us this illustration: we all have to be together to fight against racism. We are all the same, black, white, yellow. Let’s put our hand together to be strong.

Talking about strategy, I found the snapshot of Glory Kalu Wilson “3RD World Women we cannot live without our lives” This demonstrates that women of color want to be free to do what they want to do. They want to  get their own space. In the picture it was not only blak women, but women of color. I think, to be strong all have to be together to win the battle. 

Betty Friedan was a journalist, activist, and co-founder of the National Organization for Women. She was one of the early leaders of the women’s rights movement. She published The Feminine Mystique on February 19,1963. The book inspired the modern feminist movement in the United States. In our excerpts, she described the pervasive dissatisfaction among women in the post World War II. She also talks about the historical causes of female unhappiness. Many housewives were not satisfied with their lives, but they had difficulty expressing their feelings. She said” The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of Americans women “ And” It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century in the United States”  At this time all women shared the same problem, but “the problem that has no name”

After World War II, the only dream of women was to be a perfect wife for their husbands, they wanted to take care of their husbands, see their husbands happy, they wanted to take care of their homes.  They had no desire for higher education, careers, or political voice, but they were satisfied with their domestic work. For example,  the snapshot of Sadira Mohammed shows us this example when the woman says “ I don’t need right- I have a Kitchen” .Woman was seen as a “ human being” but among those women there were others women who want to be poets, or physicists. So women started to fight for her liberation., to solve the problem. So she said” It is ridiculous to tell girls to keep quiet when they enter a new friend, or an old one, so the men will not notice they are there.” 

In the video Melissa Harris-Perry said her mother balanced domestic work and her career. Her mother In her own raised two daughters. Today we see many professional women who care about her family and about her work.

In the “The politics of Housework “ Pat Mainardi talks about the issue that most men see housework as a woman’s job. She says housework is not only assigned to women , but for both men and women.In the passage she uses her own husband.  As an example. “I don’t mind sharing the work, but you’ll have to show me how to do it.” It seems like men cannot do anything without women.” Man’s accomplishments have always depended on getting help from other people, mostly women.” I liked these sentences from Pat Mainardi “ participatory democracy begins at home. ” If you are planning to implement your politics, there are certain things to remember ” outside they talk about democracy, the libre expression, but at home they are only the one who decides.

The Myth of the vaginal orgasm  by Anne Koedt said that the clitoris is the center of sexual sensitivity. We can also see the male dominance and female subordination “ Men also seem suspiciously aware of the clitoral powers during”foreplay” When they want to arouse women, and produce the necessary lubrication for penetration. We see that men dominate everywhere.

The triangle shirtwaist Factory fire was one of the deadliest in American industrial history. On March 25th, 1911 Saturday evening one hundred and forty six people died due to inadequate safety precautions and lack of fire escapes in lower Manhattan, New York. This factory was owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris in the Asch building on the top three floors. Most people who worked there were young immigrant women with poor  English. The workers were treated unfairly with less pay. The women worked countless hours with low wages and in inhumane working conditions. People worked there for 13 hours everyday in poor condition. Their conditions are very punitive.Workers cannot take breaks. It was closing time when the fire broke out. The factory was not secure enough. The factory did not have sprinklers. In the building of  seven floors only one of four elevators work for about 500 people who work there. So the elevators can hold only twelve people at the time. When the women were trying to go out, the door was locked by the managers because they could not get breaks, or to prevent theft during the day. So the ladies were forced to jump or stay in the fire. Some of the girls jumped 100 feet down and died.  This disaster provoked a lot of protest.

On April 5th, 1911 in 5th Avenue in Manhattan more than 350000 people protested. The  ILGWU( International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union) marched to protest against the triangle shirtwaist. On the video I saw the sign on the left” Ladieswaist and dressmakers Union Local 25 We Mourn Our Loss” on the right I read “ We Mourn Our Loss-United Hebrew Trades of New York”. These protests led to the new laws concerning the safety and well being of all workers. 

 The second video also showed us how the same thing happened in Bangladesh with the workers. On December 14th 2010 On the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in Bangladesh workers were again burned and died in fire. Like what Charles Kernaghan, the director of Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights said. This happened again, nothing has changed. The workers work  12 to 13 hours with less pay. The workers died in the fire. They were  locked. So when the fire started, they   jumped from the window like the girls did on the triangle Factory. The exit door was locked too.  In Bangladesh, workers  have only one day off in the month. 

I think things are going worse. We need laws to protect the workers. Since 1911 people still protest for better conditions for the workers and the equal rights between the both sex. Women protest to get the same rights as men in the workplace.” Virginia just became the 38th State to pass the Equal Right Amendment. The equal right amendment was proposed a century ago, but in the US , the government has never looked, or so close on this situation the previous amendment was written in 1923 by members of the National Woman’s Party, and formed in June 1916. It took 86 years for this amendment to be passed in Virginia. That shows us that there was a lot of fight to get equality between women and men. I mean the right to vote. There were many protests. about the Equal Rights Amendment. Alice Paul, was the founder of the National Woman’s Party. In 1913 Alice Paul and Lucy Burns Cree founded the congressional Union for women’s Suffrage. They used parades, petitions, protests and pickets to push the government to sign the rights to vote. Women won the right to vote in 1920.after that they turned their attention to the next steps. Neuwirth said:”Once they got the vote, they wanted to get all the other rights that they should have.” Women do not give up but still work for a better life, and condition.

 I think this week the two videos were to show us and raise our awareness about workers conditions. Even though the workplace, or the workers’ conditions have changed positively about the safety standards in the work, I think it is not enough. We have to work again to give better conditions to workers.I think  the snapshot of Heartherlee summarizes both videos about the triangle shirtwaist in 1911 and the Bangladesh factory fire. The color of the first picture tells us the picture was taken a long time ago, the triangle factory, and the second picture  color was the recent meaning of the factory of Bangladesh. In each picture we see women doing the same job, making clothes. Since 1911for today nothing has changed about women’s condition in the working world. Women suffer. They just have to do it, to work without saying anything like what Rsaquel Hernandez posted on the snapshot. 

When I first saw the title”One Hundred Years toward Suffrage” by E. Susan Barber I laughed. I laughed because hundreds of years for the suffrage I say why people have to spend all these years for  women’s rights. Women are also human. I was asking myself many questions without getting an answer. This started with Abigail where she wrote to her husband John, asking that her husband and other men to “Remember the Ladies “ . These three words mean a lot. I think she wanted to say that women are also part of the country. Her husband was there for the Declaration of Independence. Independence means freedom. So if independence means being free women also want to be free, to be considered as members who can vote, give their opinion, and express themselves. That is why she said to her husband women are there, remember the women. I did some research about her. I found that she was one of the strongest female voices in the American Revolution for women’s rights. because she was a key political advisor to her husband. She fought for women’s equal education and women’s property rights. She wanted women to have the same rights as men. She was not the only one who fought for women’s rights. There were many other women like Lucretia Mott, an American Quaker, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist. She was amongst the women excluded from a membership in earlier anti- slavery organizations in 1837 because she was a woman. Also Harriet Tubman born into slave who fight for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery. She helps many slaves to freedom. In 1852 Lucretia Mott wrote “ Discourse on Women “ She wanted women to be educated because she said women are viewed as inferior because of the lack of educational opportunities. Women are less educated than men. Several women fight for women’s rights including Ida B. Wells-Barnett. In the video, “Untold Stories of Black Women in the Suffrage Movement’, Ida B. Well-Barnett fought for women’s rights. She was  born during the civil war into slavery in 1862. She was a prominent journalist, activist and researcher in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was

also the founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She fought for sexism, racism and violence. She also fought to establish women’s rights, the right for all women to vote. She wanted justice not only for black people, but for all women black and white. She established the first black kindergarten, organized black women. She fought for the antilynching crusade in the United States in 1891 because her friend was lynched in Memphis in 1892.  She won a Pulitzer Prize”for her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching”

All these fights, and efforts of women had a favorable result. In 1919, the 19th amendment passed by congress and ratified. In 1920, the 19th amendment guaranteed all American women the right to vote. 

I think all the work that the women did was very important because women need fundamental human rights.