Amirah Avila Discussion 11

Identity politics focuses on liberation for a specific identity. For example, In “The Power of Identity Politics”, black lesbian women formed a politic based on their own experiences and is shaped specifically for them. As a latina, I sometimes feel that the fight against oppression for women is too general for me. When I see white women fighting for our rights, they don’t understand how it’s much harder for a minorities rights to be obtained. Our experiences are much more complex due to our history. The story Garza begins with is an example of how some white women don’t understand our fight. When the blonde said she’s tired of everything being about race and color, she didn’t understand that it keeps being brought up for a reason. Representation is still important, as the white guy mentioned, because POC are still not being casted in roles due to their skin. It’s almost as if some white women are the elephant in the room because they see things from a privileged stand point. Are they to blame? Maybe not, because their experiences are much more sheltered and different from a black women’s. At the same time, this is why identity politics are important. Only we can understand our struggles and progress as a race. Some topics i’d like to explore for the remaining of the semester are the different types of pronouns, history of latin women, and women’s rights movements throughout history. I feel that these are all important in getting a deeper understanding on women.

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