A Century of Politics, Persisting, and Patriarchy
Previously published on The Ascent on medium
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Previously published on The Ascent on medium
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Emily O. Weltman, September 19, 2020
“If you don’t vote, you don’t exist.” — Gloria Steinem
American freedoms have yet to be universal. As benefactors of the patriarchy, white women have contributed to the persistence of white supremacy. We have aided in the oppression of others for several hundred years. This country was not created in our image; white women worshiped it anyway.
Discriminatory practices persist like the layer of mycellium over our planet, touching everything. Antiquated racist and sexist policies stand. If the patriarchy is the microbial layer, racism is the earth’s core.
100 years ago, Black women suffragists fought for us all to exist. Let that sink in. A century ago, only years after slavery ended, Black women chose to help white women win our freedom. They did so despite white women’s persistent mistreatment.
100 years ago, Black women suffragists fought for us all to exist.
In 1920, after taking care of our homes and families, they marched with us. Black suffragists taught white women movement-building tricks. The Patriarchy used tricks of their own (poll taxes, “grandfather clauses,” literacy tests) to prevent new voters, (tactics invented in the 1870s to prevent votes from freed Black Men).
Survival, persistence, and resilience in activism all came from Black suffragists like Ida B. Wells. Black women knew they would not benefit equally from their emotional and physical labor; they stood by us anyway. That is allyship.
In the decades to follow, progress was made; but the dream was not achieved.
In 2016, over half of white women failed us all. Thanks to myopic views of equality, the struggle for Black women to simply exist continues.
We must stop showing up only when our gender is threatened.
It’s truly remarkable how quickly times change, yet how long progress takes.
It’s truly remarkable how quickly times change, yet how long progress takes. All summer white women declared Black Lives Matter. Did we mean it?
Fight for Black women’s suffrage. Bring them to the polls or watch their kids so they can go vote.
How many times have we declared Black Lives Matter? In the weeks to come, our actions will determine if we truly mean it.
Most of all, stop centering. Use our privilege to center Black women’s cause and pass the mic. They clearly deserve the power to fix things.
Ideologically, Americans hold democracy’s free vote on a pedestal, a panacea to avoid dictatorships.
Grassroots campaigns proved progress is possible. But, with a Blue Wave still short of impeaching #45 in both the House and Senate, that “progress” was not nearly enough.
States, he continued, have “significant discretion to establish specific eligibility qualifications to cast a ballot.” Basically, they can bypass “rights” to suit their ideology.
Dictatorship feels imminent. Voter suppression is at a fever pitch.
By default, our democracy is anti-woman and anti-black. White men exist; everyone else has been a footnote. America was built for one purpose: to make money for white men. It’s why our president focuses on economic recovery while lying about job losses.
Stories about our founder's fight for freedom against tyranny are equally false. The independence sought was primarily economic: to avoid taxes. (Ironically, the current leader of the free world is acting like a ruthless king and avoiding his taxes.)
By default, our democracy is anti-woman and anti-black. White men exist; everyone else has been a footnote.
Faced with a history of half-truths, and our present-day election nightmares, I did not celebrate “winning” the vote. Instead, like the 4th of July, I commemorated the 19th amendment with reflections. I acknowledged our nation’s gross missteps which continue to disenfranchise Black families. I reminded myself, and my kids: In America, “freedom” is conditional.
All over the constitution, our oppression is written by omission. Article II, Section I states “Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office…” Women’s existence was never considered. Elsewhere, articles talk about taxing human beings. How can anyone “amend” a White Supremacist Patriarchy?
The judges and juries that define human rights are not our peers. We are born, live, work, vote, and raise children in these patriarchal institution’s “stranglehold”. Each part of the system favors white privilege and is rigged. It keeps marginalized people subservient, with fewer resources, unpaid Board Membership, Jury Duty, Public School funding tied to property tax.
This same system led a known “pussy grabber” to win the country’s highest office. This system and its “due process” allowed a sexual predator to face zero consequences; instead, he was appointed to our highest Court. After defending himself through rage-filled indignation, he is now the gatekeeper of our Constitution and the last chance we have protecting our rights to choose.
Patriarchy led to a virus out of control. One, because a misogynist worried wearing a mask made him look weak. And two, systemic racism led to worse health and economic outcomes for Black Americans. Thanks to persistent cis-male “hegemony” (dominant social, economic, and political culture) 200,000 Americans have perished from Covid-19. Compounding problems from discrimination led Black Americans to represent disproportionately high numbers.
100 years later, with three Amendments addressing gender and race, America continues its death grip, because racism’s roots have never been addressed.
When do we declare “Enough!” and actually deal with it? It’s time to shift power to Black women. Start protecting our most marginalized populations. America: Time’s Up.
Our planet is in peril and our souls just as fragile. Losses keep coming. The fear over reproductive rights is not abstract (with forced hysterectomies and limiting access to birth control).
The patriarchy’s narrative to counter our collective power: Your votes won’t count. Nationally, they’ve sown doubt about election fraud.
What now?
Do we listen to a defeated voice inside saying “It’s already over; fascism is here”? A white guy tweeting about rational choices, gaslighting us in plain view?
Our democracy is hanging by a thread; so are we. The pandemic is out of control; we feel that too. But, now is not the time to retreat, shrink, or sleep.
Our democracy is hanging by a thread; so are we.
It’s time for reinvention and radical change. Take cues once again from Black activists who recognize why democracy is broken and how to fix it.
White privilege can no longer be a weapon to diminish others; it must be used to concede power to the ones who lifted us first. As several famous Black change-agents said, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
White privilege can no longer be a weapon to diminish others; it must be used to concede power to the ones who lifted us first.
Participate in your neighborhood association.
Challenge broken systems, however large. Question everything, including voter suppression tactics.
Share information about election tallying. 45 intends to rush a call before all votes are counted.
If harmed, join class-action lawsuits to hold officers accountable.
I will not squander my chance to make an impact, however small.
I decide how I exist, not the patriarchy. That is my human right.
While I still have “permission” my vote is my power. (Whether that vote gets counted remains to be seen.)
I decide how I exist, not the patriarchy. That is my human right.
White women must “do the work” including questioning bias, self-examination, and reflection.
We wouldn’t be where we are today without them. It’s time white women act accordingly.
We show everyone: we are suffragists.
We stand up. We say, “I exist.”
We stand up for our communities as Black women did for us.
We do not sit by while the existence of Black people is snuffed out and hard-won freedoms are annihilated.
We persevere when we are ready to quit. We leverage every tool available until we are all equal.
We lift up others. Lift every voice. (If you’re white and don’t know what this is, google it).
If this democracy is to survive another 100 years it must serve and represent everyone.
Giving up is not an option. Period.
Black women, as Carter said, follow a “long legacy of Black women who built America.” I stand on the shoulder of my ancestors, Jewish women like Ginsburg, fighting for justice. With her passing, I commit to continue her legacy. I will use my dying breath to stand up for ALL women.
Do you still doubt one voice matters? Question the feasibility of collective action to create progress or write-ins campaigns? Ask yourself why.
What patriarchal rules do we still believe cannot be broken? Which rules no longer apply?
What is “electable” or “likable” or “normal” or “professional” or “angry” or “proper”? Whose rules define “belonging” or a “cultural fit”?
Why do I question my right to be counted?
Why do we still define other women or our own ability by standards created by slave-owning white men and complicit white women 400 years ago?
If American democracy is to survive another 100 years, it must represent and serve everyone.
White women: stop assuming we know better. Don’t expect anyone to conform to only white-able-body-cis-male ways of being in this world.
What will you do?
In case you hadn’t noticed, we are all running out of time.
White men’s fear tactics, like lynching, successfully suppressed votes again. But many Black women voted anyway, before being disenfranchised for decades by racist, sexist, and classist laws. Fannie Williams, a Black suffragist, taught Missouri women how to get around roadblocks meant to stop their vote. The results: “nearly every woman in the city, Black or white, registered that season,” ().
After the 19th Amendment, most white women went back home as our nation repeated its offenses. ” Indeed, we are lucky. Despite exhaustion and “broken social contracts”, they battled injustice again and again.
Black women like , Adelene McBean, Irene Morgan, Jo Ann Robinson, Sarah Louise Keys, (and many more) worked to simply sit beside us. Until 1956, they spent another 36 years forced to sit in back on public transportation, (). We were not moved by this injustice.
In 1963, women like Joan Trumpauer sat with “steadfast, non-violent courage” at lunch counters to fight for Black women to eat by our side. They were dragged down and beaten but got back up, ().
Later that year, Black American’s joined MLK at the Their demands for equality led to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
“The 1970 Women’s Strike for Equality was the largest women’s rights demonstration since the era of suffrage — and more inclusive than anything that had been seen before.”–
In the 1970s and 80s, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an ACLU lawyer, won 5 landmark cases on equality before the Supreme Court. , and “believed that the law was gender-blind and all groups were entitled to equal rights.” Her work overturned laws that benefited all women ().
, but she was a pioneer for civil rights. She brought people with her, listened, and learned. She corrected mistakes. Can all women say the same?
In 2020, more white women have been moved. In Portland, (a liberal sanctuary city), moms lined up in solidarity to protect BLM protesters from federal troops. .
In August, Black Lives Matter was chanted across the country. A new generation stood in solidarity for racial justice in front of the Lincoln Memorial, . Yet, 57 years after the Freedom March, inequality remains a national emergency.
“There is no civil rights movement, no #MeToo movement and certainly no Black Lives Matter movement without brave Black women. When Black women championed equality for the least of these, they championed for us all.”–
In the weeks to come, the evidence will be in our actions. Anti-racist voters can choose with their money, time, and ballots. and “recommit to fight for [RBG’s] legacy,” and the legacy of all suffragists.
Tweets are not enough. As noted, “Portlanders unable to take to the streets have also created roles from themselves within the [BLM] movement.” Begin making reparations, often without leaving the house.
Don’t just ; use it to act.
Pay BIPOC creators and artists, via Venmo, cash app, or “” links. It is appropriate and more than welcome to pay them for their labor.
Spend at local Black women-owned businesses and .
Follow and pay Black and .
Fulfill urgent needs from mutual aid orgs like and the .
Donate supplies to local activations. ().
Give to local Black-led organizations like or whose efforts directly help Black communities.
Support Black candidates: Volunteer, canvas, and .
We can no longer claim we are The Best. This land of freedom and opportunity is losing big time. A recent report placed the U.S. 31st for Human rights violations out of 35 nations, partly from systemic racism (). While touting out choices, we are “continuously ranked as one of the world’s worst countries for women and girls,” (, 2019).
Ideologically, Americans hold free elections on a pedestal, a panacea to avoid dictatorships. We often oversee the first “free” elections of these “liberated” nations when spreading democracy. Yet democracy in the U.S. is not ideal. We rank 26th of 32 countries from abysmal voter turnout ().
In 2018 the largest turnout since 1914 helped elect progressives. According to the Electability Myth, from 2015–2019 women . Midterm elections are evidence: functioning democracies can course correct.
“The right to vote is something most Americans hold as sacred. But the Constitution is clear on the matter. Although the 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendments say voting rights can no longer be limited based on race, color, prior status as a slave, sex, or age, none of these amendments affirmatively state that a citizen of this country will be allowed to vote.” —
Loopholes from a century ago, created to prevent votes from Black Americans drag on, preventing millions of votes today. .” Voters rights 0; The supremacy 1.
More than halfway through the “,” our upcoming election looks nothing like the democracy we pedal globally. Gerrymandering and epic USPS interference seem to all but guarantee an election that is anything but free or fair.
As Martha S. Jones, whose , notes, “The history of the 19th Amendment is more than a myth; it is a cautionary tale for our own time.”
In addition, Jones points out, no one is actually guaranteed the right to vote by the U.S. Constitution (). .
’s poetic words perfectly describe why we continue to be plagued, even now. “Mindful of that history, I know enough to not underestimate the stranglehold of patriarchal institutions and death grip of male hegemony.”
With the world literally going up in flames, we all need something, anything, to remind us, our existence matters. 2020 is not lost. Change can still happen. . Progress is possible. We need to believe this to keep fighting, together.
Progress often challenges the status quo. Moreover, it requires groups to align their efforts with a common purpose. Oregonian women, specifically, have a great deal of collective power. According to , we vote more than men statewide, and more than most women nationally.
In Portland, we are told we must not risk splitting the votes for mayor; stick with the progressive white woman on the ballot. How is that progress? If we default to choices created by a biased process primary, without listening to Black women now, we are complicit in continuing colonization. : “It’s funny, people like to dismiss write-in candidates as a ‘protest vote,’ but after the events of May, we are all protesters now. We cannot allow an establishment politician or any other savior to co-opt this movement.”
Not today ladies, gentlemen, and nonbinary citizens. Our options are not as limited as this system would have us believe. We vote and act for Black Lives, come hell or high water.
Black women like can “reinvigorate democracy” with solutions not found “in traditional party politics, which asks us to hold our nose when we cast a ballot.”
Progress means a more inclusive, responsive co-governance that engages marginalized communities. because “the electoral system [is] binary; the entry points are two doors expected to fit the voices and policy needs of hundreds of millions of multiracial constituents.”
safety and providing care. Listen to organizers; know your rights; come prepared.
Follow the process in PDX.
Join and ensure boards hear from the most marginalized, then act accordingly. ()
for Portland mayor. .
Follow endorsements of Black Lives Matter with .
or mail-in early.
“” on progressive issues that help Black Americans.
Donate to for reform and .
. Give to movement builders like .
Make a family plan should 45 refuse to concede.
Document abuses of power from authorities as evidence to .
Challenge every racist rule, one by one, as , .
We wouldn’t be where we are today without Black women’s ideas, paving the way for equality. It’s time white women act accordingly.
Like civil rights leaders before us, we must fight for Black women’s rights. Fight for their freedom, not more privilege for ourselves. : “If we elect another [white] person we don’t trust then that’s the same outcome.”
.
first (not only from books).
Give them the floor.
.
As , “The baton has been passed to us. I will keep fighting in your honor.”
. Protect Black activists in danger, . Protect Black women like
: “We don’t give up when people need us most. That’s not who we are.”
Emily is a writer, advocate, and entrepreneur. She is the founder of , a social enterprise consultancy, building the Future of Work grounded in gender equality and racial justice. Emily “Leads with Purpose” because the patriarchy isn’t going to fix itself.
