Colour in itColour in it
By Brandon Astor Jones
"[Many] working-class black women reject, or are wary of, feminism because they're suspicious of white women. They see feminism as a movement of, by, and mostly for middle-class white women. Some [black feminists] call themselves 'womanists' and try mightily to distance themselves from some of the racist antics of some white feminists." — Earl Ofari Hutchinson, PhD, The Assassination of the Black Male Image.
A good friend recently sent me a letter; with it came an envelope that very impressively depicts colour photographs of 10 women, of varying ages, who have survived breast cancer. At the top right hand side is an empty space that tells the reader to "Place Breast Cancer Awareness Stamp Here". On the back, a heading reads in bold-face type, "No woman should face breast cancer alone".
To the left appear a list of organisations and their phone numbers (including the American Cancer Society, Santa Cruz), and on the right instructions for ordering the envelope.
Beneath is an extremely hypocritical disclosure; it reads: "The women on this envelope do not reflect the true demographic of those effected [sic]; breast cancer effects [sic] women and men of all races, sizes, and socioeconomic backgrounds." Even hypocrites are capable of the truth now and then — how very white of them. Of the 10 women pictured, one may be of Asian extraction; there is not even one African-American woman in this white photographic line-up.
Educator, author and brilliant feminist theorist Gloria Walker (also known as bell hooks) on more than a few occasions warned African-American women in her work Sisters of the Yam to beware of the exclusionary tactics of certain white feminist groups. The breast cancer envelope may not have been produced by feminists, or even by women, but it certainly demonstrates how the "inclusion" of some (white women in this case) can be twisted into the exclusion of others (black women).
"No woman should face breast cancer alone." Alas, it seems that the organisations which produced the envelope have knowingly left many women of colour alone. As long as one woman or a group of women is excluded from the universal struggle of women, the health and equality of women everywhere will be on the back burner.
Moreover, that one group of women can be left out like this tells just how important it is for an understanding of racial oppression to be part of feminism's often less than panoramic vision.
So if anyone is inclined to order a batch of the envelopes in question, please let the manufacturers know that their advertisement could use just a bit more colour in it.
[The writer is a prisoner in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, Georgia State Prison, HCO1, Reidsville, GA 30453, USA. For the first time in 17 years, Brandon has the real hope of his sentence of death being mitigated. If you can help by contributing to his defence fund or in other ways, please contact Australians Against Executions, PO Box 640, Milson's Point NSW 2061. Phone (02) 9955 1731, fax 9427 9489. Cheques can be made payable to "Brandon Astor Jones Defence Fund".]