Talia Cooper asks Adam Mansbach to remember intersectionality in his recent post at Salon.
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Dear Adam,
I appreciated reading your recent article in Salon, because I too am a justice-loving Jewish white person working to fight racism. And I want us to win. But to do so, we’ll have to work together.
How do we work together? We must remember intersectionality. Your understanding of racism is on-point and I would love to see you fight sexism with the same level of strength and smarts. If you don’t, your failure to acknowledge male privilege undermines the question that the title of your article elicits: how do we convince other white people that racism is real?
Based on your article, I’m unconvinced that you actually liked Jessie. Maybe she just wasn’t your type, or maybe a sexist society got you confused about who you are supposed to like. Baring your real self is admirable, but because so many men regularly showboat their sexual abuse of women in the media, your confessions are not new or liberatory, unless coupled with an understanding of sexism and male domination. Your conversations with Jessie could have been productive if you’d also brought up sexism and admitted to all the complexity.
I’m with you: racism is destroying lives and we have to get everyone on board with ending it.
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I feel sad that Jessie was exposed to anti-racism through misogyny. I’m with you: racism is destroying lives and we have to get everyone on board with ending it. Right now. You ask what it will take? It will take recognizing that you can’t teach someone about oppression while exposing them to other kinds. That’s why the term intersectionality continues to be relevant—if we are not aware of other kinds of privilege, power and oppression as we do anti-racist work, we won’t be affective in bringing in more allies.
If women got a published article every time we radicalized someone via dating, we’d all be famous by now. Almost every guy I have dated has become more radical, more feminist, and clearer about racism by being in a relationship with me. And most political women I know are in the same boat. My straight female friends often feel frustrated looking for a male partner who is both kind and loving and also understands systemic oppression. It’s a tall order. Many have opted for “kind and loving” with the hope that radicalization comes later. Sometimes it does. And then eventually these men get more credit for their work in the movement than we do because they are seen as a novelty. And because of, you know, sexism.
I believe we can do better. I’m sure there was at least one woman who brought you in, who helped you through the initial stages of unlearning racism and becoming an anti-racist activist. I would love to see her get credit. Was it a girlfriend? A friend? A teacher? Your mother?
Maybe the next time you find yourself dating a Jessie, or wondering how you can talk about racism with white people, you can remember the women who have supported you through your political mistrials, and then come to the relationship and the task of anti-racist education from a place of love.
It’s okay to take a break from doing the professional work of educating fellow white people about racism. Everyone gets to take care of themselves.
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You end your article by saying that you’re not into the “go work in your own communities” approach: “I wasn’t interested in chopping it up with any hunkered-down white racists, that I’d had my fill of that ten years earlier when I published Angry Black White Boy.” It’s okay to take a break from doing the professional work of educating fellow white people about racism. Everyone gets to take care of themselves. But, you can’t take a break from doing the work on a personal level. Because, no matter how finely you have tuned your social circles, there will always be the Jessies. And, to try to avoid them completely will not only render you ineffective, but will also make your life smaller. I don’t want that for you or anyone.
We all have to do anti-oppression work from a place of loving our own people. And sometimes that will feel hard and terrible, but that doesn’t mean we don’t keep going. Because when we do it with love, we are that much more affective at explaining why ending racism matters so much to us, and why we need more help.
Sincerely,
Talia
Talia Cooper is the program director at Ma’yan in Manhattan, where she leads anti-oppression workshops for educators, parents, and high-schoolers. Contact [email protected] for more information on writings and trainings. She can also be found playing music on Facebook and YouTube.
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A version of this piece was originally published on Ma’yan’s blog.
Photo: Open Road Integrated Media