The Chameleon of Patriarchy – International Women’s Day

I’ve been thinking a lot about patriarchal lately—how, when and where it raises its ugly head. Patriarchy is like a liquid that changes shape, can be colorless but is always toxic. In 2019, those who wear the ever- developing feminist lens have an advantage of being able to identify the manifestations and create a force field to limit its impact. Often, this is not enough.

I recently came across an intriguing article from a year ago that started from an inquiry to Twitterland. It involved the search to find an unidentified, Black woman in a 1971 photo. She was among a sea of men at a scientific conference and everyone was named in the photo except her. This wasn’t ancient times. It was 1971 and NOBODY thought it was out of place not to identify the only woman, the only Black face in the crowd!

Women of color still fight the invisibility of Sheila Minor Huff, a scientist who refused to accept a secretary job when she had worked hard for her degree in biology. Huff went on to make unrecognized accomplishments in STEM for the next 35 years.

Women of color, and especially Black women, are leaning in, stepping up and growing into various leadership roles in our racial justice movement and beyond. I bear witness to their brilliance and to their resistance. I’ve seen their writings, their organizing, their passion to fight the stereotypes, practices, laws and policies that restrict or stop their professional and political growth.

Yet they are mocked and criticized for their principled stands, for their work to lift humanity. Their reputations and bodies endure regular attacks by those consciously and unwittingly upholding racism and patriarchy.

The slings and arrows are from all sides-Black folks, white folks, women of all shades and everyone in between. The goal is to break their feminist spirit, muddy their characters and destroy their achievements. The message is you must bow down to capitalist oppression—or face the consequences.

The passion and skills of these phenomenal women take them into community organizations, places of worship and of course, the electoral arena– which brings me to the Four. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ayanna Pressley. Rashida Tiaib. Lihan Omar. If our communities and movement don’t protect them, we will be forced to watch the very public beat-down of these sistahs who racist commentator Laura Ingraham coined the “four horsewomen of the apocalypse.”

Ocasio-Cortez aka AOC is the youngest women ever elected to Congress. Pressley is Massachusetts’ first Black congresswoman. Tiaib and Omar are the first Muslim women elected to Congress. There’s a lot of firsts in there but that’s not why these young women are viewed as dangerous.

The issues they’re pushing are being called radical. Maybe they are. These issues certainly aren’t new. They’ve been written about and fought for over the years by people like me and you.

A Green New Deal to build new infrastructure using an environmental frame wasn’t the brainchild of AOC. Neither is calling out Zionism and supporting the self-determination of the Palestinian people. Ditto for the demand to abolish ICE. The same for the mandate for free and accessible education and health care for all.

I think what makes the Four the target of conservative rage is that they stay on script, even when chastised by their own party. They do their homework and stay connected to radical circles of thought and action to continue informing their proposals. Our movements have not had a force relentlessly pushing this kind of agenda inside the Democrat Party, let along in the shallowed halls of Congress. This is a refreshing departure from business as usual in the Old Boys’ spaces.

The Four are being attacked for being unprepared, reckless, anti-Semitic, anti-male and on and on. Sure, they’ll have some missteps. They’re learning. I hoping they find strength and refuge in one another and other allies on the Hill. And in folks like us.

Those of us who are pushing a radical agenda need to ensure a safe environment for the bodacious AOC, Pressley, Omar, Tiaib and other allies to do their thing in the House and Senate. By showing our unapologetic support for them publicly, we help to protect and advance the brilliance of the women we know and love around us.

As a postscript to the story of Sheila Minor Huff, she was finally tracked down for an update on her story. Her response to not being recognized in the photo as “no big deal.”

I’m betting this generation of radicalized, empowered women, no matter what domain we are operating in, believe their existence is a big deal. We are the women Maya Angelou had in mind when she penned, Still I Rise. We rise. Still.