colored queer waters

"Cross-racial struggle made clear the work that white women needed to do in order for cross-racial sisterhood to really be powerful. Among the directives were the following: Don’t expect women of color to be your educators, to do all the bridge work. White women need to be the bridge - a lot of the time. Do not lump African American, Latina, Asian American, and Native American women into one category. History, culture, imperialism, language, class, region, and sexuality make the concept of a monolithic “women of color” indefensible. Listen to women of color’s anger. It is informed by centuries of struggle, erasure, and experience. White women, look to your own history for signs of heresy and rebellion. Do not take the histories of Black, Latina, or Native American women as your own. They are not and never were yours."

Becky Thompson, “Multiracial Feminism: Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave Feminism,” in Nancy Hewitt, ed., No Permanent Waves: Recasting Histories of U.S. Feminisms (via ohgeeznora)