Navigating a 'Crooked Room': Reflections From Black Women on Their Experiences in Progressive Spaces [View all]

Jasmine Burnett
by Jasmine Burnett, National Black Network for Reproductive Justice
February 25, 2015 - 5:00 pm



Historically, and still today, politically progressive spaces in the United States have focused on maintaining middle-class values, meaning that people who are working class, working poor, and poor are typically not centered in these conversations. As a strategy, progressives are also committed to reforming local government and using it as a tool on the range of issues that address gender, class, and health-access disparities. In theory, this broad strategy sounds good; however, when practiced, it tends to either omit the grassroots political bloc of women of color, LGBTQ people of color, and youth of color in leadership, or it perpetuates systemic issues that affect these communities when those interests become politically and economically viable.

Black women do not expect much from those whose inhumane social, political, and economic interests challenge our human rights, but we do expect respect, support, and trust from our progressive allies, who supposedly are on our side.



http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/02/25/navigating-crooked-room-reflections-black-women-experiences-progressive-spaces/