cripchick's blog

“intersectionality” is not
the sprinkling of
my people
into your analysis

it swallows you
like water folding over rock
and those pretty smooth pebbles you like to collect?
those are all pieces of my life

–
i have a growing inability to take people who throw around the word “intersectionality” seriously. it is becoming a problem: we’ll be in a meeting and the future of feminism, disability rights or what have you will pop up and soon someone is dropping the word intersectionality and looking at me as a woman of color for back up

but, you do not know what intersectionality is. intersectionality is something so expansive so broad so deeply rooted in my existence that i cannot sum it up into a single word and then toss it around like a ball.

“intersectionality” is not simply the meeting place of single issue politics. it is something where pieces of our experiences are so intertwined and so entangled together that they cannot be pulled apart into strands.

the way you treat intersectionality is like asking me to look up in the sky and pinpoint where the clouds begin and end.

–
had this in the drafts folder and posted it after reading my friend mia’s blog post titled: “intersectionality is a big fancy word for my life”. go read.

mala linked to a story about a young autistic boy, Francisco Hernandez Jr, who went missing and road the NYC subway system for 11 days. her response to the story reallly struck me…

“I live in NYC and am angered that this is the first I am hearing about a Latino child missing for 11 days. I would have been on the lookout for real.”

and a commenter on the article…

“if only he could memorize skylines and drew them, then maybe someone would care.” -jacque mehoff

as well as Francisco’s mom…

“Maybe because you might not understand how to manage the situation, because you don’t speak English very well, because of your legal status, they don’t pay you a lot of attention” (on lack of support from police)

and Francisco himself…

“Nobody really cares about the world and about people.”

(if you are curious, this is what “intersectionality” really looks like. lives of disabled youth of color being structurally unvalued… or immigration status x disability x race x xenophobia x class… ).

*

intersectionality= idea that all issues (race, disability, etc) are connected and if people are going to be free, society has to address them all, not just one.
structurally= big picture, by the people with power
xenophobia= being scared and not liking “outsiders”, normally people from other countries.

the more i sit in your meetings
participate in your organizations
wake up next to you
shake hands with you, make deals with you
love you

the more i become an expert

in your don’t knows

like

you don’t know how to sit in a circle
so you plant yourself
in the middle

you don’t know who you are
instead you imitate my hair my clothes my art my food
my tongue my skin color,
even my soap operas

and it must be that no one has ever taught you
how to use a library card
because you don’t know how clueless you look
expecting your earnesty
to be compensation for my time

by now i am an over-qualified over-educated expert in the field of your don’t knows
where’s my degree? my big house? my fancy research job?
i’ve earned it

let me guess
you don’t know..