Human Rights Activist Malcolm X said, “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.”
This quote rings true as I commemorate the deaths of many innocent Black women. These women have been exploited and killed by both racist and sexist institutional systems. I recall the feeling of shock and anguish when I saw the footage of the interaction between Sandra Bland and State Trooper Brian T. Encinia.
America and The Black Woman
Three days after her arrest at a traffic stop, Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Black woman was found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas on July 13, 2015. Her untimely death brought public skepticism and preceded a heated confrontation between her and Encinia who arrested her during a traffic stop for her failure to signal. The interaction quickly went from a routine traffic stop to a horrifying encounter where Sandra found herself fighting to assert her humanity.
As a Black woman, Sandra could never appropriately assert her rights or humanity in an interracial interaction with a white male police officer. America has never provided Black women safe spaces to assert their humanity without fear of judgment, or fear of having their actions and candor policed and scrutinized.
In interactions where Black women come face to face with representatives of racist and sexist institutions, they are rendered powerless, and they must show restraint and control. Sandra Bland was seen as defiant to societally-defined boundaries, and therefore viewed as “too angry” and “too aggressive.”
While we have seen many examples of police interactions where white offenders are defiant and combative, white male offenders often leave these interactions unscathed. Sandra Bland was not entitled to this same right to assert herself.
For Sandra Bland, both sexism and racism negated her human existence and rights.
Why Intersectionality Matters
Countless other Black women have been victimized by police violence with little to no public outrage or calls for police or state accountability. But why?
Black women continue to experience other tragic inequities that impact their health and livelihood. Black women are two to six times more likely to die from complications from pregnancy than white women. Black women face high rates of intimate partner violence, rape, and homicide. Black women were twice as likely as white men to say they were laid off or furloughed in the wake of the pandemic.
Our country has hidden under the cloak of the American promise that we are all created equal and entitled to unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For many Black women and other historically marginalized populations, this promise is elusive and erroneous.
It’s hard to believe this promise carries any validity as we remember the horrific death of Sandra Bland, the lack of accountability for the officers who killed Breonna Taylor, the lack of attention paid to the murders of Black Trans women, and the Black women who have died and continue to die on the front lines in the wake of COVID-19.
The Meaning of Intersectionality
This complicated and tenuous relationship between the American promise and the precarious nature of Black women’s lives provides testimony to how intersectionality is critical to understanding social inequality.
Kimberlé Crenshaw, the current executive director of the African American Policy Forum and a Professor at Columbia Law and UCLA Law coined the term intersectionality in 1989 to speak to the myriad of experiences and oppressions that women of color endure. Intersectionality describes how social identities like class, gender, and race intersect with one another and produce overlapping forms of oppression.
Crenshaw argued that Black women were not included in feminist theory and antiracist policy because they possess a unique set of experiences that are governed by the intersection of both racism and sexism. The most important point about intersectionality is that it is addictive, not subtractive—the more historically marginalized identities one possesses, the more their identities only create compounding forms of discrimination.
For example, poor immigrant women find themselves victimized and exploited by systems of patriarchy because of their sex, they experience racist immigration policies that impede them from entering and building a life in the United States, and they experience a classist system that relegates them to low wage labor in which they are unable to build familial wealth and escape poverty.
If we fail to center intersectionality in workplace discussions or feminist movements, we only foster exclusivity—and these movements and conversations are left to be dominated by and intended for white women. Similarly, if we do not center intersectionality in discussions or movements on racism, we privilege the experiences of Black men or other men of color.
Recognizing Intersectionality
Give the recent racial events and the pressure for many companies to reckon with their own institutionalized racism and bias, diversity and inclusion work has become more common and critical for healing harm and trauma. While I’m elated to see the hiring of more diversity and inclusion officers, diversity and equity work is not above critique.
Diversity and equity work is tough, complicated and, at times, extremely convoluted. Given this, there is often a tendency to utilize a narrow or singular focus when addressing equity. For example, some organizations may say, "let’s just focus on addressing gender pay inequity for women."
While this is a great topic to start with as we work towards creating a more inclusive and supportive work environment for all women, it fails to acknowledge that pay inequity is different for different types of women.
Research shows that Black, Hispanic, and Native American women make less than their white female counterparts. By focusing on one identity, we lose the nuances of inequalities, and we inadvertently perpetuate another form of oppression.
A conversation on gender pay inequity for women perpetuates racism against women of color if we fail to use an intersectional framework. Similarly, if we don’t take other identities into account like national origin, disability, or class, we fail to acknowledge how pay policies and structures impact other historically underrepresented groups.
When "Leaning In" Isn't Enough
As women, we are told to advocate for ourselves, to speak up, and to not be afraid to assert ourselves in the workplace. As a Black woman, I have a complicated relationship with “Lean In” strategies for success. These strategies exclusively pinpoint individual strategies as a method for creating success, while completely ignoring the systemic policies and practices in place that disadvantage women of color.
It is insensitive and harmful to tell all women to assert themselves more in the workplace if we also aren’t willing to have a discussion about dismantling systemic barriers that impede women of color from advancing and recognize the social penalties that put their career at risk if they choose to speak up.
Look no further than Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who just recently stood on the floor of Congress to condemn sexism in congress—she delivered a resounding speech on how sexism is cultural and deeply rooted in institutional systems. She provided evidence of how women of color frequently experience sexism when they attempt to challenge or oppose white supremacist and classist institutions like the U.S. Congress.
What most of us forget is that many women of color must often opt for the moral high ground when faced with racism and sexism—while Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had the platform to address sexism in the workplace due to her current stature—many women of color do not.
Many of these women opt for silence and censorship.
What Now? Pay Attention
Recent events show us that a different type of leadership is required—we must be courageous and unapologetic. Courageous and conscious leadership is a constant learning experience where you must contend with your own privilege and examine who is present and who is left out of the conversation.
When we pay attention to intersectionality, we pay attention to those on the margins, which ultimately leads to the uplift of those in the middle. When we focus on intersectionality, we all win, and we all benefit.
