Some Very Important Famous Last Words

Thanks to The SmackDog Chronicles for providing a Google link to Brownfemipower's last entry before she shut down her blog (This final entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008). The words in this post are so critical and so urgently needed that I will post here significant chunks from it, lest they disappear and links become dead.

The title: "On Intellectual Integrity" - BFP wrote:

Giving credit for a job done is pretty much what makes academic careers. Whole theories are built around the work of a single scholar (see Frued, Marx, Foucoult, Spivak etc). There are literally thousands of theorists world-wide who would not have jobs if it weren’t for the fact that they became expert translators of a major theorist. Similarly, there are thousands of scholars who would not have jobs if it weren’t for the fact that the translators of major theorists hadn’t done their jobs. Scholars need and are dependent upon each other, even as they fight for their independence and name recognition. Careers literally wouldn’t exist if names and work aren’t cited. For example, if all queer theorists used Judith Butler’s ideas, but didn’t cite her work, she would have long since been shoved out of academia–at the best, she’d be teaching at a community college some where.

As a result, academic scholarship is some of the most fiercely protected stuff out there. Proper citation is taught to all first year writing students. If ANY student is caught not citing sources, they can be kicked out of school. MLK has had his academic titles challenged because a small section of his work wasn’t cited, Norman Finkelstein obliterated Alan Dershowitz’s credibility simply by exposing his plagiarism, Ward Churchill was not protected by his tenure when he made controversial statements after it was discovered he plagiarized.

Citing work, it is said, is important because of intellectual honesty, openness, etc. I say, yeah, that’s great, but let’s be real. If a person isn’t cited–and then is repeatedly not cited over and over again–it wouldn’t matter how fabulous his or her work is–that person’s relevance within the academy would be non-existent. Specifically, the academy would no longer need that person–and that person will be out a job...

BFP continues:

So what this all wraps up to mean is that when when the work of RWOC is not used in any context of academia, they are not necessary, their work is not necessary, and their careers are non-existent– which hurts women of color– and students do not learn about the full scope of their field, making them illegitimate scholars, unprepared citizens, and shoddy activists–which hurts everybody.

Furthermore, it also means that women of color gain a reputation outside of academia as being considered “unpublishable.” Seal Press recently had an exchange with another woman of color blogger at which it was finally disclosed that women of color authors don’t sell, but it would be fabulous to publish them! (It appears that several of the comments on this exchange were taken down–pay attention to “bah”’s comments for proof that these things were said.)

So women of color are the first on the chopping block when there are economic downturns because we aren’t financially reliable for companies–and yet–we aren’t financially reliable for companies because our work isn’t used by other academics in the classroom or cited in texts...

Finally, to excerpt a huge portion to its eloquent conclusion, BFP wrote:

Now. I want to take this discussion and use it to inform my life in the blog world and my life as a writer.

I am not now, nor will I ever be a mainstream type publishable author. I started my blog because I knew this. Although people seem to think that many of us women of color bloggers are doing nothing but complaining when we mention the fact that we are not mainstream type publishable–I would argue that indeed, we are doing far more than “complaining”. We are self-publishing authors on the internet.

I have made peace with the fact that I will never be mainstream-y publishable–but I have NOT made peace with the fact that the words and theories of women of color are stolen and not attributed or cited. I will never make a living off of blogging, I will never get a book deal off of blogging, I will never be on CNN or invited to be a part of a political campaign or have articles written calling me the new leader of the feminist movement–and I am ok with that. I am NOT ok with people who ARE posting on big blogs, getting book deals, doing interviews on CNN, being invited to work political campaigns, being called new leaders of the feminist movement etc–taking my ideas and using my ideas to continue the unexamined and unchallenged goal of getting book deals, doing interviews….

There’s a lot of women of color (and men of color!) who have talked about immigration. There’s a lot of women of color and men of color who have examined how sexualized violence has been the foremost result of the “strengthening” of borders. There’s been a lot of us who have insisted for a long time now that immigration is a feminist issue, goddamn it, get your head out of your ass.
I even wrote a whole speech about it.

Which is why it was startling to read a recent article about how sexualized violence against immigrant women is directly linked to using dehumanizing terminology like “illegal alien” without one attribute to any blogger of color, male or female, in the entire essay. There is even an earnest declaration about how paperwork is the true problem of immigration (bureaucracy of paperwork anybody?) coupled with a declaration that immigration is a feminist issue.
I do not accept that the author of this article made a mistake in not publishing any links to the work already being done by pro-immigration bloggers, nor do I accept that the author came up with these ideas all on her own.

What I *DO* believe is that I made a massive and horrible mistake in emphasizing that immigration is a feminist issue. In comments, a Chicano blogger said very politely, thank you for talking about this Ms. Feminist, but this has been going on for a long time.

I don’t give a shit about being published, I don’t give a shit about the interviews or the jobs or the fame–I DO give a shit that a Chicano is reading a white feminist talking about immigration and politely distancing himself from a gendered analysis of immigration because the author exhibits no historical or contextual awareness of women of color led feminist interventions into immigration.

I give a shit about that because not only does this erase the work that women of color are doing within racist white dominant structures, but it erases the work we are doing within our own communities. It makes it ok for men of color to dismiss the need for feminist interventions into our communities–AND it makes it ok for white women to continue beating up women of color with the idea that showing any concern for what happens to men in our communities is ridiculous, because, see, they don’t approve of feminism!

Poof! Just like that, feminists of color are made invisible even as we are the ones laying our bodies down for the foundation of the communication between men of color and white women.
I had thought at one time that feminism was about justice for women. I had thought it was about centering the needs of women, and creating action in the name of, by and for women. I had thought that feminism has its problems but it’s worth fighting for, worth sacrificing and sweating and crying and breaking down for.

It was all worth it to me, because it meant that I existed and my daughter existed and the women I love existed and we had the right to demand the violence committed against us ends.
I see now that feminism is nothing more than erasure. A conversation between white women and men. A commitment to the safety and well being of people who are never women of color.
But all the while–even as there is a studied avoidance of the women of color in the room, the women of color are there nonetheless. They are working and agitating and moving and changing the world–and they are doing all this without money, without support, without mainstream media, without jobs, without praise and admiration. And to me, it’s a sin and disgrace to force such an unworthy label on them–they who wouldn’t steal food from a neighbor if they haven’t eaten all day.

“The road to hell is paved with feminists”

I can only thank god my soul has been saved.

Viva La Mujerista!

Preach it!