Although I may have missed some interactions somewhere (not an impossible thing) I don’t really see the need for a treatise like this – IF, as it seems, it relates to the lives and writing of various women of color online. Who knows, maybe it’s talking about something else, but I’m going to work under the assumption that it’s referring to different women of color bloggers. Unnamed, of course.

There seems to be some ongoing strategy, an attempt at silencing, at being dismissive, starting (or at least when I first noticed) with a white woman writing on her blog something to the effect that she doesn’t link to some women of color because they are “drama queens”. There is, of course, a backstory and a history there, between this white woman and some women of color and being called on privilege and racism, etc, but anyway… this, also combined with the ongoing fallout from the mess Mandy/Brittany dumped on woc, seems to be hardening into some sort of belief that angst, self-reflection, self-determination, taking care of one’s own self and those  you care about somehow makes you a “drama queen” or that you are curling up into a “fetal position sucking my thumb in defeat” becoming an eternal victim.

This is simply not true. Couldn’t be farther from the truth.

We all have our ways of navigating whiteness, of being in this world and keeping our sanity, our dignity and working towards our hopes and dreams, but there is little more subversive than telling a world that discounts you that “I matter”.  Look at me, see me – I exist – I hurt, I bleed, I cry, I rejoice, I reject you, I accept you and I matter. More than that, I matter on my own terms.

What ever in the world of social justice has gotten done without people who are willing and have the courage to hold their battered hearts out and say, see? look what  you’ve done?

That is a gift not everyone is willing to give. It’s a gift not everyone is willing to receive. But it’s a vital component to getting stuff done and to effecting change. Always has been, always will be.

Sure it makes people uncomfortable – some would rather look away, would rather discount it as excessive drama (why can’t they control themselves and all be like us!) , or an unnecessary unveiling or whatever – but others take that person’s heart to heart – not because they are sorry for a victim, but because other worlds and vistas have been opened up to them, and they are willing and anxious to explore areas they never realized existed before.  Indeed, there are those consider themselves blessed to have been allowed access.

I don’t see this as any less important and fruitful than kicking down doors, knocking on doors or ignoring doors completely – we need it all.