Read on Twitter
Stacey Abrams and a host of other Black organizers worked tirelessly in Georgia and I need y'all to understand that they did not do it, at least primarily, for my lily-white Trump-hating self in Brooklyn. https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1324557162358530048
These Black organizers, and particularly women, are to be admired for their dedication and hard work, but they did not show up to rescue ME from Trump. They are not my saviors. Now, I can't speak for them in:re their motivation but...
I think more white people (and I include myself) should assume that on some level they acted out of self-preservation and the preservation of those they felt were similarly vulnerable, and we should respond accordingly.
We shouldn't respond along the lines of: let's look to Black women to save the day, Black women will rescue us, thank you Stacey Abrams for being the savior of the free world. We should probably take a minute to really examine things.
WHY is it that when Black women's needs are met, society improves so much? Why do so many people benefit when Black women advocate for Black women?
(I would suggest that if you haven't started exploring those questions, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Pauli Murray, and Patricia Hill Collins are good places to start, and give some real thought to the legal implications of intersectionality - its original context.)
And if we assume on some level that Stacey Abrams did what she did *for Stacey Abrams*, then the response is less, "Thanks, Stacey Abrams, we'll take it from here," which treats her as a tool to prop up the same old systems that took from her in the first place...
and more, "Well damn, Stacey Abrams, what do you want now? I'm listening."
(Stacey Abrams being the salient example because I'm seeing a LOT of tweets from white people about her that kind of seem a little sketch? But as I learn more about the lower-profile Black organizers responsible for GA action, I want to listen to them as well.)
