Connections Quarterly Summer 2019 - Gender | Page 13

LES S O NS F R O M A G E N D E R S TU D I E S C L A S S R O O M of empathy, solidarity, and the responsibility I have, especially from a position of privilege, to think about the world and my place in help- ing transform it so we all can be free. over the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, was glossed over or ignored altogether. In feminist movement today, race and class continue to be overlooked. A perfect exam- ple is the #MeToo movement. Tarana Burke launched the Me Too campaign in 2007 to help impoverished young Black and Native American women cope with sexual assault. But the movement only reached public con- sciousness in 2017 after white Hollywood actresses co-opted the movement. Even as Burke’s story began to be told, the women of color Burke fought to give a voice to re- mained marginalized and relatively invisible, prompting Burke to comment in a 2018 in- terview: “We can’t wait for white folks to de- cide that our trauma is worth centering on... we have to be proactive, unfortunately with- out the benefit of massive exposure. That’s our reality, but it always has been.” 9 Lesson #3: Tell Hard Truths Ariana Warden, SFS ‘19 As a White woman, I saw myself represented when I learned about the first and second waves of the women’s movement in U.S. His- tory. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Antho- ny, Betty Friedan—these were the “heroes” I read about. Women like Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary Church Terrell—women of color who contributed just as much to the women’s movement as their white counter- parts—were given cursory treatment at best. Moreover, discussion of how White women like Anthony openly discriminated against Black women, particularly as tensions rose Like feminist leaders, teachers must learn to address differences in race, class, sexual orientation, and other important markers of identity. Only then will they achieve out- comes that will benefit all students. They can start by providing visibility and giving credit where it is due. As a White woman still fig- uring out how to navigate not only a racist past, but also present, it can sometimes be hard to know how to avoid the mistakes of my feminist mothers and grandmothers. I definitely don’t have all the answers, but ac- knowledging those mistakes, embracing the “...teachers must learn to address differences in race, class, sexual orientation, and other important markers of identity. Only then will they achieve outcomes that will benefit all students.” 9. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/us/me-too-movement-tarana-burke.html Continues on page 20 CSEE Connections Summer 2019 Page 11