That’s pretty much what happened when I read this article from the Washington Post about Hillary and feminism.  I don’t know if I want to vomit over NOW now or later.  Essentially implying that Black womyn are choosing “race over gender,” young women are “forgetting” that their rights came from feminists like Hillary, and Barack supporters are only supporting him because we are anti-womyn.

NOW has officially lost any credibility with me.  It lost the 2 grains of sand it earned over the past 7 years.  Does anyone need further proof that “mainstream” feminists like Steinem and “mainstream” orgs like NOW are living in a world run and dominated solely by white women who have NO NO NO idea what true equality for ALL womyn look like?  How many more times will they box womyn of color as unthinking mules who cannot choose for themselves?  How many more times will media manipulate feminism into guilt tripping womyn to vote for another womyn simply because of gender?  

My call to my readers:  pull back the blankets to see the naked truth of politics, media, and “feminist” organizations.  The greatest challenge to radical liberation is mainstream feminism.

Happy Women’s Herstory Month!

To kick off this fantastic month of womynhood, Profbwoman has a p-h-e-n-o-m-e-n-a-l list of Asian and APIA feminists whose work speaks for itself.

Ahhh, the pride….

3) Planned Parenthood has done incredible work and I know several people who work there that continue its noble mission. However, just like any organization, Planned Parenthood is capable of problematic histories, dark practices, and even racism. And while the charge to move past history and focus on “now” is tempting, it’s outright dangerous to discard the power of memory, lesson, and the revolving door of oppression. History is Always relevant to contemporary issues. Always.

As brilliant Sylvia writes, focusing on the “now” and excluding the power of history is dangerous tactic proven by politicians, policy makers, and writers.

What is the point of having history if we don’t try to learn from it? There is a key difference in learning from history and learning history. Learning from history requires more active engagement, more questioning of motive, and more analysis. Learning history simply leads to the passive indifference, incapacitation, and hasty retreats that pervert our current progressive discourse.

So, this has led to a place where I conteplate, for the 783028 time this month, the futility of feminist blogs. Should I bother engaging with others when I *know* I’ll just get shut down because of my mouthy manners? Should I bother even trying to make my voice heard or make myself known? It’s so dark out there. And then I am led to Aaminah.

A few days ago, Aaminah asked a great question of bloggers – do you think that your readers “know” you from your blog, your writer’s voice?

I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately and I have to admit, when I read Apostate’s post, I wasn’t moved by her defense of PP, listing of its great works, or her interesting history as a Pakistani immigrant, I was turned off by this all too familiar feeling when someone isn’t *listening* to what another person is offering.

For as little as we bloggers know one another (and I agree with Aaminah – no one *knows* me strictly from my blog), the only bloggers I trust are the ones with the most engaging questions. It’s not about tone, it’s not about resume, or where you’ve been. I don’t form “enemies,” or at least, I don’t seek to form enemies. Nor do I view anyone as “the enemy.” (That rhetoric is a bit too George W. for me) It’s the deep, profound questioning blogs that I swim toward. Apostate’s back to back questions were, “Is the Feminist Blogosphere Without Conscience?” followed by “What Do You Want Planned Parenthood to Do?” reinstate my fear that we, as womyn, have not come very far in the simple but instrumental feat in learning how to listen. 

And so, I reply to a fellow blogger’s question, “Is the Feminist Blogosphere Without Conscience?”
I speak from my own voice and say, “I have a conscience, yes, but I listen first.”

-En lucha.

Before anything, she was nominated for the Nobel freaking Prize.

For those who are new to my blog, you may not know this about me.  Because I worked and studied for so in the academy, I take the honor (and fun) of trying to dismantle (smear) the political patriarchy that bolsters its teaching (war zoned) buildings.

When I was an undergrad at Jesuit institution, one of the prayer petitions offered during mass was for “all the professors up for tenure. ” A few weeks later, one of the most brilliant and gifted professors was denied.  A flurry of outrage from students and the community captivated the campus.  I was one of his students, familiar with is passion and light, but knew nothing about the tenure process, and very little about the other side (business, administration, faculty) of academic life in general.  The administration issued a statement that the tenure granting process has, really, “nothing to do with students” and I agreed.  Who I am to speak up for a professor?  What do I know about what goes on in the shadows of an ivory tower?  I’m just a student who loves a professor’s work, but I reasoned to myself, “I’m sure there’s more to it that I just don’t and can’t know about. IT’S NOT MY PLACE.”

That’s exactly what they wanted me to think.

Getting vocal about ANDREA freaking SMITH not getting tenure is one of these opportunities to speak up.   I do know something about the academic world.  I’ve been there, seen it, and recognize its oppressive ways.   For those unfamiliar with the academic world, know this for now:  it can be, depending on the institution, one of the most dangerous places or womyn of color.  I mean, think about it – here is womyn of color scholar who has dedicated her entire life to researching and teaching racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia; she matriculated from some of the most prestigious universities in the world, authored and published ground-breaking work in contentious or unknown fields, and presses young minds forward to think progressively, radically, and independently – and she is denied tenure.  

::sarcasm::  I wonder what this is about. 

Just a Few of Her Publications:

o Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide 

o Native Americans and the Christian Right: The Gendered Politics of Unlikely 

Alliances 

o Sacred Sites, Sacred Rites 

• Smith is editor and/or co-editor of the following anthologies:  

o Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology 

o The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial 

Complex 

o Native Feminisms Without Apology 

o Forthcoming on theorizing Indigenous Studies

::dry::  Here’s my question – why isn’t this womyn more active?

She has published 15 peer reviewed articles in widely circulated academic journals

including American Quarterly, Feminist Studies, National Women’s Studies

Association Journal, Hypatia, Meridians, and the Journal of Feminist Studies in

Religion

• Smith is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards from organizations such as the

Lannan Foundation, University of Illinois, Gustavus Myers Foundation, Ford

Foundation 

• Smith was cited in the U.S. Non-Governmental Organization Consolidated Shadow

Report to the United Nations

• A co-founder of Incite! Women of Color Against Violence and the Chicago chapter

of Women of All Red Nations, she has been a key thinker behind large-scale national

and international efforts to develop remedies for ending violence against women

beyond the criminal justice system.  As a result of her work, scholars, social service

providers, and community-based organizations throughout the United States have

shifted from state-focused efforts to more systemic approaches for addressing

GET MOVING…

To Support Professor Andrea Smith:  The Provost must hear our responses!  Write letters in

support of Andrea Smith’s tenure case.  Address email letters to ALL of the following: 

• Teresa Sullivan, Provost and Executive VP for Academic Affairs, LSA, tsull@umich.edu

• Lester Monts, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, LSA, lmonts@umich.edu

• Mary Sue Coleman, President, PresOff@umich.edu 

• TenureForAndreaSmith@gmail.com 

GET HEARD.  PUT IN YOUR SUPPORT.

 *–Please Distribute Widely and Join Our Local Action Campaign!–   *

* 
*

*Native Feminism Without Apology!*

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
                  *February 25, 2008 
*Statement of University of Michigan Students and Faculty in Support of 
Andrea Smith’s Tenure Case* 
CONTACT: TenureForAndreaSm…@gmail.com

On February 22nd, 2008, University of Michigan’s College of Literature, 
Science and the Arts (LSA) issued a negative tenure recommendation for 
Assistant Professor Andrea Lee Smith. Jointly appointed in the Program in 
American Culture and the Department of Women’s Studies, Dr. Smith’s body of 
scholarship exemplifies scholarly excellence with widely circulated articles 
in peer-reviewed journals and numerous books in both university and 
independent presses including *Native Americans and the Christian 
Right *published 
this year by Duke University Press.  Dr. Smith is one of the greatest 
indigenous feminist intellectuals of our time. A nominee for the 2005 Nobel 
Peace Prize, Dr. Smith has an outstanding academic and community record of 
service that is internationally and nationally recognized. She is a 
dedicated professor and mentor and she is an integral member of the 
University of Michigan (UM) intellectual community. Her reputation and 
pedagogical practices draw undergraduate and graduate students from all over 
campus and the nation.

Dr. Smith received the news about her tenure case while participating in the 
United States’ hearings before the Convention on the Elimination of Racial 
Discrimination at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Ironically, 
during those very same hearings, the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decisions that 
restricted affirmative action policies at UM specifically were cited as 
violations of international law. At the same time, there is an undeniable 
link between the Department of Women’s Studies and LSA’s current tenure 
recommendations and the long history of institutional restrictions against 
faculty of color. In 2008, students of color are coming together to protest 
the way UM’s administration has fostered an environment wherein faculty of 
color are few and far between, Ethnic Studies course offerings have little 
financial and institutional support, and student services for students of 
color are decreasing each year.

*To Support Professor Andrea Smith: * The Provost must hear our 
responses!  Write 
letters in support of Andrea Smith’s tenure case.  Address email letters to 
ALL of the following:

   – Teresa Sullivan, Provost and Executive VP for Academic Affairs, LSA, 
   ts…@umich.edu 
   – Lester Monts, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, LSA, 
   lmo…@umich.edu …@umich.edu> 
   – Mary Sue Coleman, President, Pres…@umich.edu 
   – TenureForAndreaSm…@gmail.com

Voice your ideas on the web forum at http://www.woclockdown.org/

*To Support Women of Color at Michigan and the Crisis of Women’s Studies and 
Ethnic Studies: * Attend the student organized March 15th Conference at 
UM!!!! *Campus Lockdown: Women of Color Negotiating the Academic Industrial 
Complex* is free and open to the public.  Speakers include renowned 
activists and scholars Piya Chatterjee, Angela Davis, Rosa Linda Fregoso, 
Ruthie Gilmore, Fred Moten, Clarissa Rojas, and Haunani-Kay Trask.   For 
more information and to register, visit: http://www.woclockdown.org/.