In society, in more recent years, has seen homosexual rights become a part of regular discourse, more and more people who don’t identify on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum have joined the fight for equal rights, and, while the large amount of support is great for the movement, these allies risk putting themselves at the center of the issues rather than the people who the movement actually represents. When LGBTQIA+ people hear straight supporters said that the “A” stands for allies, it is understandable that they become annoyed that the supportive individuals who receive heterosexual privilege place themselves with the people who struggle with oppression because of their identity. When reading Mab Segrest’s Memoirs of a Race Traitor, an autobiography
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This evidence will make the ways in which Mab Segrest blurs the lines of being an ally to people of a certain identity with actually having that identity for oneself. In addition to this, readings from other authors will show evidence displaying the ways in which this thinking proves to be problematic (Garza, 2). To begin, early on in her autobiography, Mab Segrest establishes herself as a lesbian, and she cites this as her entry point into activism, furthermore, after getting active in the battle for gay rights she moves into the fight against racist hate crimes (Segrest, 47). In the chapter “Coming Out” Segrest writes, “I was doing work on racism and anti-semitism because it was the right thing to do, and once I laid out the case about homophobia, the people I was working with would do the same for me and mine.” (Segrest, 49) In this quote Segrest is telling the reader that, as a member as an oppressed groups, she, and others like her who encounter discrimination, are more likely to fight for other groups of marginalized people because, due …show more content…
Garza explains, “When you design an event/campaign/et cetera based on the work of queer Black women, don’t invite them to participate in shaping it, but ask them to provide…ideas for next steps for said event, that is racism in practice.” (Garza, 2) Garza is explaining that when people commandeer the name of their movement for their own purposes, they are actively working against what the movement aims to fight. This is something that Segrest doesn’t seem to acknowledge in her writing, as she adopts the anti-racism movement as something that is hers, rather than as something that works to help marginalized groups, especially people of color (Segrest, 49). Garza tells the reader that the effector the actions are that the perpetrators, “completely erased the origins of their work–rooted in the labor and love of queer Black women.” (Garza, 2) This is also true for Segrest’s actions, when she makes herself the face or representative of the movement she aligns herself with, she lessens the voice of the African-Americans in the movement and makes them less visible. While her intentions are good, in that she aims to bring and end to racism, but she lacks the clarity to see that, as close as she may be to her African-American allies, she cannot claim the black identity for
This evidence will make the ways in which Mab Segrest blurs the lines of being an ally to people of a certain identity with actually having that identity for oneself. In addition to this, readings from other authors will show evidence displaying the ways in which this thinking proves to be problematic (Garza, 2). To begin, early on in her autobiography, Mab Segrest establishes herself as a lesbian, and she cites this as her entry point into activism, furthermore, after getting active in the battle for gay rights she moves into the fight against racist hate crimes (Segrest, 47). In the chapter “Coming Out” Segrest writes, “I was doing work on racism and anti-semitism because it was the right thing to do, and once I laid out the case about homophobia, the people I was working with would do the same for me and mine.” (Segrest, 49) In this quote Segrest is telling the reader that, as a member as an oppressed groups, she, and others like her who encounter discrimination, are more likely to fight for other groups of marginalized people because, due …show more content…
Garza explains, “When you design an event/campaign/et cetera based on the work of queer Black women, don’t invite them to participate in shaping it, but ask them to provide…ideas for next steps for said event, that is racism in practice.” (Garza, 2) Garza is explaining that when people commandeer the name of their movement for their own purposes, they are actively working against what the movement aims to fight. This is something that Segrest doesn’t seem to acknowledge in her writing, as she adopts the anti-racism movement as something that is hers, rather than as something that works to help marginalized groups, especially people of color (Segrest, 49). Garza tells the reader that the effector the actions are that the perpetrators, “completely erased the origins of their work–rooted in the labor and love of queer Black women.” (Garza, 2) This is also true for Segrest’s actions, when she makes herself the face or representative of the movement she aligns herself with, she lessens the voice of the African-Americans in the movement and makes them less visible. While her intentions are good, in that she aims to bring and end to racism, but she lacks the clarity to see that, as close as she may be to her African-American allies, she cannot claim the black identity for