To the writers of BeyondBlackWhite pt. 3

More arguments...sorry about the format...I have to fix that later. My comments are in bold!

Toni_M

antoinetteAH " For one, black women must see that black women are our "best natural allies," as no other group has the experiences of being black women."

So basically your suggestion is to continue to treat black women like an "other" and not build connections and bridges with valuable networks and allies because they aren't black women. NO…NO SHE WASN’T

...I see.

Exactly how far do you think black women will get in the global community if they cannot function around anyone but black women? If they can't network with anyone but black women and it's not like black women are the dominant force in the world right now. We have a bit of an image problem we need to work out. That is not going to be done staying in the corner. THIS COMPLETELY IGNORES THE HISTORICAL REFERENCE MADE…SHE NEVER SAID ISOLATE YOURSELF…SHE PUSHED FOR YOU TO KNOW YOURSELF BEFORE YOU EXPECT ANYONE ELSE TO. MAYBE YOU SHOULDVE YOU SPENT A FEW MORE MINUTES IN THE CORNER READING ABOUT SOMETHING BEFORE CAME OUT AND  OPENED YOUR MOUTH.

" I cannot help but feel slight rage at this declaration. "

The rage you feel is the knowledge that for all the history, talking, marching, black people in US could not do it by themselves, and you are angry because this does not agree with your idea of reality: Do it by ourselves. IF YOU CAN GO BACK AND FIND WHERE SHE (antoinetteAH) SAID THIS…PLEASE PLACE IT IN THE COMMENT BOX.

There's nothing to be angry about. You can network however you want to. If you only want to network with other black women, no one is forcing you to do otherwise. But as far as making major waves in terms of our image and power, this is the most logical and unapologetic truth their is: White men in the west hold the power and the more powerful allies and connections black women make, the better off we are as a group. NOW IMAGINE HER WRITING THIS IN THE COMMENT BOX OF PROFESSOR JAMES PRIMM…HOW WOULD SHE SOUND…MAYBE DAMAGED BEYOND REPAIR.

You don't have to like it, but there it is.

"In a time where people would like to think that we live in a post-racial society, it is important to acknowledge the great disparities amongst black people in comparison to whites-"

I am not naive enough to think putting a bi-racial man in the white house means racism is over everywhere. But then, this isn't relevant, so no, I will NOT bring it up. Because I already made myself clear. I quote:

"There are non-black people who can be great allies to you, and rather than focus primarily on non-desirable persons  (racists), those are the kind of people you should be considering for networking and allying with anyway. It actually does not matter WHAT the race/ethnicity/color/gender is of the person who seeks to help you and is an active ally. "

BOOM!-there you have it. NOW THIS WAS IMMATURE… Stopping to think about "racism" and "racists" serves no purpose regarding building a healthy network and forging alliances. Because these people are NOT allies and never will be. So why are we worried about them? As I said, give people a chance to reveal themselves and if you're worried about bigots, they'll show themselves. And then you can cut them off and focus on someone else. Stop doing what so many black women do and limit yourself because you're scared that you'll somehow not have the intelligence to tell people for you from people against you. This is selling you and every other black woman short. Stop it.

"black women have participated in numerous rebellions in which have allowed us to be able to create forums like this today."

This isn't about FIGHTING. This is about ALLIANCES and NETWORKING.

Do you see what I'm saying? Black women need to get out of this mentality where everything is about fighting and attacking or being attacked or being a victim. We are not talking "rebellion", we're talking about an image makeover and letting go of attitudes and behaviors that are limiting and unattractive. NOW ISN’T THIS A CONTRADICTION. YOU SEE THE NEED TO LET GO OF AN IMAGE AS IF WE ARE IMPOSING THEM UPON OURSELVES…(IN SOME CASES WE ARE) BUT FOR THE MOST PART WHO DOES? POP MEDIA…HOW MANY MEDIA COMPANIES AND CORPORATIONS ARE RAN BY BLACK WOMEN…? I BELIEVE HER CHOICE OF WORDS SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIGHT, PUSH BACK, BECAUSE IF IT WAS AS EASY AS LETTING GO IT WOULD’VE BEEN DONE ALREADY. SO IN A SENTENCE NOT ABOUT REBELLION…YOU MENTION A REBELLION…HMM…

And in case you didn't notice, this particular forum is mainly pushing interracial relationships. ....So...it's not like we're a non-sausage fest in these parts. *cough* THIS COMMENT SUGGESTING THAT SHE IS A LESBIAN JUST SEEMS ONCE AGAIN…IMMATURE AND COMPLETELY IGNORING THE HISTORICAL POINT. THE POINT I THOUGHT SHE WAS ATTEMPTING TO DRIVE HOME.