Making feminist organizations represent women

Sylvia has put together an incredibly awesome post about letter writing campaigns, focusing on getting Imus and McGuirk ousted. Go read and get writing, please! Celebrities get away with racism too much. It’s time to start showing that racism has consequences, if we can, and for once we (the audience/consumer) can do something about it.

Two things about her primer, however, stuck out to me as related to another issue: the immigration raids. (Why yes, they are all I think about lately, why do you ask?)

The first was the fact that NOW, which originally ignored the remarks by Imus and McGuirk, was swayed to act by public outcry. One of the things that has been really hampering the people fighting against immigration raids in New Bedford, immigration raids elsewhere, Bush’s horrible immigration reform proposals, and the new push to check immigration status at Planned Parenthood, is that we are not getting “mainstream” (i.e. white) support. Sure, there are rallies of thousands in L.A. and Washington D.C., but as long as the people in power can write those off as brown people protesting, they don’t have to fight.

The problem is that many white women do not see immigration raids as a women’s issue. They either don’t realize that women are being ripped away from their families and denied reproductive rights, or they don’t care because it doesn’t directly affect them. And without major feminist organizations like NOW pointing out that any denial of reproductive rights potentially affects ALL women, many will not make the connection. Because, let’s face it, most white feminists are not in the habit of searching out the opinions of women of color, and those who are only active via major feminist organizations like NOW even less so.

From Sylvia’s primer:

6. Play your strengths. You are the listener. You are the media watcher. You are the consumer. Emphasize that. If you didn’t find what happened particularly grabbing, stress that point as well. Tell them that as a member of their target market, you are not convinced, and write with certainty that you are not the only one who feels that way.

…

Thing #2: Stirring up attention

Tell people. The best way to pass around information to others is word of mouth. Tell your friends. If you blog, post about it on your blog. If you’re motivated, contact your local news station. Get your friends to contact them too. Engage in conversations on outlets about it. Share news articles. Create a buzz around what happened in a substantial way. Get people involved. This is as easy and as hard as it sounds. It requires dedication on your part; but if you can get a few more people writing, discussing, and getting into motion, it’s worth it.

WOC and MOC bloggers have been stirring up attention for immigration issues on the internet, but how many of us have been writing mainstream feminist organizations? (I haven’t.) Yes, they should realize that these are feminist issues as much as immigration issues on their own, but obviously, they don’t. So let’s make them.

With rallies and studies and entire movements hitting the news, the information is there. It’s in the front of people’s minds, because every time you open a newspaper or check Yahoo! News, there’s bound to be something about immigration. Some mainstream feminist bloggers have even started to pick up on it (Feministing, for example, and Pandagon … well, sort of, I guess). A little late to the party, but better late than never, as they say. Now’s the time to refocus feminist organizations on immigration as a feminist issue.

NOW and other feminist organizations claim to speak for women. Well, let’s make them put their money where their mouths are. I think it’s time to start a letter writing campaign to NOW, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Equality Now, and others to represent the immigration raids as a women’s issue, and to campaign for fair immigration reform.

I know, I said I was turning in my feminist card. That hasn’t really changed; like I said before, we shouldn’t have to make feminist organizations represent women of color. And yeah, there is the potential that these organizations will try to take over now that some of the difficult work has already started. But they also have a lot of pull, a lot of cash and lobbying power, and an already-existing base of supporters; that’s a lot of potential to focus some major attention on the cause. And it really is time for feminists to see that WOC issues are women’s issues, period.

And if they won’t support the rights of immigrant women of color after a letter campaign, then I guess we know where WOC really stand, support for the Rutgers women notwithstanding. And we’re no worse off than before, right?