Actress says Hillary’s campaign unearths shaky relationship between black, white women
In a election campaign where most liberal women are lauding at the idea of a first American female president in the person of Hillary Clinton, for some Black women that support comes with a bit of caution.
Jada Pinkett Smith falls into this camp.
Jada recently took to her Facebook to express her complex thoughts on how a Hillary campaign could impact not just for the country, but the relationship between Black and white women, which has been wedged by the separatism of the feminist movement, among other historical events.
Jada writes that upon hearing Clinton’s announcement that she would be running for presidential, she was “more confused and anxious than excited,” and that her announcement “conjured many old hurts and scars.”
“I have been criticized for suggesting that black women extend our media platforms to white women in the way in which white women are making strides to extend their media platforms to us, but Hillary’s announcement reminded me that the relationship between black and white women on the political platform has been deeply complicated, disappointing and painful,” Smith writes. “The only question I have been asking myself is if I’m suppose to vote for Hillary because she is a woman; will she take us to the mountaintop with her or will women of color once again be left out and left behind?”
She continued:
For example, during the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, black women were specifically excluded because Northern white women feared of losing support of Southern white women if black women were included. What made it even more offensive is that the two women given the credit of pioneering the woman’s movement were at first abolitionists. Those were complicated times, but as time has gone on it seems as if that sentiment of separatism did not let up and permeated through the feminist movement as a place to facilitate and empower white women only.
Jada went on to explain that she’s personally suffered racism and classism from the feminist movement, and that her experiences have come full circle now that she’s having to share it with her daughter, Willow Smith, who at 14, considers herself a feminist.
“…now [I] have had to watch my daughter battle even ageism as she journeys to participate in the feminist movement. But she continues to fight the good fight referring to herself as a feminist while her mother refers to herself as a womanist who supports feminism and feminists,” Smith explains.
“You can imagine that Willow and I have had some “spirited” conversations about this topic that’s uneasy for even a mother and daughter to talk about at times which simply illuminates how volatile a subject it could be for a nation of women to explore…but we must.”
She also question whether Hillary can “heal the broken political ties of the women of this nation.” She did make one thing clear: Hillary will not have her vote during the 2016 Presidential Election. Clinton would however “have my heart” she said.
Jada ended her post with a challenge to women of all races: “this is a great opportunity for healing and reconciliation… let’s woman up in the spirit of compassion to gain more understanding of one another and the issues we face. Let’s get the conversation started.”
