Shout out Watoto - Blog Topic: Instruments of their own oppression

"Part of the mechanics of oppressing people is to pervert them to the extent that they become the instruments of their own oppression." Kumasi in "Crips & Bloods: Made in America"

It has taken me some time now, but I understand. It still hurts and boils my blood but I have focused on resolution. How can I fix it, not I just can't believe it.

Women, that is, particularly women of color participating in their own demise. When Lil Wayne puts out a song that denigrates a woman to and I paraphrase here: open her legs for a price (filet Mignon) sisters blog and cry out about the fact that the woman he wishes to denigrate and exploit is "red bone", and how he doesn't want to degrade and dehumanize a dark skinned woman. Really?




Is that the issue with this one? Is it the shade of her skin what we should focus on or the fact that because of her sex she is being dehumanized?

But then, I forget about oppression. The success of black oppression, classism, and sexism have converged upon the minority woman in ways that for long time now have been self sustaining.

She herself will request to be the one degraded. I find black women posting on blogs demanding that he talk about some dark skinned women too since his focus on "red bone" women is colorist and hurtful. What? "Why don't you want to sexually exploit a dark skinned black woman huh huh ?" They ask with disdain. But why do we live in a world that glorifies, celebrates, and rewards you lil Wayne for sexually exploiting women. This is what is missing from the conversation. Nod to Watoto from the Nile, the 10 year old among one of us who got this part of it.

I am not saying that colorism isn't an issue. I am just saying that to overlook the fact that the entire construct is damaging and wrong is a little short sighted. But when you are so conditioned as not to respond to someone's blatant dehumanization of you because you've accepted that status, all you can see is the race aspect. Black women in particular are very in tune with racism and will almost uniformly join together in defense of race, but when sexism and racism converge as they often do in the black woman's experience, she sees and focuses only on race. How can this be reconciled with the reality that she likely has 1 in 4 of her friends who have been victims of rape, how can she continue to overlook that because of her sex people in washington are trying to take away her reproductive rights? , because of her sex she is limited in her options for equal pay and wealth in this society, because of her sex she will meet oppression and discrimination that threatens her very life. How can it be? Then you remember, she is an instrument of her own oppression.

Yes "colorism" is important and not to be diminished. But don't miss the blatant disregard for your status as human and the glorified denigration to sexual object for sale by your "brothers" who are as much a victim in this as you in their own demise. By degrading black women they buy into the patriarchy norms of American culture which requires of them to define their masculinity by dissolving the humanity of women.