White supremacy is the foundation for many political movements. Essential to white supremacy is the maintenance of the ideal of white femininity and fragility. The weaponization of white femininity is often deadly for Black and Brown communities. For instance, our communities still mourn the death of Emmett Till in 1955. Till, a 14 year old Black child was brutally tortured to death when Carol Bryant, a White woman, falsely claimed that he whistled at her and made a sexual advance. Mrs. Bryant eventually retracted her false statement but died last year before ever being held responsible for Mr. Till’s murder. White femininity and feminism is a force to be reckoned with each election year as well. In the 2016 presidential election, 53% of white women voted for Trump while 94% of Black women and 68% of Latinx women voted for Hillary Clinton. With the election just 12 days away, this begs the question, can Vice President Kamala Harris win over white female voters? With issues such as reproductive rights, immigration, and the principles of DEI on the line, this country needs its feminism with a healthy dose of intersectionality.

Professor Kimberle Crenshaw, cofounder of the African American Policy Forum and Columbia Law Professor, coined the term intersectionality in 1989. The term explores how identities such as race, gender, and class intersect and impact one’s lived experiences. Much of the criticism of the feminist movement stems from its lack of inclusivity. The face of feminism, and thus its programmatic thrusts, center cisgendered able-bodied white women. This oversight will likely persist in politics and academia as the attack on DEI continues. For instance, McKinsey & Company released a Women in the Workplace report last year. The data reveals that 19% of all C-suite positions are held by white women while minorities hold only 4%. Much like affirmative action, white women have disproportionately benefited from the $8 billion US corporations spend per year on DEI initiatives.

Inequities within feminist movements are also reflected in continued wage gaps. According to the Pew Research Center, Hispanic and Black women earn 65% and 70%, respectively, as much as White men. White and Asian women earn 83% and 93% as much, respectively, as their White male counterparts. DEI initiatives provide the tools that assist individuals with marginalized identities to gain equitable access to education, healthcare, and financial success, especially women of color. For example, affirmative action fosters holistic review of applicants for higher learning institutions and careers leading to a more diverse workforce with improved outcomes.  Unfortunately, right-wing conservatives are hard at work deconstructing many of the civil rights gains made over the last several decades. For example, Rep. Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC) introduced the EDUCATE Act this year prohibiting medical schools who adopt DEI policies from receiving federal funding. Florida’s Gov DeSantis signed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law curtailing classroom speech pertaining to sexual orientation, and Texas Senate Bill 17 forced public universities to close their DEI offices. Women may be one poor election turnout away from having to have men cosign for our credit cards again.

Perhaps one of the most pressing issues requiring an intersectional lens of feminism on election day is reproductive rights. While reproductive rights affect all Americans, women of color are disproportionately affected by the lack of access to abortion as a form of health care. For instance, 54% of Black women, trans, and nonbinary people live in states banning abortion. Almost 5 million Black women, mostly in the South, live in areas where the nearest abortion access is hundreds of miles away. For many white female Republicans, former president Trump’s stance on abortion makes it difficult to vote along party lines. The inequitable impact of restricted reproductive health care on BIPOC women’s health must be one of the many factors pushing them to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.

The intersectionality of our identities contributes to the diversity of our lived experiences. Anti-inclusive legislation attempts to detract from this diversity and will weaken the fight for all women’s rights. At your next women’s group meeting or within your own group chats, ask yourselves: whose voices are being celebrated and centered? Who’s setting the agenda and whose achievements matter? How will Black and Brown women be disproportionately harmed by laws restricting reproductive rights? What role do gender and race/ethnicity play in perpetuating pay gaps? Which presidential candidate’s agenda helps the feminist movement? Do you like your feminism straight up or with a side of intersectionality?

The SBW trope demands superhuman mental and physical endurance. This mental health toll can be deadly or debilitating because, according to the American Psychiatric Association, only  one-third of African-Americans who need mental health care actually receive it. African-Americans with mental illness are also less likely to be offered evidence-based medication or psychotherapy. Less access to evidence-based psychiatric care leads to increased criminalization and death. Racism fuels the social drivers of health that contribute to health inequities. When you’re constantly being told to be “strong” or that you are “magical”, your humanity is lost. And so is the empathy for your physical and emotional pain.

IS: from diagnosis to dangerous

Psychologists first discussed IS in high-achieving predominantly upper middle class white women in the 1970s, describing the phenomenon and potential treatments. They described IS as feelings of “intellectual phoniness” influenced by a person’s family dynamics and stereotypical societal sex-roles. Even today, we rarely discuss IS in the context of its origins: sexism. And we continue to ignore the role of intersectional identities informing the IS experience.  An article in the Harvard Business Review  argues that IS pathologized minor feelings of anxiety in the workplace and mirrors the diagnosis of “female hysteria” made popular in the 19th century. IS, like the SBW narrative, had innocuous beginnings. Nonetheless, the terms pathologize women and BIPOC by ignoring the racism, sexism, xenophobia, and classism that perpetuate feelings of inadequacy and otherism. Women apply for jobs only if they meet 100% of its qualifications while men apply when they meet 60%, in part because of IS. Women and BIPOC quickly learn who’s allowed to “fail up”-receive accolades and promotion despite failure or mediocrity, and who is not. IS and SBW tropes worsen our health outcomes as well as our career prospects. Private and public institutions must be held accountable for perpetuating systemic racism and sexism that drive IS and the SBW trope.

It’s the System

Biased definitions of professionalism perpetuate IS in oppressed groups without holding institutions accountable for discrimination. For instance, some institutions have decided that the very texture of certain race’s/ethnicities’ hair is so unprofessional, that it is grounds for dismissal. As a result, Dove and the CROWN Coalition, in partnership with then State Senator Holly J. Mitchell of California, introduced the CROWN Act. The act prohibits discrimination against race-based hairstyles. Jeffrey Thornton’s lawsuit against Encore Group LLC in San Diego in 2021 is believed to be one of the first lawsuits to invoke the act when he was asked to cut his locs to comply with company standards. Race-based ideas of professionalism extend to tone and humility as well. It is the expectation that women, BIPOC, and LGBTQI folks have a high threshold for bias and discrimination. As a Black woman, I may undergo more scrutiny for the manner and tone in which I responded to a racist microaggression than the person who committed the microaggression against me. The inequitable policing of appearance, valid emotions, and tone is rooted in white supremacy and embeds itself in professionalism policies. IS focuses on the individual enduring the scrutiny of spaces not created for them instead of changing the culture of these spaces.

Equity & Empathy

Our professional workspaces are slowly beginning to mirror the demographics of the country. As a result, antiquated and bigoted ideas of professionalism are negatively impacting women and BIPOC. Labels such as “imposter syndrome” and “strong Black women” may initially make individuals feel seen. However, the onus is still on the oppressed to bend to systems that silence their anguish and pain. We must hold our professions and society to a higher standard. This includes prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the work culture. Confronting IS and the SBW trope requires an anti-racism systemic approach. We must address housing, education, and environmental inequities that influence inequitable health outcomes. We must seek mental health parity and diverse health care teams to encourage cultural humility. We must change how we socialize children regarding gender-biased ideas of intellectualism and capability. We must extend the same grace and humanity to Black women that we extend to everyone else. Decentering the patriarchy and white supremacy will move the needle toward a more empathic and equitable workplace and society.

Four bottles of water.

Evidence shows that not only was Carmack-Belton running away and posing no threat to Chow, but he also did not steal anything. New evidence shows that Chow has shot at two other shoplifters in the past, one of whom was driving away. Society owes Carmack-Belton’s family more than thoughts and prayers. This senseless murder reignites conversations about oppressive politics portraying Asians as the “model minority”.The model minority myth as it applies to Asian Americans, paints this group as a monolith complicating efforts to achieve educational, social, and financial equity. The myth also unfairly pits members of the Asian community against Black and Brown people on issues of education, immigration, and employment. As long as politicians intentionally create and leverage these feuds, racial tension will rise, and deaths will follow.

The sheriff’s office investigating the case was sure to tell the public that Carmack-Belton’s murder was “not a bias motivated incident”. Carmack-Belton is Black and Chow is Asian. State Representative Todd Rutherford, Carmack-Belton’s family’s attorney, begs to differ. He likens the incident to countless other episodes of racial profiling by police and everyday citizens that lead to the disproportionate murder of Black and Brown bodies. For instance, in Florida on June 2nd, Susan Louise Lorincz shot Ajike Owens to death after hurling racial slurs at Owens and her children. Much of the nation is still reeling from the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, who was never convicted in a court of law. There are many more shootings that will never make the news.

While a bullet was the direct cause of death for 14-year-old Carmack-Belton, ignoring the complicated history of Asian-owned businesses in predominantly Black neighborhoods would be naive. When the US removed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, many Asian immigrants opened businesses in low-income Black neighborhoods. Asian immigrants were sometimes met with xenophobia and Black residents with racism. Politicians are far too aware of the racial tensions that may exist between these two groups and are willing to leverage them for political gain. For example, Florida’s Ron DeSantis signed a bill in May mandating that Asian American and Pacific Islander history be taught in public schools. This is the very same governor who is effectively attempting to erase Black history and DEI efforts under the guise of it being divisive critical race theory. DeSantis is more than aware of the hypocrisy in his policies that overtly pit Asians against Blacks in an effort to divide communities who may otherwise oppose his views.

As Lyndon B. Johnson infamously noted in 1960, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

Weaponizing divisive race-based policies is as American as apple pie. These policies persist in a post-Civil Rights America. They just become more and more discreet in their execution. For example, Black people are no longer told out-right that they cannot vote. Districts are just gerrymandered in ways making it difficult for their votes to count. These practices have real consequences for the oppressed groups whose minority status is used against them and other marginalized groups:

The model minority myth is dangerous for the Asian American community.

The myth that Asians are an aspirational monolithic group who immigrated to the US under the same circumstances with the same access to the social drivers of health does this diverse community a disservice. For instance, according to a 2018 Pew Research Study, Asian Americans are the most economically divided ethnic or racial group in the US. There are educational and wealth gaps in these communities that need to be addressed as well. To mitigate this, medical and political communities must work to disaggregate Asian communities when collecting data and developing services.

Anti-Blackness makes it difficult for allyship amongst other marginalized groups.

Black Americans, whether they be the descendants of enslaved Africans or the children of immigrants, are subject to anti-Black racism. What many fail to realize is that non-Black people of color may be manipulated into practicing Anti-Black racism as well. For instance, non-Black people of color are exposed to and internalize anti-Black rhetoric just like everyone else. This contributes to racial profiling in places of business and perceived competition for employment and positions in higher learning institutions. As a result, minorities are left having to reconcile celebrating the study of Asian American and Pacific Islander history in schools while fighting for AP African American Studies curriculum in the very same state. This is the very goal of these types of policies: divide and conquer.

Politics have been more polarizing than ever, exacerbated by the age-old ruse of pitting oppressed groups against each other for political gain. Rhetoric and policies will not undo Chow’s alleged shooting of Carmack-Belton. But, the optics of the tragedy sheds light on areas of potential policy interventions that will prevent more divisive legislation. This light will guide the way to more equitable health and social outcomes and enlightened interactions.