The success of a person depends primarily on the person himself, however, the sad truth today is that success also depends on how a person is perceived physically by others. For those interested in watching news and politics, there is no doubt that women of color, especially those who run in politics, are still very underrepresented in and/or by the media. When I honestly imagine the word success, the first thing that comes to mind is a white male CEO or an attractive thin blonde haired woman because that's mostly what the media serves and/or presents to my generation through movies, television shows and news. However, I know that this white male and female supremacy began long before I was born. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference by Audre Lorde, she argues that it is not differences that create the divide between individuals but the “refusal to recognize those differences and to examine the distortions that result from the fact that we misname them and their effects on human behavior and expectations” (115). This statement from Lorde not only addresses the issue of racism towards black people, but also feminism towards women and how these two factors strongly coexist in the lives of black women in general. For example, John Tory and Jennifer Keesmaat, both white political candidates who were massively represented in the media to the point that they both became the face of the Toronto mayoral race, excluding all 33 candidates and one of them is Saron Gebresellasi, Black woman and human rights lawyer of African descent. The racism that coexists within the feminist movement is certainly one of the main reasons why black women are still excluded from the social, economic and political aspects of life. This is done by resorting to discriminatory actions and/or developing exclusive “white” organizations. The way the media highlighted John Tory and ignored Saron Gebresellasi goes back to the way black women and white men established feminism as a white women's cultural asset. Instead of discussing and rectifying this belief, white women specifically choose not to address this issue because there is this underlying power and ownership that is generated by this act of omission. As a result, it is perceived as normal and typical for Black women to be excluded from feminist conversations and only recognize White women as worthy competitors to men due to White feminists' unchecked privileging of White supremacy. Subsequently, the way the media highlighted Jenniffer Keesmat and ignored Saron Gebresella demonstrates how the root of white supremacy still operates within feminism and uses racism as its underlying foundation. In Bell hooks' Black Women Shaping Feminist Theory, she states that “Racism abounds in white feminist writing, reinforcing white supremacy and denying women's political mobility across ethical and racial lines” (3). For a long time, white supremacy has dominated the tenets of feminist literatures, and racism has been at the center of these feminist conversations. Because these values are only for the purpose of influence and are not required and/or mandated, white women may intentionally choose not to discuss racism in their movement. However, the voices of black women and women of color have caused an uproar that has forced white women, out of ignorance rather than understanding,.
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