I’m A Brown Woman Who’s Breaking Up With The Democratic Party

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5...b07ff75b001456

Saira Rao, Contributor
Social justice activist and co-founder of In This Together Media
I’m A Brown Woman Who’s Breaking Up With The Democratic Party
I realize now that the love has been one-sided.
12/16/2017 08:18 am ET

SAIRA RAO
Hillary Clinton with author Saira Rao in her college days.
Dear Democratic Party:

You were the love of my life. I fell in love early and hard. I have been the kind of party loyalist ― the kind of sappy, soapbox-y, clichéd devotee ― that makes Fox News moonwalk with glee.

The first vote I ever cast, at 18, was for Bill Clinton. The last vote I cast was for his wife, Hillary. My adoration for Hillary bordered on mania. In college, I named my ficus plant after her. Twenty years later, I canvassed, held fundraisers, dragged my 8-year-old daughter door to door, proudly wore HRC’s face on T-shirts and housed campaign volunteers in my home.

I loved you so much that I cried each time I voted. Thinking about the women who died fighting for my right to vote did it every time. I cried when I voted for Bill. For Barack Obama. I wept when I voted for Hillary. You’ve been that kind of mad love to me.

And now I want to break up.

I realize now that the love has been one-sided, unrequited. You’ve never recognized me, as a brown woman. You’ve taken my love, my money, my tokenism, with nary anything in return. You married the white woman and hooked up with me on the side.

Black Lives Matter is a second ― or third ― thought. Where is your outrage over the national epidemic of police brutality against black people? You continue to call angry white men who commit mass murder “lone wolves.” But if someone who looks like me screams “Allah” and fires a gun, it’s “terrorism.” And you wonder why angry white men are gunning down innocent brown men at bars, in their yards, on the street.

For all your talk about Dreamers, there’s been little action. You don’t seem to give a crap about kids of color who will be kicked out of this country, the only country they know. What if all those Dreamers were white? I suspect there’d be a very different outcome.

You spend a lot of time and energy wooing white voters, while giving short shrift to voters of colors and assuming we’ll always show up for you.

To be fair, there’s no reason for you to assume otherwise. We always show up for you. Take, for example, the special election in Alabama on Tuesday. Had black people not shown up, an accused child molester would be our newest senator.

What will Doug Jones do for the black folks who put him in the Senate? If history is any indication, very little.

The Women’s March on Washington in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration.
This past year, I held and attended numerous fundraisers for your candidates. I donated money every time I was asked. I marched: for women, for children, for reproductive rights, for science. I traveled across the country for the March for Women in Washington, D.C. It was there that I got the first hint that you weren’t that into me. The giveaway? The sea of white women in pink hats with brown and black women dotting the waves like debris. I let it slide but I kept my eyes and ears open.

My fellow brown and black sisters started to notice, too — and the chatter began, in whispered hushes at first, then loud and clear. You are a party of white feminists. Of white feminism, the kind of feminism that focuses on the struggles of white women. It was the first time I’d heard the term, most likely because self-awareness is hard and I was a brown woman trapped in a white feminist’s world.

But then I woke up. I saw you with clear eyes for the first time.

For every Kamala Harris and Pramila Jayapal sticking their brown and black necks out for me, there are dozens of white female Democrats who want me to shut my trap.
Your advocacy for reproductive rights zeros in on wealthy white women. Women of color and other marginalized women get sidelined. The gender pay gap is worse for black and Latina women than it is for white women. Women of color make up 64 percent of women in U.S. jails. Why isn’t the Democratic Party talking about this and trying to fix it?

My own “liberal” white congresswoman in Colorado has given me a hint as to why.

At the congresswoman’s town hall in February, Neeti Pawar, the brown female founder of the South Asian Bar Association of Colorado, was one of the only people of color in a room of nearly a thousand. She asked about immigration and DACA protections. The congresswoman scoffed. When Pawar pressed on, she was told to remain silent or she’d be asked to leave. During a follow-up, staffers told Pawar that civil rights weren’t the representative’s “issue.” Brown and black people don’t have the luxury of sidelining civil rights. It’s life and death for us.

And it didn’t stop there.

I was organizing a fundraiser for a U.S. senator earlier this month, and had planned to use the opportunity to highlight women of color by having black women introduce him. The congresswoman’s staff caught wind of the event and asked if she could introduce the senator. I explained my position but invited her to come as a guest. No response. When pressed on her stance on racial inclusion, her staff didn’t respond to me directly but tattled on me to the white women co-hosting the event.

I know there are some good ones among you. But for every Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters and Pramila Jayapal sticking their brown and black necks out for me, there are dozens of white female Democrats who want me to shut my trap, and say please and thank you. I should be grateful for scraps while white women enjoy a proper marriage with you.

I’m done with all that. And if you don’t want to lose more women like me, there are a few basic things you can do.

Pay attention to the reproductive health of women of color and other marginalized women. Do something, anything, to protect Dreamers. Or, if you’re really feeling bold, move forward on some form of reparations for black people.

Finally, mentor young people of color to run for office. Campaign for brown and black folks. Raise money for them. Show up for them. I’d come running back to you with open arms if you did even a few of these things.

In the meantime, I’ll be on the sidelines waiting, watching, hoping, praying. You broke my heart.

This article mentions Dreamers and I feel like her intersectionality argument is really fruitful for other groups as well.

The only two choices that actually matter in US politics is Republican or Democrat. If you have an agenda - ie. immigration, tax cuts, etc., you have to choose one or just throw temper tantrums. If you actually think Republicans will ever do anything about immigration out of free will then maybe you deserve what you get. Spine or no Spine, our only hopes are the Democrats. Being in the minority in both houses and not having the White House means that likely nothing will happen until after the 2018 elections. Get used to it and do what you need to do to survive.

You sound like my dad lol. I think what you are saying is obvious. But tantrums aren't my only option. I can withdraw and just not feel the obligation to hope to survive. You may tell me to accept it but I can't. I am giving Congress one last chance to do something permanent in the next few months. I know this is unlikely to lead to anything but if it doesn't, then I'm done trying to survive. Because surviving means continuing to be exploited as a wage slave. If I'm not allowed to have the benefits that wage slaves are typically allowed to have, there is no point in being a wage slave.

The United States invested hundreds of thousand's of dollars into my K-12 education. My university has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on my financial aid. $50000 is the sum total of all my credit limits at the moment. If they weren't willing to fight to get a return on their investment, I will make sure that they are forced to swallow substantial financial losses.

The world and these institutions may not owe me anything but I sure do not effing owe them anything either. They deserve to feel guilt and loss for the inhumane things they have done to me and I will do everything in my legal ability to make sure they feel it.

None of that changes our current reality of having a Republican President, Republican House, and Republican Senate. You can give empty ultimatums and have symbolic walkouts from the Democrat party all you want but when you don't have the power to vote, none of that matters and Republicans sure as hell aren't going to do a damn thing to help you.

The ONLY hope we have are Democrats. It sucks, and it may take a few more years, but that's it. That and "self deport".