Thank you both for giving me the courage to speak up for myself more often in situations like these (where even the anti-oppressionist turns oppressive on you!).

We need you and your voices. The more I read them, the more my own voice comes less timidly out of its shell. Keep up the good work!!

"Let's talk about how it makes me feel like I can only talk about a certain set of issues, that I have to be the one and only representative of an entire community."

Yes!! That's exactly how i feel!! I tried explaining that to my boyfriend and he didn't get it.

I don't have enough time for reading, much less commenting on, many blogs so I have a small number that I read. I would probably have never found (or at least not for a long while) either of you if it weren't for this site... and I'm so glad I did. Thank you for your honesty (here and in all your posts). You have given me new insight and also you amuse the hell out of me when that is your intention. "Tokenism"? Not. Just great, strong women bloggers. Thank you so much for what you do.

Good on Shark-Fu and Miriam for standing up to being called tokens.

What kills me, every time I see Feministing categorized as a white feminist blog, particularly when talking about making WOC invisible by omission, is they functionally erase Samhita. I understand it's clunky to constantly add a modifier, and since no one is officially naming names they can't single her out, but it's crap to pretend she's somehow superfluous. If writers can't talk about why something is a problem, without engaging in that behavior, they need to seriously revisit what they're trying to say. As a disclaimer, this is said with the intent to call out posts ignoring her as a show of support, not to speak for her in any way.

In writing, particularly when the author's opinion heavily informs the subject, it reads better to use strong opinions and make concise statements. Too many modifiers waters down the piece. Yet, this bit of good writing is napalm in blog-related conflict. You can't make a bold statement using most, some, and a few, but when you don't, you're charging everyone that identifies with that category with engaging in that behavior. It's hard to then shake the hand that slaps you. I deleted my example, because this tendency is all over the place, on a variety of subjects and I didn't want to create more conflict by singling another blog out.

Dear friends and allies working for a better world,

Thank you very much for each one of you who are engaging in this conversation. I am a Black Male feminist and I have been giving workshops around the country about this type of colonialism and oppression within the feminist and progressive movement for years…and writing about it and posting about it steadily for the last three weeks.

I have seen the crisis grow exponentially worse in the last year no doubt due to the economy getting worse…thus, in turn mainstream feminists needing to censor and disregard more of the issues of people of color.

I posted my response to the article about "the feminist blogosphere and "digital colonialism." to the group blog that I write for found below:
http://www.savethepoorbrownchildren.blogspot.com/2009/02/stop-censoring-and-attacking-lucy.html

For the sake of those who are probably tired of reading comments (or who have physical challenges that may find an audio response more convenient), I posted my audio response to my personal blog, podcast and radio show here:
http://www.blackmanfluff.net/2009/02/black-man-fluff_2136.html

For all those who choose not to read my full comment on the above links, my quick, summarized one-sentence response to the article titled "What if the feminist blogosphere is a form of digital colonialism"...is that I would love to see action take place, that was suggested by a woman, taken very soon so that the digital colonialism and digital apartheid supporters within the feminist blogosphere can Stop Censoring and Attacking the Lucy Parsons of the World. Period.

Also, without getting into details….I want to say that the title and phrase: “What if the feminist blogosphere is a form of digital colonialism?” is far too soft.

The phrase that accurately describes the problem, the worsening crisis, in my opinion, could be titled:

‘The feminist blogosphere is indeed a form of digital colonialism and digital apartheid.’
To read or hear more about my comments and the reasons for them please visit the above links.
To all of those women of color and other marginalized people who gave input on this issue before and after Mandy and Brittany (the authors of the post) I say: Keep up the Great Work.

To Mandy and Brittany and the owner of the blog at Professor What if and the owners and maintainers of this group blog at Feministing, I say: Keep up the Great Work.

Thank you to everyone,

If I offended anyone it was not intentional.
I love you all.

Solidarity for a world of peace, equality and an end to patriarchy... particularly institutionalized patriarchy…within our lifetime,

Love for the people,
-T

“So many able writers have shown that the unjust institutions which work so much misery and suffering to the masses have their root in governments, and owe their whole existence to the power derived from government we cannot help but believe that were every law, every title deed, every court, and every police officer or soldier abolished tomorrow with one sweep, we would be better off than now.”
-Lucy Parsons

Oh, I just read that post. The sad part is, they aren't kidding with that crap. I just looked at the commenter list at Feministing, and it seems... dare I say representative of the population at large? Three strong WOC whose voices I love to hear, out of eight total commenters and its tokenism?

Also, I fail to understand how posting at a schedule in US (and may I add Latin American) time zones is oppressing people all over the world. I was in international business, forming contracts in other countries. Did I feel oppressed that they didn't follow my schedule? No! I called them on their time because it was their business. No one should have to post at midnight so Chinese bloggers can comment at noon!

Blogs like Feministe, Feministing, IBTP and others help me to be a better feminist every day and open so many eyes to the oppression we all deal with. It infuriates me that these great blogs are being compare to "the man" and commenters' voices are silenced by our own in such a fashion.

Speaking as somebody who self-identifies as a liberal, this whole farrago - the original article, the responses, the comments and what not - gets my self-loathing and other-contempt flowing in equal measure. Is it possible we can we put an end to oppression and exploitation before we put an end to morbid narcissism and woolly generalisation?

If it truly is important for people to feel empowered into making their voices heard, people exercising their right to remain silent is doubly valuable.

On that note, it's HOT in the office here.