“On the 5-year anniversary of the Women’s March, I challenge progressive white women to organize and de-politicize the conservatives in their lives”

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Women’s March, which was first held in Washington, D.C. after the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump. Since then, an image of me holding a sign that reads: “Don’t forget: white women voted for Trump” has made regular rounds on the Internet, usually when a large group of white women jeopardize the political or social lives of the rest of us. While the statistic has since been corrected to 47%, the sentiment remains the same: the majority of white women have, for too long, aligned themselves with white supremacy and patriarchy by espousing a version of “feminism” that leaves behind Black women and non-Black women of color. For the white women who consider themselves progressives, not enough work is being done to corral and educate the other 47% — your conservative friends, sisters, aunts, and mothers.

I remember the shocked looks that white women sent my way as I held my poster. While confusion, maybe even anger, was a response I expected, it was not the main reason why I felt compelled to carry that sign 5 years ago.The intention was to remind them of whom to direct that angry and frustrated energy  toward: the women in their lives who were affirmed and galvanized by the bigoted rhetoric of Donald Trump. 

The sign was a question, even a challenge to these so-called feminists: after Black women and non-Black women of color have finished performing the emotional labor of educating white women on intersectional feminism, what do they do? Do they turn around and organize to re-politicize the people in their lives who call the police on Black people, vote for anti-abortion politicians, stand by the white establishment, and otherwise endanger Black people’s lives. 

If the last five years is any indication, no, they do not.

In the years following the first Women’s March, we have not seen much tangible evidence of the soul searching, table shaking work that so many white women claimed they were ready to do. Instead, we’ve seen conservative white women adopt the organizing tactics of Black women and weaponize them in favor of funneling more money into police, waging an illegitimate war on Critical Race Theory, attempting to reestablish transphobia as a feature of feminism, and, yet again, putting Black people in harm’s way. 

In 2020, white women voted overwhelmingly in favor of Donald Trump—some data says up to 55%. If they were not in attendance at the January 6th insurrection — and quite a few were — many were at home cheering it on, welcoming their violently racist family members back upon return. White women like Marjorie Taylor Green and Amy Coney Barrett have been elected and appointed to positions within government that offer them the power and privilege to strip away rights from all women, leaving Black women and women of color especially at risk.  In 2018, polls found that white women were as likely to believe Brett Kavanaugh as they were Christine Blasey Ford, who at the time, was accusing the Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault.  

In short, not enough is being done to combat the millions of white women organizing to preserve systems of white supremacy. 

Following the 2017 Women’s March, the founders created an organization to house their work, even going so far as to establish local chapters and organize amongst their community members. I commend that effort. Taking a mobilization of that size – the largest single-day of action in US history – and turning it into a sustained organized base is no small feat. What was disappointing, however, was the lack of follow-through. 

Too often, these organizations ended up clashing with the reality of their cities and states. Instead of making substantial efforts to organize themselves, liberal white women got caught up talking with each other about how hard it is to be called out on their racism, asking us to be kinder in how we “teach” them. They were stunned that the Black women and non-Black women of color they wanted to be in community with have been doing our work through an intersectional feminist framework and will continue to do so. That we were organizing to defund police and abolish ICE; committing ourselves to the liberation of Black trans and gender-expansive people; and most of all, abolishing all forms of white supremacy. 

Five years have passed, but far too little has changed. It is my hope that as the activism following the Women’s March continues to evolve and shift into a new era, white women stop relying on Black women and non-Black women of color to educate them. That they stop feigning surprise when white feminist activism manifests into elected officials who champion racist, anti-woman policies. The time to begin organizing the conservative women in their lives was centuries ago, during enslavement. Since they missed that mark then, I guess there’s no time like the present.

To commemorate the five-year anniversary of the Women’s March, The South is dropping new heat! After we showed up to the protest in 2017 with the goal of challenging white women, we were met with an outcry of support from our community members who felt seen and empowered. So many of you asked for a picture of that historic moment on a t-shirt, so we had to come through because we love y’all! Check out the shop (thisthesouth.com/shop) to buy the shirt and support our ongoing organizing efforts.