Tiana Sorenson- soprano

I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how it’s the 100th year since women have been able to vote. 

And that strikes me funny, because
that’s not entirely accurate. 

It’s the 100th anniversary of white women’s suffrage. 

If I were able to time travel back 100 years ago, my biracial self would not have been able to vote, thanks to my Blackness and the one drop policy. 

Blacks were not seen at a human standard to the white eye to have the privilege to vote. While whites got to vote and engage in political matters, folks that looked like me were busy being the backbone for white folks’ lives so that they could be at ease, not having to worry about 

·       keeping up around the house,
·       preparing meals, or 
·       watching their kids 

while they went out to work and make a healthy living, because it was BIPOC people like me taking care of that, all while being 

·       severely underpaid,
·       mistreated, and 
·       had to do all of those things when left work and hopefully made it to their own home. 

While this new right to suffrage was an accomplishment, let’s also be clear and fully transparent that it was for white women. We do not have time to continue to subtly whitewash by hastily saying it was for “all women”, when that continues to erase entire demographics of people who were not able to do so. Let this serve as a reminder of how much work there is still needed to be done. 

I think some white people can fail to see how they can come off to BIPOCs, as they ride the intense surface-level train of self-righteousness, showing their pride in their ability to vote and have their voices heard, being evangelical “progressives” in their subtle, unconscious shaming toward those who hesitate to, may not, or can not vote. They haven’t taken the time to figure out why that might be either, because they’re so busy screaming at everyone to vote, as if that’s an easy thing to do for everyone. They fail to do the work and thinking behind the issues non-voters may experience:

They don’t know enough about what they’re voting for.
They don’t know enough about the candidates, their beliefs, or why the beliefs even matter or are relevant.
They don’t know enough to even know what to believe themselves.
They may not be able to vote due to a criminal record.
They may not be able to vote because they can’t gain citizenship.

These people have dealt with generations of not being heard, even when they are asking, demanding, screaming, or crying for help.

They, at best, get brushed off; at worst it cost them their lives. And when people like them have tried to stand up for them, they yet again, at best, get brushed off, or at worst it cost them their lives. And this pattern has stayed on repeat because the system has never truly served them. It never was meant to.

So when we talk about the 100th anniversary of this, let’s specifically say “white women’s suffrage”, because that’s what it is.

Don’t like the sound of that?

Good.

Because it strips away any form of whitewash, and you’re left with the bare, ugly truth of inequality and disparity that America was founded upon, and how this country is still dealing with these issues.

Don’t get too caught up in the praise of progress, because now’s the time to quit scraping the surface, and to dig deep if we really want some change.

I’ll tell you right now, that change ain’t gonna look comfy, either.

But hey: one correction at a time.