M2M Introduces: Words of Wisdom
Today's Words of Wisdom come from bell hooks. Until we are willing to critique injustice, we cannot change it. Knowing both the current predicament, and the historical context in which our predicament was forged, is key to justice making.
In honor of bell hooks, please read the following words of wisdom:
“Consequently, it can be easily argued that even though white men institutionalized slavery, white women were its most immediate beneficiaries. Slavery in no way altered the hierarchical social status of the white male but it created a new status for the white female. The only way that her new status could be maintained was through the constant assertion of her superiority over the black woman and man. All too often colonial white women, particularly those who were slave mistresses, chose to differentiate their status from the slave’s by treating the slave in a brutal and cruel manner. It was in her relationship to the black female slave that the white woman could best assert her power.”
― bell hooks, Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism