Posted on August 17, 2018

White Feminism Dipped in Politics

Tamela J. Gordin, Medium, August 16, 2018

New York based political writer and commentator, Amy Siskind, {snip} represents the white feminism that chooses to endorse political figures who pose threats to Black women, opposed to a true Sisterhood that holds space for conflict resolution, equality, and intersectionality.

Last week Siskind tweeted, “A reminder: we didn’t have neo-Nazi rallies until Trump took office {snip}.” The truth is that neo-nazis and the clan has been fully-functional, hosting parades, operating publicly, and harassing Black Americans, Jewish people, and immigrants, long before the 2016 election. It isn’t the presence of racist hate groups that’s been awakened since 45 was voted in office, it’s the bland awareness of white Americans who are just now acknowledging that these hate groups are present, violent, and vocal. {snip}

The discussion of Amy Siskind’s recent tweet lead some to dust off her older political commentary. It was soon discovered that she was once a huge Sarah Palin supporter, bashed president Obama for everything from his golf outtings to not being as pro-woman as Mitt Romney (?), denounced Black Lives Matter, and had several outtings with Steve Bannon… let that last one sit.

Imani Gandi, a senior legal analyst for Rewire, asked Siskind to explain her old statements that she made regarding Palin, Bannon, Black Lives Matter, and President Obama. Rather than receive the opportunity to clarify her opinions, Siskind claimed that she was being ‘dragged’ by haters. Her followers quickly adopted the false narrative and began attacking Gandi, as well as others who questioned Siskind. Many followers flamboyantly spoke down to Black women who challenged Siskind, accusing them of being divisive. While this could have been a golden opportunity for Siskind to do some damage control, she fueled the mob by suggesting that Gandi and others were Russian bots.

In an open letter written specifically to her followers, Siskind explained that her reason for supporting Sarah Palin was that she was a woman. While Sarah Palin is indeed a woman, she has a history of racism, once stating that president Obama ‘pals around with terrorists’. {snip}