The Black & White of Feminism with Rachel Cargle

2023-06-21

It’s another week of our illuminating For the Love of Being Seen and Heard series. We’re talking to people that are doing the life-changing work of helping each other see and hear each other–to see and hear communities that we are not a part of, to see and hear voices that have been traditionally silenced or marginalized, or even to see and hear ourselves in honest and affirming ways. Our guest this week is a powerful advocate, but with a tender heart who works in so many spaces that matter: feminism, racial justice, the arts, activism, self care and healing. Rachel Cargle is a writer and entrepreneur who has created powerful online learning spaces. She’s a regular contributor to Cultured Magazine, The Cut and Atmos. She’s been featured in the New York Times and Forbes as well. Her work centers around an invitation to pursue healing and growth, as well as re-imagining how systems that no longer serve us can be dismantled or changed to embrace justice and liberation. Her belief is that every one of us has power–the power to unlearn, relearn and reimagine–taking ourselves out of stuck spaces and creating places for understanding for everyone. Her thoughts on feminism are so insightful as she looks at how a well intentioned movement for the progress of women leaves out key communities and how reimagining how to see and hear the needs of every woman toward better conditions for all women. This powerful discussion centers around:

An explanation and brief history of the feminist movement and how communities of color often are left behind in this work

How the culture, both inside and outside of black communities often stereotype black women as workers, as strong, as able to bear pain differently than their white counterparts; and Rachel’s work to help black women feel cared for–which leads to an amazing ripple effect on families, organizations and communities

The Loveland Foundation, which gives black women access to black therapists, to self-care and to other resources that are so often not readily or affordably available
Simple ways that women can get involved in the conversation to become clear about this intersection of feminism and race by hearing and telling truths, and to engage in knowledge, empathy, and action.

Sometimes the truth can be hard to process, but when there is intentionality in how we exist in our efforts toward benefitting the condition of women, the result is liberation for all women.

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Thought-Provoking Quotes:

“I believe that when black women are poured into, it really offers a ripple effect to most other places in our communities and societies.” - Rachel Cargle

"The systems are insistent on us not being curious. If we're not curious, they must stay the same. And if they stay the same the people who built them to win will continue winning." - Rachel Cargle

"A lot of what I didn't yet know was what it meant to be a black woman in the feminist movement, in spaces full of white women who were having a very different experience than I was, and who were benefiting from the outcomes of our collective work--more than the black women who were doing equal amounts of the work--and sometimes even more of the work in these spaces." - Rachel Cargle

"Empathy that doesn't just say, 'I'm so sorry this happened to you.'" It's empathy that says, 'how do I play into you not having your needs met?' And often there's an answer to that--it's because of my privileges and how those make me blind to what your needs are." - Rachel Cargle

“There is a necessity for us to be critical and to ask questions, and to have this radical empathy that insists that there can be no way that anyone else will rise without all of us doing it at the same time.” - Rachel Cargle

“Truth allows us to change something.” - Rachel Cargle

“When you're vulnerable in America as a black woman, you could die. Your children could die. Your family could die. That's the truth. So there has to be this balance of the fight and the tending, the fight, and the nourishing because one or the other can either harden you or dissolve you.” - Rachel Cargle

“Art's role is to remind us of humanity because if it wasn't there, we would get caught up in the robotics of systems. It’s there to remind us that we're humans as well.” - Rachel Cargle

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Photo of Rachel from the Women’s March in 2017 per Huffington Post article

“Feminism is White Supremacy In Heels” an article by Rachel Cargle in Harper’s Bazaar

Elizabeth Cady Staton

Ida B. Wells

Be the Bridge

Ebony Janice Website

The Loveland Foundation
Elizabeth’s Bookshop & Writing Centre

Rich Auntie Supreme Instagram

The Great Unlearn

Guest’s Links:

Rachel’s Website