On June 22, I joined my community organization for a forum on sexism. I did not expect the conversation that was to come, in which a fight to understand sexism also became a fight for multi-racial unity.
The forum began with a total of 35 men on one side of the room and the women on the other. Not sure if the men did this on their own or not, but whatever the case, being a communist man, I felt it my responsibility to sit with the women. The leader of the forum began to dissect what is a woman and what is a man. It soon became two long lists of what men and women ought to be by society’s standards. I tried my best to raise the fact that women are paid less than men as well. Not to the benefit of male workers but to the benefit of this profit system, which is run by both women and men.
Right as I was getting the nod of approval from the audience, the woman leading the group read a quote from feminist Audre Lorde. Unfortunately, I don’t have the quote but I remember that it was about how the fight for equality for women, for the LGBTQ community, and the fight against racism are linked and tied together, which is true.
This is when a lawyer from the organization, a Black man, stated, “I am sorry but we cannot worry about the LGBTQ community or white people’s problems because there are more pressing issues in the Black and brown communities.”
A Black woman felt this was the last straw. She said, “Now I don’t wanna be conflicting.”
I said, “please do.”
She said, “I’ve been to countless rallies and marches and you know who I see there most? White people. There are many white people in this fight against racism. When I was at a rally at Riker’s Island, about to get shot and arrested, guess who was there with me, a bunch of white people. I can’t turn my back on anyone who fights for me.”     
The lawyer jumped back in to say, “let me clarify what I was saying, I don’t mean any disrespect, all I’m saying is I can’t see myself fighting for a people with privileges and wealth when Black people are not free.”
A Latin woman countered with, “We’re all oppressed so what’s the difference?” The facilitator wanted to close the discussion with the privilege theory stating that we all have privilege.
I had my hand up for the longest and she let me give the final closing statement. I said, “Everyone is exploited by the system and the rulers use racism to do it. Dr. King knew it well when he gave a speech about white factory workers demanding livable wages. The boss there replied, ‘Take what I give you, or else I’ll hire a N****r, pay him half and get rid of you.’  The rulers of this system need to oppress us at different levels to maintain their profits.” I continued to say, “The concept of privilege is a way to have us bicker about who’s wounded more, when it’s the rulers of this system who have the privilege and have the money and power to do whatever they want. That’s privilege.”
I got the phone numbers of the women who spoke in favor of multiracial unity. I later invited them out to a movie to watch the James Baldwin documentary, I Am Not Your Negro. Unfortunately, one of them who said she would come had to babysit. She was able, however, to give great feedback on the movie. We’ve stayed in contact, and she is very interested to learn more about our ideas of how we can fight back against racism.