Update

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Update 1 (Edited to clarify: I wrote this update a couple weeks after the controversy over Marcotte’s Alternet article and the Seal Press debacle at BlackAmazon’s blog, when a book by Marcotte, published by Seal Press, was promoted on Feministe.  The promotion made no mention of the controversies and gave full support to Marcotte):

And in case anyone is optimistic/naive/foolish enough to hope that after all the shit that went down, we white feminists are any closer to “getting it,” just go check out the thread on Feministe going on RIGHT NOW, in which we are fucking up again. And in which I made the mistake of trying to sound nice to Marcotte because I thought maybe that would get through to her; but I shouldn’t have bothered because all the white people on the thread are trying so hard to protect her it’s disgusting. And nothing anyone has said is getting through. At. All. Oh and by the way the book being promoted? Full of racist imagery. Oh yes we are “getting it” all right. Getting that we don’t have to do a damn fucking thing to stop the racism in our ranks, because that’s what privilege is all about. Excuse me while I go bang my head against a wall. Repeatedly. Because that’s more productive than talking to a room full of white feminists.

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Update 2 (edit: For a day or so a group of us, led by Littlem, argued furiously with posters at Feministe trying to get the book promotion taken down, but were ignored.  Radfem had a copy of the book and reported that the pictures in it were incredibly racist.  Still nothing was done, so Wolfa took a camera to a bookstore and snapped some photos of the images):

These are the images from the book being promoted on Feministe. Credit to Wolfa for getting them to me, and Radfem for noticing and telling us about them. (For those just now wandering into this, some background on this controversy is here).

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Well. You know what sucks about all this? What makes me feel like shit, and ought to piss off anyone else who sees the pictures, too? I mean besides the obvious racism in a feminist(!) text.

Tiffany in Houston wrote on the Marcotte promo thread in Feministe:

When it comes down to it, you white chicks, ya’ll really aren’t to be trusted.

Once again, I’ve been proven correct.

Yes. Once again.

Sure, maybe these pictures will FINALLY make Jill et al retract their support for the book and for Marcotte — if they don’t they have no business calling themselves feminists. But see here’s the thing. Even if we win this little battle. Even if for once, just once, the white feminists who have been turning deaf ears to complaints finally take action to correct their mistakes, they have already proven Tiffany to be absolutely correct. The fact that the book was promoted, with those pictures in it, not less than two weeks after the appropriation business, proves Tiffany correct. The fact that several commenters on the thread saw the pictures and STILL refused to immediately retract support for Marcotte, proves Tiffany correct. The fact that it has taken an ally with a camera to throw those images up in their faces, and endless screaming by many outraged people to make it an issue, and that there STILL has been no retraction of support, proves Tiffany correct.

The number of allies who have signed onto the Letter-to-White-Feminists is encouraging, but in the face of this? Of incident after incident with NO apology or change or retraction from the mainstream feminist community?

We have a long, hard fight ahead of us to change things, folks. A long. Hard. Fight.

I am still committed. I still believe in white feminists — that we can become good allies. But NOT in them. They do not, cannot, should not define the movement. So let’s keep fucking fighting.

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Update 3 (Edit: Apologies are issued, though only for the pictures.  There is still no mention of the Alternet article from Marcotte.  I wonder at the fact that we had to fight this hard, and put up freaking pictures, before there was any response at all):

Jill of Feministe has retracted support for the book.

Holly at Feministe writes an eloquent response that asks hard questions of Seal Press and Marcotte. Go and read the entire thing.

Karnythia at the Angry Black Woman’s writes:

I can’t stand in sisterhood with someone that’s (maybe) willing to knife me in the back and it’s taking too much effort to try to weed out the ones that are really allies from the ones that are only claiming the title…. we’re going to need you to commence cleaning up your house before you can help us clean up the world.

(The emphasis is mine) Now go and read her entire post.

And on the topic of feminism and who it really belongs to, Anxious Black Woman has an amazing post here.

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Update 4 (Edit: Meanwhile arguments continue to rage.  At Pandagon, Marcotte’s blog, there is a torrent of commentary about how the images aren’t really that racist, how people are out to get Marcotte, how wonderful a person she is for issuing an apology, etc.  Some Pandagon commenters spill over into Feministe and attack Littlem.  It’s worth noting that although we are both biracial (I think), we are treated very differently based on how we self-identify.  I am treated (IRL and online) “white,” because I sound/act white, have a white family and bkgd, and self-identify as “a feminist with white privilege,” which I feel is the most accurate way to describe my identity without long-winded explication.  Littlem, who is able to “pass” but self-identifies as a WOC, got ignored more frequently than I did and attacked more viciously):

All right, being attacked on large feminist blogs is one of the reasons so many WOC are tired of dealing with white feminists. Nice to know it’s still happening. Full story in the comments.

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Update 5 (Edit: Seal Press has promised to reprint the offending book without the images, and has issued on apology.  Responses from several great bloggers follow):

ProfBW has a post up responding to Seal Press. Go and read it to understand why a simple “apology” is not enough. ProfBW also lists some things Seal Press should do if they are indeed committed to change. She lays it out very thoroughly, so let’s keep up the pressure. Add the girlcott logo to your blog and write to Seal Press telling them you will not support them until they make changes!

Sylvia posts a good-bye from BlackAmazon:

I think the point where I went fuck it , is when a law student, a couple writers, and a professor basically endorsed a book and MISSED in reading something they were ATTACHING their names to .

Racist comics, about MY PEOPLE. Yeah MY PEOPLE, being KILLED and destroyed to save a white man and give a white woman the “courage” she so desperately desires .

And people fell over themselves to excuse them . Cause they’re learning

You know what , fuck off.

The Angry Black Woman has this to say, among other things:

The white feminists who are seen as leaders, who are given press and attention and cred are in need of enlightenment. Because there are plenty of white feminists who do get it, who are enlightened, who can see the interconnectedness between anti-racist work and anti-sexist work. So what’s really needed is a good purge. Those of you who know what’s up need to weed out or educate those of you who don’t… quite honestly, I am tired of the burden being on us to fix this mess. [emphasis added]

Fellow white feminists, are you hearing this? Please go read her entire post On Feminism, Part 2.

Sudy writes about how it’s not just about one thing or one person. She makes a long list of instances similar to those of the past few weeks. On the subject of apologies, she writes:

I tend to view apologies as the beginning, not the end. So, if apologies are true and heartfelt, you’ll forgive me for not weeping with joy and instead, again, borrowing this popular term, “Prove it.”

Not to me, but to those who you say you love and have hurt. Prove it to them. [emphasis added]

Go and read these posts, please. Read them, and Sudy’s other post about whether change is possible. She asks hard questions of us. I hope we can examine ourselves and change.

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Update 6, (7/28/08 ) on Alternet: (Edit: Months after the controversies listed above, Alternet puts out an article by another white feminist calling for unity from WOC):

Heidi Schnakenberg has written an article about white feminists, feminist infighting, and unity that reiterates much of what white feminists have been saying for a long time. Namely, that women need to come together and unite despite our differences. I make note of this here mainly to point out that it was Alternet that first published Marcotte’s article about immigrant women. Now they have another white woman writing about issues of race and feminism. At some point, perhaps, Alternet will see fit to have an actual woman of color write about, well, women of color? Or do I ask for too much…?