Intersectionality & Problematic White Gaze: Beto O'Rourke, The Caucus & Democrats

"So don't lecture me about the border & immigrants & things that we need to do. I'm doing everything that I can right now & I will continue to do everything that I can." - Beto O'Rourke

Tonight, was a very volitile and triggering chain of events...

​I attended what I thought was going to be a regular meeting for the GLBT Political Caucus. However, it came to my attention that a good friend and Community Leader Jeremy Brown was up for a Caucus endorsement for his race in the Justice of the Peace special election. His opponent Cheryl Elliot Thornton was also up for consideration to be endorsed... As part of protocol, the persons whom were selected to screen each candidate are required to take questions to justify their scores and reasoning behind their recommendations.

On the surface the rec looks good, HOWEVER, all of the screeners who interviewed the candidates lacked one important ingredient.... MELANIN! There were no Black folks that took part in screening for this race and worse, the screeners could not make a real justification for why they automatically supported Thornton who recently lost earlier this year during the primaries over Brown who does (this is not to say that Thornton doesn't) great work anywhere he decides to go. He has marched with me, He has actively worked on cases to advance Transgender rights and I only see Ms./Mrs. Thornton during the moments she decides to run for office.

The reasons that they gave for recommending Thornton  ranged from her experience, which really meant she was older, which is ageism.They then claimed that "we sent emails to everyone and that it was so last minute." People in the room of all races disputed the claim that emails were sent. NONE OF US were notified and this rec was a farce and clear example of the white privilege that persists in the Caucus. The truth is that many people in the Caucus don't want to admit that they have a problem with picking folks they think will best meet their requirements, be docile negroes and play the game. But every single time, they fuck up their chance to be truly "Progressive." In the end, I and Jolanda Jones had to make a special motion and Jeremy Brown won the endorsement with a majority vote. Let this be a lesson that white and white adjacent people don't get to pick Black leaders, BLACK PEOPLE DO.

As I dealt with this triggering ass Caucus meeting, Beto O'Rourke held a town hall just outside of Houston... I kept wondering why my twitter notifications kept going off, and then when I saw:

As I left the Caucus meeting that is what I saw... a live stream of a comrade challenging Beto about his stance against abolishing ICE. This comes after a couple of days of Dems, mostly white (as usual) who keep repeating those insulting statements. Speaking to us like we are putting a purity test on candidates like Beto, because they want us to be quiet about our marginalization for their comfort and because they want their candidates to look good to the voters. 

The problems illustrated throughout the night was rooted in WHITE GAZE. Before I continue do you remember or know what White Gaze means? Here is a refresher:

"The white gaze is looking at the world through a white person’s eyes. In America it is everywhere. It is in history books, on billboards, on television, in films, in fashion magazines, on the Internet. It is the world as told by white people for white people...

Most White Americans do not see it that way: they are just presenting the world as it is, the way anyone would who was being fair, honest and open-minded. Any twist it might have is purely a personal one.

They fail to see how the colour of their skin colours their view of the world. That is for two reasons:

- Many live in such a white world that their white gaze is rarely challenged and so they do not even notice that it is there. Only certain black voices make it through into that world, mostly those of Rented Negroes.

- Whites like to believe “I do not see race” and “we are all the same”. In a colour-blind world there is no white gaze. They believe, want to believe, in a colour-blind world, which means the white gaze should not be, therefore must not be."

Sarahy asked a valid question, and the way she expressed herself was appropriate. Y'all often want everything sugar coated and white washed. ya'll couldn't accept her words, painted her as angry and yelling while gaslighting and trying to silence her. Sarahy was only going off of what Beto Said to the TEXAS TRIBUNE:

As you can see, Sarahy's concerns are VALID and even if Beto did all that he said that he has done, when did it become ok to reprimand a potential voter by inserting "don't question me" into his statement that really did NOT address her concerns. To make things worse white guests and general Beto volunteers/staffers took part in trying to silence Sarahy, even reaching for her phone. OH, and let’s not forget that salty ass white man in the audience leaning on his patriarchy and white male privilege. NO, none of us wants to vote for Ted Cruz and I won't, but know that my vote for Beto in November will be BLANK, I will skip it unless he changes his stance.

We bring up the issue and you "Progressives" want us to shut up, ya'll stupid fucks say shit like:

"Beto has been fighting the fight for a long time on many issues and truly cares about the community he serves. We’ve SEEN this already. He’s one of best candidates we are going to get. Don’t take it for granted over EGO. Beto has the heart we are looking for. Appreciate that. He’s not going to give you every single thing you are looking for."

OR stupid shit like

"We shouldn’t abolish anything using politics as the basis. ICE has been ordered by the president to do the vile things they are doing. Are there rogue agents, sure. But leadership within the agency and former leaders have expressed their dissatisfaction with current conditions and are calling for change. They need to be working drug cartel and terrorists issues not the chicken shit jobs and crimes against humanity!! Common sense is all but extinct!!​"

Please understand that when you say shit like that, you’re preaching to the choir... these are factors that I and many others take into account. Don't insult my intelligence, by posing obvious points as hypotheticals as if I/we haven't been doing this long enough. That is so surface and does not take into consideration that while it is critical to get the Racists out of office, it is our job as activists to get candidates elected that will work for the people. This means that we must make demands that are aimed at benefiting the most marginalized. Just because you showed up to a protest (for any of the craziness going on) or you volunteer, call yourself an ally... YOU DON'T GET to tell us when we can and can't address something that affects us as marginalized Black & Brown people in this country. If you feel a way about Sarahy or this post, consider asking yourselves if your anger at Trump is really about his racism, nationalism, xenophobia, sexism and etc.

​If you find our loudness about the issues to be a problem you are no better than Trump and his goons.

YOU are the Trumps in our backyard, it is not lost on us that ya'll white and white adjacent folks have something to lose and it’s easy to support marginalized folks UNTIL. You know, UNTIL we get to a place that we can get Trump and Co. out of office... I feel that many of you will fall back into your privilege and all the issues that the marginalized face will fade into the background. Well guess what, WE WILL NOT BE SILENT!

SILENCE EQUALS DEATH