Quick Hit: On Feminism, Liberals, Black Folks and Antione Dodson
I came across this post on Tumblr, which highlights a real-life example of intersectionality of oppressions for poor woman of colour survivors. Apparently there’s been a meme going around making fun of Antione Dodson, the brother of a survivor of attempted raped who voice his (very justified) fury about his sister’s attack.
According to Dodson a rapist was targeting Lincoln Park because no one was doing anything about it. He said several young women and girls had been raped, and had either received no assistance or not asked for help because they knew the police were not going to do anything.
In late July, a rapist broke into their small home through a window and attempted to rape his sister. Dodson managed to scare the assailant and force him out of the apartment. He then called several of his friends in the area to look for the person because, like everyone else, he did not believe the police were going to do anything about an assault in low income housing. Later Dodson called both the Housing Authority Office that runs Lincoln Park and the Police. Hours went by before the police arrived and according to Dodson and others no major search was mounted by them. Also according to Dodson and others, the Housing Authority issued a statement but has made no improvements to security or safety in Lincoln Park to help protect them from being targeted. In fact, an attempted rape following a similar m.o. (rapist came through bedroom window, advanced on girl inside) occurred the following evening.
This story of systematic rape of young black women and girls left to fend for themselves because they are poor and the failure of the police or tax-payed for housing programs to protect them has been totally eclipsed by the spectacle made of Dodson. Dodson’s interview outlining the attempted rape of his sister and the sexual violence and rape other women and girls endured was put on youtube, not to highlight the problem but rather to highlight how “ghetto” Dodson was. While youtubers across the racial spectrum showed up to laugh, police failed to capture a rapist.
In fact, many people have counted the Dodson’s as lucky. The attention allowed Dodson to become an internet star and make enough money on interviews to get his family out of the projects. His sister will not be targeted by the Lincoln Park rapist again. But what about everybody else’s sister? And does moving out of low income housing on an unstable economic source negated the fear and trauma related to Dodson’s sister’s attempted rape for her and her mother, who witnessed the attack? To me it seems kind of like the politicians who say “in a way Katrina was a good thing” because of all the services and new construction people received. The idea is predicated on the assumption that black people’s, especially poor black people’s, are so worthless that if several of them are tortured, murdered, sexually assaulted, or traumatized, so that 1 or 2 of them can live better lives that is acceptable because those 1 or 2 were never meant to live better lives anyway.
Read the entire post.
I like this because I think that it does bring forward how society (even though it may not be conscious) just hold lesser value of black bodies. And they get away with not valuing them because many do not have the power, connections, or money to fight/speak out. Our voices are rarely heard. We rarely get the chance to raise our voices.
Originally published at Tufts University Survivors of Sexual Violence. You can comment here or there.