A thank you to Elsa Barkley Brown

Thank you, Ms Elsa, for your piece on the politics of difference in women's history and feminism. Your argument that white feminists ,and thus feminism as a whole, doesn't take black and ethnic women into account is fascinating. Your assertation that white feminists erase the race of other women while focusing solely on their "essence of womaness", an essence that they have created to reflect themselves and their beliefs/feelings in every other woman is an argument that I'd never heard before but found myself agreeing with wholly. After reading your paper, I was able to understand the importance of taking race and class into account in feminism because though we are all women, our places as women are highly stratified due to our race and class with some women even persecuting others in their existence. Our race, indeed, affects our womanhood and our experiences as women and should not be left out of the conversation. I fell in love with your likening of different manifestations of womanhood to a jazz piece, all with different parts that come together to form a rhythmic whole. After reading this paper, I came away feeling touched, understood, smarter, and filled with the excitement of gaining a new perspective that I didn't even know was central to me. Thank you.