We - and by we, I mean, white feminists - need to talk about how [the Charleston terrorist] used white female purity to justify murdering black people.
“I have to do it,” he said. “You rape our women.”
This myth - that black men rape and assault white women - has been used to justify the murder of black people for centuries. It was used to justify lynchings. It was used to justify slavery. It is still used today.
And white feminists absolutely NEED TO REPUDIATE this myth, because white women’s tacit approval - and sometimes vocal agreement - with this myth is part of what allows this terrorism to happen.
People like the Charleston terrorist believe white women need to be protected from black men.
We don’t.
I stand in solidarity with the black community, not with people like Dylann Storm. He does not speak for me.
(100% inspired LaKeyma Pennyamon’s facebook post asking why white women haven’t already done this. Thank you.)
