Alia E. Dastagir

USA TODAY

There is a photo from the Women's March on Washington that quietly tells a powerful story about the cracks in America's feminist movement.

A black woman holds a sign that reads, "Don’t forget: White women voted for Trump.” She stands coolly among the crowd, sucking a lollipop, as three white women in pink cat-eared "pussyhats" tower behind her, all looking at their phones, one smiling, another posturing as if snapping a selfie. The black woman is wearing a hat, too. It reads, “Stop Killing Black People.”

To many, the now viral image of a sober-looking Angela Peoples and the blithe faces of the white women behind her epitomize a divide between white women and black women that was unmistakable in the 2016 election. More than 53% of white women voted for Donald Trump, while nearly 94% of black women voted for Hillary Clinton. The split signals how these groups experience sexism and oppression differently.

Mainstream conversations about gender equality tend to gloss over how discrimination disproportionately affects women of color. In 1920, women secured the right to vote, but many black women were unable to freely exercise that right for several more decades. The Pew Research Center found that white women earn 82 cents for every dollar earned by white men; black women earn 65 cents. A quarter of Hispanic women lack health insurance, compared to just 13% of white women.



Many women of color say a failure to acknowledge these disparities can make them invisible within the feminist movement.

USA TODAY spoke with Angela Peoples, the director of GetEQUAL, an LGBTQ equality organization, about the photo her boyfriend Kevin Banatte took, why so many vulnerable communities feel marginalized in the feminist movement and what she would say to those white women in pink hats.

On whether the Women's March on Washington inspired her

Angela Peoples: "I don't think I was inspired at the march ... but I have felt inspired after. The photo and the response and the comments people are making in the threads. ... There is just a rich conversation happening where you have women of color across race, across ethnicity saying ‘yes,’ ‘thank you,’ ‘affirm,’ and white women saying ‘thank you, I hear you’ and some women being defensive and pushing back and other women are adding facts and nuggets. There is an understanding of the significance of this 53% number and not erasing that."

How white women can 'check their privilege'

AP: "I was talking to a white woman who said, 'What do I do now?' And I say to her, and I would say to someone who is defensive, to check in with why you feel defensive. What is it about this statement, 'Don't forget: White women voted for Trump,' which doesn't say you white woman or all white women, what is it about this that makes you uncomfortable? And there are some women of color who would be willing to help you dissect that, but it's not a burden that women of color should bear, certainly not on their own. There is a beauty and a richness in doing some of this work for yourself and with yourself. I feel like there have been a lot of white liberals who want to bring white women and black women to the table to talk, but we can't have that conversation until you acknowledge the power and privilege you're bringing to the table, until white women do some work for themselves and by themselves."

What she'd say to the women standing behind her in the photo

AP: "I would say 53% of white women voted for him. Someone in your family voted for him. Someone you are friends with voted for him, and that put my life and my family's life in greater danger. So go talk to your family and talk to your friends and move them away from that ideology. It's less about showing up and standing in solidarity with folks of color or immigrants, and more about actually doing the work in your communities to change some hearts and minds. If someone says a racial slur or says something and you're like, 'I can't believe they said that,' actually say that outloud to them. Do not normalize xenophobia, do not normalize anti-blackness, do not normalize transphobia. Take a step back and analyze why it's there."

On guilt and action

AP: "It's internal, it's inside of us. We grew up in the United States of America where everyone has some anti-black, anti-woman, anti-queer, anti-trans feelings. We have been given this by our country, but we don't have to sit with that and stay there.”

On the pervasiveness of sexism and racism in society

AP: "I think you have to get people to question their beliefs in institutions, and their beliefs in — you could call it patriarchy or misogyny or whatever — but you get people to question these systems. Point to examples. The fact that there was a room full of white men that signed away the ability for women around the world to access abortions and health care they need."

Questioning gender identity

AP: "We've been told that if you have a particular sex or gender you're supposed to behave a particular way, but we see example after example of women who are the breadwinners or coach basketball teams, and we see men being amazing nurses and caregivers and nannies in their homes. And the world doesn't fall apart. There's no catastrophe, and actually people are able to live and be much more of who they are."

On leadership

AP: "What remains to be seen is where the leadership for this conversation will come from, particularly from white women. I don't hear women in the Democratic party talking about this, I don't hear the celebrities talking about it. I want to hear how white women are going to organize their people and talk about this implicit bias."

Practical things white women can do right now

AP: "Go to Black Lives Matter protests and be aware of your privilege. Don't try to talk over it and try to add to it. Understand what your role is as an ally and a supporter and a comrade. That will build trust among women of color."

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Alia Dastagir writes about media and culture for USA TODAY. You can follow her on Twitter @alia_e.