Bette Midler's Tone Deaf Tweet does more harm than good

via Huffington

Last week Bette Midler tweeted this as a response to the chaos of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings:

via twitter

Oh. Oh. Bette.. you really had to do this? And so close to Halloween?? #HocusPocus

*deep breath*

Okay. There’s a lot to unpack here...

Firstly and most importantly, being a part of an oppressed group does not make it okay to compare and further validate the oppression of other groups.

Secondly, the N-word is derogatatory and is historically associated with black American people. It is derived from racist Western language that does not hold such offense in other parts of the globe. (For example the C-word is not universally offensive, as other countries use it in everyday conversation). To ignore the limitations of Western language and justify that our culture and words hold singular global validity is both ignorant and highly insensitive.

If women are the N-word of the world, what does that say about black American women who fulfill both categories? Does that make us a double negative?? Women are born as women (whether anatomically or through gender-identity). However black Americans are not born the N-word.

In the since deleted tweet Bette followed up with an even worse “apology”:

via twitter

This isn’t about race, it’s about women.....? Hmm...

The N-word is literally and exclusively about race. So yes, you made this about race Bette. While I understand Bette’s intention, this is the issue with white Western feminism. It places all women of different races, sexualities and environments under one umbrella and ignores the influence their layered identities can have on their individual lives.

This is extremely important because the double identity white women possess is in their favor. That is, their whiteness— regardless of their gender, provides them access to a level of privledge black women, Latinx women, Asian women or Indigenous women will never receive. Why Bette decided to use this Yoko Ono and John Lennon quote is surprising, since similar backlash regarding its comparision followed Ono and Lennon in 1972.

via twitter

Bette was rightfully met with a Twitter storm and officially apologized learning that she had offended black women. Let’s forgive Bette and move on because we need to remember the issue at hand. Our government has shown once again that they do not care about women. And this MUST be the last straw.

GO OUT AND VOTE.