put your ear closest to the pain

on using "listen to Black women" as a thought-terminating cliché

I’m tired of hearing “listen to Black women” uncritically, as a defense. I am tired of being silenced, ignored, and manipulated by folks who parrot this as a means to preserve the status quo. At this point, “listen to Black women” is weaponized as a truism or cliché to defend inaction and shut down generative, strategic processing. For the defensive person, it has ceased to be an invitation to listen deeply to the folks most impacted by unjust systems. As a Black nonbinary person impacted by misogynoir, I find this insulting. I believe that using “listen to Black women” as a defense is its own unique kind of misogynoir. It renders Black women and other folks impacted by the intersection of ant-Black racism and sexism as “talking points”, rather than real people who live within specific contexts. It is dehumanizing.

a few images from artist and educator Aleah Black (Gendersauce) [https://www.instagram.com/gendersauce]

When folks use “listen to Black women” as a defensive posture, we know that they don’t mean Black women who are impacted by police brutality. We know they don’t mean poor Black women. We know that they don’t mean Black trans women. We know they don’t mean anyone ravaged by the effects of classism, poverty and war. What they mean is “listen to Black women whose interests serve me.” What they mean is “listen to Black women whose perspectives and leadership keep me comfortable.” What they mean is “listen to Black women who don’t challenge my worldview.” They are dishonest about the reality that Black women are not a monolith, and thus, don’t all live the same. Don’t all dream the same.

As many of us say “not all skin folk, are kin folk.” There is a reason this saying has existed for so long. Folks have coped with racial capitalism in different ways. Some of those ways are liberatory, others perpetuate pain.

As a politicized chaplain, I listen to pain. It is important to me to lean closest to where the pain is. As a person who has been tokenized, I have learned to listen to specific pain, including my own, and to calibrate my listening to pay attention to power dynamics. And so, I turn my ear to the pain in Palestine. I turn to the pain in overpoliced Black and immigrant communities. I turn to the pain among Indigenous folks demanding Land Back. I turn to the pain in the decline of sea life as the planet warms. I turn to the pain from forests being logged for profit. And I hear all of this pain indict the systems of imperialist capitalism. Many have invoked “listen to Black women” to silence those who have concerns about a Kamala Harris presidency. Many have invoked “listen to Black women” to silence folks from many walks of life who are turning their ear to the pain. Kamala Harris’ track record does not reflect that she listens to where the pain is. Where she takes money from (AIPAC) does not reflect that she listens to where the pain is. Rather, her ear is turned towards the interests and priorities of the corporate and ruling class. Her ear is turned towards the powerful.

If you are not centering the perspectives of people who are closest to the pain in the world right now, meaning, the majority non-Western world, poor folks, vulnerable Black folks, everyday queer and trans folks (not celebrities), Indigenous folks, Palestinians, then you need to reorient. Turn your ear towards the pain. Make sure that any time you are listening to pain, that there is integrity there, that it is clean pain.

Push your candidate of choice to turn their ears there, too. And stop invoking the name of Black women to hide your self-interest in maintaining your comfort.

---

Voices encouraging me in this moment:

Devon Price has been a critical voice in helping me feel less alone in how I think about this world and this moment. His latest “Moving from ‘Who is Going to Save Me?’ to “What Can I Do’?” is a banger:

Moving from “Who is Going to Save Me?” to “What Can I Do?”

For encouragement in the face of collapsing systems, check out Ijeoma Oluo’s “How We Get Through This”:

How We Get Through This

---

Want to support my writing?

Support the sustainability of my writing practice. Here are a few ways:

• One time tip! Buy me a Kofi!

• Support me through a patronage model via Patreon. To get a better feel for what my writing practice has looked like in the past, you can check out the Patreon archives or my old blog.

• Share with me your thoughts about anything that resonates here or in the archives. Share with others what you like about my writing (past or present)!

• And subscribe if you are new to my corner of Substack:

Thanks again <3

-Sorrel