Mikki Kendall

ut when it comes right down to it, mainstream white feminism often fails to show up for women of color.

Feminism as defined by the priorities of white women hinged on the availability of cheap labor in the home from women of color.

A better deal for white women could not be, would not be, the road to freedom for Black women.

Good girls were dainty and quiet and never got their clothes dirty, while bad girls yelled, fought, and could make someone regret hurting them even if they couldn’t always stop it.

Feminism is the work that you do, and the people you do it for who matter more than anything else.

Food insecurity and access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues.

But niceness is more than helping; it is stopping to listen, to connect, to be gentle with your words.

They need feminism to recognize that everything that affects women is a feminist issue, whether it be food insecurity or access to transit, schools, or a living wage.

The conversation around work, for instance, should recognize that for many people, needing to work to survive is a fact of life.

No woman has to be respectable to be valuable.