“In some methods, feminism and gun possession seem to be an excellent match. … However weapons might be as disempowering as they’re empowering.”
Daring and private, Roxane Homosexual unpacks gun tradition and gun possession in America from a Black feminist perspective in her newest work, “Stand Your Floor.” The essay is the capstone to Roxane Homosexual &, a curated collection of ebooks and audiobooks that carry up different voices, accessible solely on subscription hub Everand.
In “Stand Your Floor,” Homosexual writes about energy, company and gun possession: “I personal a gun, however I’ve extra questions than solutions,” as she acknowledges the complexity of those points by means of Audre Lorde’s well-known quote: “There is no such thing as a such factor as a single-issue battle as a result of we don’t dwell single-issue lives.”
The next is an excerpt from “Stand Your Floor: A Black Feminist Reckoning with America’s Gun Downside” copyright © 2024 by Roxane Homosexual, utilized by permission from Everand Originals and accessible solely by means of Everand.
Too many politicians made no efforts to codify [the right to abortion] federally. They assumed they had been standing firmly on stable floor when such was not the case.
I’m a Black feminist, a foul feminist, a girl who believes a extra equitable current and future are potential.
I’m not an optimist, however I’ve seen the change we’re able to when individuals work collectively and persist. I’ve additionally seen what we lose once we take the bottom upon which we stand without any consideration or we don’t stand our floor firmly sufficient.
In 2022, the Supreme Courtroom dominated 5-4, in Dobbs v. Jackson, that the Structure doesn’t endow individuals with a proper to abortion. Many People had been shocked as a result of the fitting to abortion was the regulation of the land for practically 50 years. A whole technology grew up understanding that they might make selections for his or her our bodies with out legislative intervention, although in additional conservative states, that proper was at all times contingent. After which, in an arbitrary authorized resolution, a judicial physique took that immediately from hundreds of thousands of individuals with uteruses. It occurred as a result of too many People assumed that the fitting to abortion was unimpeachable. Too many politicians made no efforts to codify that proper federally. They assumed they had been standing firmly on stable floor when such was not the case.
It’s appalling that girls and folks with uteruses have misplaced such a basic proper to bodily autonomy. And it isn’t misplaced on me that girls in lots of states have extra rights as gun house owners than they do as girls. The ability to take a life is extra constitutionally and culturally useful than a girl’s proper to dwell freely. I have no idea the best way to reconcile this actuality with my feminism.
I’ve no fondness for weapons. They’re, in most fingers, extremely harmful. Yearly, the variety of mass shootings will increase. With every new atrocity, the main points are extra horrifying.
A live performance in Vegas. An elementary college in Connecticut. An elementary college in Texas. Staggering numbers of younger youngsters, lifeless earlier than they know what it means to dwell. A parade in a Chicago suburb. A synagogue. A grocery retailer. A homosexual nightclub. A church. One other church. So many excessive faculties. Procuring malls. Film theaters.
With every successive tragedy, the main points turn into extra lurid, haunting, devastating, grim. And with every passing 12 months, it feels extra harmful to spend time in public locations, questioning in case you are on the precipice of changing into a statistic.
It has not at all times been this fashion. It shouldn’t be this fashion. It doesn’t have to be this fashion.
The ability to take a life is extra constitutionally and culturally useful than a girl’s proper to dwell freely. I have no idea the best way to reconcile this actuality with my feminism.
There is no such thing as a single cause for mass shootings, although there are a couple of frequent denominators. The overwhelming majority of mass shooters are males. Practically 60 p.c of mass shooters have a historical past of home violence. It seems like we can not perceive or predict mass shootings, that we can not unravel the tangled threads of violence on an enormous scale, however that isn’t essentially true. And even when these crimes had been unpreventable (they aren’t), we may definitely make it far harder for mass shooters to have entry to the weapons that make their paths of destruction potential.
In some methods, feminism and gun possession seem to be an excellent match.
Plenty of feminist rhetoric facilities on empowerment— creating alternatives and circumstances that enable girls to make use of their energy, be handled with respect, have bodily autonomy, dwell on their very own phrases. Plenty of gun rhetoric can also be centered round empowerment—weapons as a method of taking again energy after trauma or claiming energy within the title of self-defense or embracing the facility of protecting our households protected.
However feminists should additionally grapple with the truth that nevertheless empowering weapons could also be, they’re used towards girls at alarming charges—whether or not girls are being threatened, injured or killed by a gun. The statistics are much more dire for Black, Latina and different girls of coloration. Weapons might be as disempowering as they’re empowering.
All through the trial, and the various months main as much as the trial, Megan Thee Stallion was defamed and discredited for standing her floor and demanding justice.
On a July night in 2020, rapper Megan Thee Stallion was in Los Angeles, sitting in a automobile with rapper Tory Lanez exterior a celebration. There was some type of disagreement that ended with Lanez capturing at Megan Thee Stallion’s ft a number of instances, and taunting her, after she received out of the car. Her accidents required surgical procedure and a prolonged restoration.
Hours after the capturing, Lanez left a meandering voicemail for Kelsey Harris, Stallion’s former buddy. Within the message, he mentioned, “I used to be simply so fucking drunk, nigga, I simply didn’t even perceive what the fuck was occurring, bruh. […] Regardless, that’s not going to make something proper and that’s not going to make my actions proper.” Although he didn’t explicitly admit he shot Stallion, the implication of and the remorse for his actions had been there.
Two years later, Lanez was discovered responsible of assault with a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, and negligent discharge—and sentenced to 10 years in jail. However the harm was executed. All through the trial, and the various months main as much as the trial, Megan Thee Stallion was defamed and discredited for standing her floor and demanding justice. The severity of her accidents and the aftermath of the crime had been doubted and dismissed. Hip-hop journalists, radio hosts and bloggers unfold lies and misinformation and got here up with every kind of conspiracy theories to consider something however the fact—{that a} Black girl was harmed and deserved justice. Rapper 50 Cent, in social media posts, doubted Stallion’s story, although later apologized. In “Circo Loco,” Canadian rapper Drake mentioned, “This bitch lie ‘bout getting photographs, however she nonetheless a stallion.” Eminem additionally had bars for Stallion when, in “Houdini,” he mentioned, “If I used to be to ask for Megan Thee Stallion, if she would collab with me, would I actually have a shot at a feat?”
These incidents deliver Malcolm X’s prophetic phrases into stark reduction: “Essentially the most disrespected particular person in America is the black girl. Essentially the most unprotected particular person in America is the black girl. Essentially the most uncared for particular person in America is the black girl.” Culturally sanctioned misogynoir clarifies why addressing gun violence isn’t just a felony justice difficulty—it is vitally a lot a Black feminist difficulty.
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