A Open Letter to the Disability Community on Black Lives Matter and Allyship

7/9/2016

Dear Disability Community,

Let's face it, we suck when it comes to being good allies!

I am referring to the recent murders of two Black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by police in Louisiana and Minnesota.

The vast majority of our community is silent on injustice to members of other marginalized communities unless the person has a disability. Barring that, if a disability isn't present, we'll make it all about us, thus derailing a critical conversation that needs to be had about how this must end and that Black lives matter.

Worse, when police murder someone Black, many in the disability community are complicit in the character assassination that follows. We'll justify why the police had no choice but to kill them -- they shouldn't have resisted arrest, they shouldn't have ran, they shouldn't have talked back -- until it comes out that the victim had a disability. Then, we care. We're no longer silent, but expressing outrage at the killing of "our people". The person's Blackness is all but erased because it is only the disability that matters to us.

It seems to be almost impossible for disabled - particularly White disabled folks - to focus on injustices to the Black community without chiming in, "Me too, me too. Half of those killed by police are disabled!" There hasn't been one time that I haven't encountered that statement or others like it in the midst of us Blacks mourning our dead at the hands of police. Yes, it is very important to know and understand the fact that half of people murdered by cops are disabled, but not in response to the fact that Black people are being killed by police at an alarming rate. The disability and intersectional issues are critical conversations that must be had, but let's not derail the conversation at hand.

Black lives matter! When I say that, I don't mean that Black lives matter more than others, I mean that Black lives matter as well as other lives. That's the reason for the movement and the hashtag - our lives matter, too!

The time has come for the disability community take this square on, be good allies and speak openly about police brutality in the Black community. I don't mean hushed conversations with a couple of folks, I mean openly addressing and weighing in on this at the organizational level.

The face of the disability community and disability organizations is White, which is most likely why this isn't being talked about at the level that it should be. Organizations hide behind the fact that they work on one or two national issues and in an effort to not "muddy the waters", refuse to speak publicly about the extrajudicial killing of Black people by the police. Individual members may care, but the organization as a whole, takes a neutral stance.

Even organizations that occasionally make statements on other tragedies have been strangely silent on this issue. Two years ago, when Michael Brown was murdered in Ferguson, Missouri, some disability organizations wrote a letter of "solidarity" that made it all about disabled - mostly White disabled - people killed by police. I'm still furious about that because while good intentioned, it was a slap in the face and erasing of the Black community at the height of our mourning and outrage.

Now is the time to do better. For once, put aside the view that this is something that has nothing to do with your organization and it's goals or mission statement and speak up! Some of you - ADAPT and National Council on Independent Living - have Blacks in your organizations. Doesn't this matter to you? I'm positive that some of the Blacks in your organizations worry that they may be the victim of police violence ending in murder. Full disclosure - I am a proud member of ADAPT for 30 years and know that individuals have spoken out, but I'm addressing ADAPT as an organization.

Even if your organization is lily White, speak out! American Association of People with Disabilities, why are you silent? National Council on Disability, are you not tasked with giving feedback and recommendations to Congress and the White House? Will you not weigh in on police brutality against Blacks and police reform?

Many of you service organizations have Black clients and their families. Speak out against this! Surely some your client's families have someone who has experienced police brutality. Easter Seals, The Arc, and others, will you speak out?

If your organization wants to speak out or address this, but doesn't know what to say, put it out there! Ask how you can speak out while centering Black voices and experience on this. There are some Blacks in our community who are very open about our feelings; our extreme rage, our deep sadness, our profound fear.

My beloved Disability Community, be silent no longer on Blacks being murdered by police! Our silence and neutral stance unless it involves those who look like us, or who are disabled, sends the message that we don't care about what doesn't touch us. We cannot hide behind silence and neutrality. Elie Wiesel said, "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." Desmond Tutu put it even stronger - "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."

Let's not, by our silence, choose the side of the oppressor.

13 Comments

Zan Thornton

7/9/2016 02:40:26 pm

Finally someone wrote and said what I was thinking and much more insight than i! Thank you!

Janine Bertram

7/9/2016 03:27:16 pm

Great, helpful piece. One start would be for allies to issue letters as you suggest, Anita. These murders of Black men and women have been happening since lynchings but now we all know because of camera phones. This is institutionalized, state sanctioned murder. A start would be working for every police department to mandate full time body cameras and citizen review boards. We must demand zealous prosecution of police who murder as well. The prosecution should be as strong and thorough as it would be for someone murdering police.

7/9/2016 09:55:29 pm

I'd be interested to know how deeply you think intersectionality runs? Let me start by saying that for most of the article I understood. Yes, racism is a thing. Yes, allies should be speaking out more directly. Yes, especially after this past week when both incidents Were senseless and a huge wake up call to anyone who has lived under a rock till now. However, as a member of the disability community, I kind of felt like this was hijacking the struggles that other groups face. police brutality is an issue that is also faced by Disabled people, particularly if their disability is invisible. People in the LGBT queue community and Muslims also face it. I am not downplaying recent events that happened to unarmed black men, I mean Sterling was on the ground and Castile was following orders to get his ID out for God's sake, but there was very little support or public outcry from other minority groups when Danielle Jacobs/Cayden Clark was shot dead by police in February. (In case you don't know, Danielle (legal name listed on reports/Cayden(name taken after transition) had Asperger's and police failed to handle the potential suicide situation without a gun, which is not acceptable for treating people with Asperger's or mental illness, or people in general). I think if we are going to champion intersectionality it needs to be across the board. When the disability community, LGBT queue, black lies matter, and other groups can all band together against oppression in general towards minorities, we might actually get somewhere with individual struggles separate subgroups face. As it currently stands each group has yet to ally with others, and I think that is why conversation hijacking happens.

I'm disabled, black, and queer

7/11/2016 01:18:20 am

Way to hijack this conversation. She is bringing up about silence from the disabled community. Everything she said is true, even down to the part about people, such as yourself, hijacking the conversation. bravo!!! You proved her point!! :)

7/11/2016 04:49:18 pm

I understand what she's saying, I can read, but my point is that it is single-minded to be the most outspoken my Nordie awareness movement in America and go to the disabled community for support when the disabled community gets no support from other groups on our issues. My point is that this is why there is so much hijacking, because everyone wants everyone else to help out with their stuff but doesn't want to give back in return. She said nothing about banding together to tackle issues from both the black community in the disabled community, Which is why I question how deeply she thinks intersection Alibey really runs. Like I said before, if you're going to champion intersectionality it needs to be across the board. The fact of the matter is that Yes, different groups need to bamd together, but she can't criticize the disability community for being silent on things that happened to nondisabled people when people who are disabled don't speak up when disabled people have issues affect them. Danielle/Cayden didn't receive near the amount of attention or public response that anyone killed in a racial incident with cops did, so pardon me if even though I agree These killings are senseless, I see this article as a little single-minded when the author probably doesn't even know before reading my first comment that the issue runs deeper than just the black community When the black community is also willing to speak out against other communities issues and same goes for groups concerning religion, LGBTQ, disabled, etc, then we might actually get somewhere with fixing oppression rather than single issues in each community. It doesn't work that way where one communities issues tromp everyone else's, and they get to criticize groups they don't support for not jumping to support them.

7/12/2016 12:15:37 pm

Here is a definition of intersectionality I found within 5 seconds of typing the word into Google. Intersectionality is a concept often used in critical theories to describe the ways in which oppressive institutions (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, etc.) are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another.

So, this is why if you're going to champion intersectionality it has to go all ways rather than just one. I agree that disability groups should take more of an interest in issues effecting other minorities including the black community because a good amount of disabled people are also black/gay/Muslum/etc. But you know, the same should be said for other groups, too. Gay people also have a section of population that is disabled/black/whatever, black people should speak up for those who are black and disabled or black and gay, etc etc. It is easy for each group to point a finger at others for not helping but fail to show the same interest they want to see in others towards the groups they're complaining about, but I think that is what happened here. It honestly makes me laugh that I was accused of hijacking when I was trying to open up a very good point to deepen the conversation initially with the author of the post to gauge where her stance on intersectionality actually was. Maybe she just didn't think of that point while writing or something but recognizes it is important to consider. Just saying though, pointing the finger without the willingness to really collaborate and see other points of view/really examine what is being said from other minority perspectives isn't the way to go about fostering allyship, and actually contributes to the feelings of separation that the author is trying to combat. Her overall point about groups needing to come together is 110% correct, but trolls who don't actually see the discussion that could have risen from this won't help her case.

wings

7/19/2016 11:58:24 am

Thank you for posting this blog and encouraging this very important conversation of racial justice in the disability community. I would like to respond to the comments made by K. It seems to me that you have a distorted understanding of intersectionality. Your response to this blog is also very defensive. Advocating for and speaking out against the oppression of one group, does not deny the oppression of other groups. In addition, observing that some members of a disempowered group may also participate in the oppression of others, does not justify ignoring the injustices experienced by members of either group. Finally, the idea that people of color are any more homophobic, transphobic, etc. than other communities, is a racist assumption. If you are not a part of the black community than how can you "see" if black people are outraged about the brutality also brought to our brothers and sisters in the lgbt community at the hands of the state? You are solely basing your interpretation of our response to lgbt issues on a media that is biased and not controlled by people of color. Your argument seems to be childish at best. "Mom I took the toy because he hit me first". Your arguments work to minimize and justify the oppression experienced by black people, by arguing that oppression is everywhere. Finally, if you took the time to "Google" the history of the black lives matter movement you would find that black women and black members of the lgbt community are the one's who founded it. Yes, we need to challenge oppression wherever it stands. But in order to dismantle systems of oppression, we need to learn how they work both singly and together. At no point did this article claim that lgbt lives don't matter. Dude bye. You tried it.

Andrea Shettle link

7/25/2016 07:13:34 pm

K,
Perhaps you are failing to realize that the OP, Anita Cameron, herself is a black lesbian woman with multiple disabilities. She LIVES intersectionality. If anybody has credibility to speak on intersectionality, it is HER. If anybody has legitimacy to speak to her own disability community about the need for more support (and more appropriately done support) for her own black community it is HER. And although here she addresses the disability community, I'm sure she's also unafraid of talking to the black community via other forums about being inclusive of disability issues too and so forth. You see one blog post from her and seem to conclude that this is all she ever says anywhere. Personally, I look to Anita as one important source for guidance on how I, as a white deaf/Deaf panromantic person with multiple disabilities can strive to be a better ally for my black disabled brothers and sisters in the struggle for civil rights and human rights for all.

2/7/2017 08:37:48 pm

i'm wondering if you are aware that you name is k, and the two posts read like "KKK" , which begs the question: as you feel entitled to pleasantly challenge the very basis of her rally cry to engender alliance and support from her community members because she is also a part of the disabled community- I wonder have you wondered about the impact of white supremacy on your logic and thought process? because it seems to me that we all ought to be doing this in the spirit of intersectionality

Annie Harris Meachem link

7/20/2016 03:26:24 am

I agree with what this post is about and have been trying to address the issues of race and disability with very little support from the black community and so called liberals and I am ANGRY! I have maintained a publc presence throughout my life and have an online business. Also, I recently married. Three healthcare providers have tried to "allow" me to die by denying me necessary care but, having been a provider and project manager, I am well aware of the politics of healthcare and how decisions are made regarding who gets appropriate treatment and who is left to die. I am counting on this generation of young people to help reduce this senseless killing of those most marginalized by society as well as all black lives. I want to help and, with the willing assistance from my husband, I am willing and ABLE to take part in this much needed effort. Contact m e t hrough my website and le t's organized!

Lorrell K

10/30/2016 10:50:27 am

Here's another example of being at a colon cancer rally and rushing the stage to announce that lung cancer matters too.

It's a fact that racism, sexism, and classism are present in many of these mvmts. Whatever collector you're in, ppl have the responsibility to fight whatever ism is present. Not try to deflect by saying "I'm not the only one who does it." It's such a waste of organizing time and makes the exchange so subjective that it's unproductive.

Awesome letter, Anita. Us in the Harriet Tubman Collective are with you!! #amandla #awethu

Dawn S

7/22/2017 11:31:52 am

Thank you for this. As a cis het white disabled woman, I realize I have to do better. So often, people in the disability community complain because other movements don't include or acknowledge us--but that has to go BOTH ways. We need to do better at centering the voices of ALL marginalized folks. Sometimes as white people, that means shutting up and not letting our fragile feelings be hurt when POC have something important to say. It means joining in their fight but NOT making it about us. It sometimes means putting them at the front and center and amplifying--not talking over--their voices. Allyship is HARD. Intersectionality is HARD. IT INVOLVES WORK. The first step is in acknowledging just how much we need to learn--then really listening. Again, thank you for this thoughtful post.

Annie Harris-Meachem link

7/22/2017 01:54:04 pm

There is so much fragmentaation among people with disabilities that it is difficult to speak with a unified voice.

A Open Letter to the Disability Community on Black Lives Matter and Allyship

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