Feminist Peace Network

Incite! has an excellent post on their blog about how to talk about/act about the rape and torture of Megan Williams:

“it is critical that in talking about the rape and torture of megan williams that we not allow the media, people of color, white people or others to fall back on stereotypes of poor whites in west virginia as some sort of explanation for what happened and why. it is critical that we remind folks that the violence of white supremacy and patriarchy is pervasive in every place. while this incident is particularly horrendous, did occur in west virginia and by a family with a history of violence, the contexts and environment that we live in is such that it could have occurred in missouri, chicago, or even washington, d.c. just last week, someone hung a noose on the university of maryland’s campus and indeed, it was in our own backyard (in maryland and washington d.c.) in public spaces that two black women were set on fire in public.

yes, the torture of megan williams is very different from both of these incidents BUT there are connections that need to be made… when we allow rural poor white culture as a whole to be scapegoated for this brutal violence, we let the white supremacist misogynist patriarchal culture in all of our geographic areas off the hook. we let the culture of the whole country off the hook when we say it’s only those hicks in west virginia who could do something like that, those trailer trash people.”

Wise thoughts about a very complex story.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Atrocities