Back on my âeveryone who talks about social justice theory should learn at least the basics of the disability justice framework and how interconnected ableism is with racism because then maybe people would realize that intersectional analysis means we canât be doing this âbut this is âjustâ x oppressionââ soap box.
Yâall. When Black Panthers were institutionalized for supposed mental illness and chemically restrained and sometimes permanently disabled because institutionalizing them meant they could be locked up forever instead of getting a fair trail was that âjustâ racism or âjustâ ableism?
When Black kids get diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder and any of their complaints or self-advocacy is dismissed as âdefianceâ and they get the police called on them for being kids is that âjustâ racism or âjustâ ableism?
When systemic racism disables racialized people and then systemic racism makes it harder for them to access medical care and disability supports is that âjustâ racism or âjustâ just ableism?
When ICE specifically targets racialized people and then denies people access to their life-sustaining medications or denies people theyâve injured access to necessary medical care and that kills people is that âjustâ racism or âjustâ ableism?
When police officers kill disabled people of color for being âunpredictableâ or âout of controlâ or âhaving a weaponâ (it doesnât matter if it was just a butter knife) or for not responding immediately to their instructions (they were deaf and facing the other way) is that âjustâ racism of âjustâ ableism?
When racialized person donât get a job because their cultural dialect or their accent is seen as a lack of intelligence is that âjustâ racism or âjustâ ableism?
When Black wheelchair users are assumed to be disabled because they were a gang member, whether or not thatâs correct, but either way are denied access to resources they need is that âjustâ racism or âjustâ ableism?
When Black people are labeled âdrug seekingâ and left to suffer horrible pain is that âjustâ racism or âjustâ ableism?
When police officers approach a Black mother trying to help her young child through an autistic meltdown, forcing her to have to deal with convincing them sheâs not abusive and have to work even harder to help her kid because they can tell somethingâs wrong, is that âjustâ racism or âjustâ ableism?
When Black and brown people join gangs because of systemic racism and are shot in the spine before or during their arrest and once theyâre out of jail canât find an apartment because none of the wheelchair accessible apartments accept people with a criminal record so they have to live in a nursing home and then die because their city sent COVID patients to their nursing home when the hospitals ran out of beds and put people who had tested positive for COVID in the same rooms as them is that âjustâ racism or âjustâ ableism?
Youâll notice that some of these examples are about disabled people of color but some of them are not. Thatâs because ableism can still affect people who are not disabled! And sometimes racism weaponizes ableism!
Racism can and does weaponize other types of oppression to oppress racialized people who would not be targeted by those types of oppression otherwise. It still counts as that other type of oppression!
There are a lot of reasons for this, but a big one is that none of the types of oppression that exist today were created in a vacuum. In fact, many of them only exist the way they do so that they could be weaponized against groups who are not usually thought of as the intended targets of that type of oppression.
And is the narrow definition of âproper Englishâ actually racism, ableism, classism, xenophobia, or imperialism? Is the narrow definition or femininity or womanhood actually misogyny, transphobia, racism, classism, or imperialism? Or is it maybe all of them at once?
This is why intersectionality matters so much.
To try to say that something is âjustâ racism or âjustâ ableism or âjustâ any other type of oppression is incompatible with intersectionality as it is described by KimberlĂŠ Crenshaw.
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