Mark Gonzales on the Abu Eesa Niamatullah Controversy
Please file the following curated rant under #LetsBeHonest, #MuslimMaleAllies, #IWD or whatever hashtag you use for gender & dignity.
On IWD a person in a position of leadership made ignorant & bigoted comments. A community responded. Petition was drafted. Debates followed.
To all debating the petitions, I encourage you to NOT attempt to obscure the reality of gender violence in the U.S. & across the globe.
It must be said #Feminism is the overarching social philosophy that the unjust treatment of women must end. How this is done varies greatly.
To dismiss all feminists because you do not agree with a handful is to be complicit in the ways far too many women end up in an early grave.
Truth is, in the United States alone, a woman is beaten every fifteen seconds.
Truth is, each day in the U.S., at least four women die as a result of abuse.
Truth is, each day in the U.S. five children will die as a result of abuse, with the majority of them being young girls.
Before shooting a stranger know the overwhelming majority of abuse & sexual violence is committed by loved ones &, sadly, family members.
Truth is, 37% of all women who go to the emergency room for medical needs resulting from violence is due to injuries from intimate partners.
Is ignorance responded to sometimes in ways less than eloquent? Yes, yet any response should always bear less blame than the bigotry.
Rule of Thumb: Do not make jokes or light about the suffering of other humans, ESPECIALLY if it is a group you do not claim membership in.
Debate gender equality vs gender equity, feminism vs womanism, or even theories OF change. Do not debate the need FOR change.
For theories of change in text, please see: Joy James, Chandra Mohanty, Faith Spotted Eagle, or the 7th century poet Rabia Basri.
For theories of change in application, please see your mother & the other women in your life who kept you alive long enough to read this.
ellievsbear