10/03/2026
Liberation asks us to care about harm even when we are not its targetand to take responsibility when we benefit from the systems causing it.
If you want men to listen when women name the harm of patriarchy, consider how you respond when Black women name the harm of white supremacy.
Do you listen? Get curious? Reflect on your own participation? Or do you distance yourself, become defensive, and explain why it has nothing to do with you?
Being a woman does not automatically place you outside the possibility of perpetuating oppression. We can experience harm in one part of our identity while holding power in another.
As a Black woman, I cannot separate my experiences of racism and sexism to make this conversation more comfortable. Both shape how I am treated, whose protection I can count on, and whether my voice is believed.
You do not have to experience a particular form of oppression to care about it. But you do have to be willing to believe people whose experiences differ from yours and examine what their experiences ask of you.
What does your commitment to liberation look like when the conversation turns toward the power you hold?
XOXO
🩷🤎
Shenikka Moore-Clarke, MSW, LICSW
Yours in Liberation
