[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:01.14,0:00:03.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,yall know where the term women of color came from?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:03.38,0:00:04.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who can say that?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.99,0:00:07.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,see we're bad at transmitting history.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.73,0:00:14.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1977 a group of black women from Washington DC went to a national women's conference
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.57,0:00:18.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that Jimmy Carter had given 5 million dollars to have as part of the World Decade for Women
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.72,0:00:20.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there was a conference in Houston Texas.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:20.100,0:00:23.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This group of Black women carried to that conference
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.36,0:00:25.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something called a Black women's agenda
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.61,0:00:27.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the organizers of the conference
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.48,0:00:29.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Bella Abzug, Ellie Smeale and what have you
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.84,0:00:34.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had put together a 3 page minority women's plank
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.39,0:00:37.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a 200 page document
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.08,0:00:40.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that these Black women thought was somewhat inadequate.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.66,0:00:42.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[laughter]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.13,0:00:44.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so that's who formed the group called Black Women's Agenda
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.70,0:00:48.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to come there in Houston with a Black women's plan of action
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.18,0:00:51.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that they wanted the delegates to vote to substitute
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.96,0:00:56.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the minority plank that was in the proposed plan of action.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:56.91,0:00:59.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well a funny thing happened in Houston
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.23,0:01:01.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when they took the Black women's agenda to Houston
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.65,0:01:07.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then all the rest of the "minority women of color" wanted to be included in the Black women's agenda.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.28,0:01:14.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK, well they agreed, except that you could no longer call it the Black women's agenda.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.73,0:01:20.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it was in those negotiations in Houston that the term "Women of Color" was created.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.69,0:01:26.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK? And they didn't see it as a biological designation.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.59,0:01:30.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You're born Asian, you're born Black, you're born African American, whatever.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.05,0:01:32.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is a solidarity definition
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.26,0:01:35.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a commitment to work in collaboration
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.78,0:01:41.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with other oppressed Women of Color who have been minoritized.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:41.98,0:01:44.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now what's happened, you know, in the 30 years since then
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.22,0:01:47.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that people see it as biology now.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.57,0:01:50.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know, like OK, I don't, and, and, and people are saying
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.56,0:01:54.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"I don't want to be defined as a Women of Color. I am Black. I am Asian American..."
Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.89,0:02:02.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well that's fine, but why are you reducing a political designation to a biological destiny?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.48,0:02:05.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's what white supremacy wants you to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.18,0:02:08.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.20,0:02:14.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think it's a setback when we disintegrate as people of color
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.49,0:02:18.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know, around primitive ethnic claiming, you know?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.40,0:02:21.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yes, we are Asian American, Native American, whatever,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.64,0:02:27.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the point is when you choose to work with other people who are minoritized by oppression
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.40,0:02:30.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you have lifted yourself out of that basic identity,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.54,0:02:34.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into another political being, another political space.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.44,0:02:39.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And unfortunately so many times people of color hear the term people of color
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.08,0:02:42.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from other white people, that they think white people created it.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.64,0:02:47.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Instead of understanding that we, we self-named ourselves.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.42,0:02:50.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a term that has a lot of power for us,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.07,0:02:56.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we've done a poor-ass job of communicating that history so that people understand that power.