Co-opting Black Narratives

 I was so concerned and afraid when doing my thesis that it would appear I was co-opting a black narrative on TANF instead of facilitating the voice of my study participants. After watching 12 Years a Slave, KW and I discussed the importance of black history being shared with the masses, but with society’s disinterest in anything black history without a white narrative being the principle story, we were at a loss as to how this would actually work. Additionally, BA and I had a conversation yesterday afternoon on the subject of who benefits from the black narrative, and who is responsible to share it. I don't know the answer here. What I know is there are more consequences and accusations of race baiting when black Americans share a black narrative than when black people aboard do, but is it there narrative to share? If the narrative is worth sharing does society have to wait till someone from a specific cultural background shares it? What if they are always silenced? Personally, I think we should take everything as it comes and ask if the intention was exploitative. Of course, both discussions were very timely given #solidarityisforwhitewomen, allegations made against well-known feminists about the stealing of intellectual property of feminists of color, and the tension between feminists of color and white feminists at large.

I want to take a moment to say two things about myself: I am not a race scholar, and I am a researcher. I wish I had more of a background in race, but I don’t, and I’m much more comfortable in class and gender. That said you can’t study class and poverty without studying race. Also, I’m a research, and my thesis sample was all black women welfare recipients. I partnered with a group running a back to work program, and there were two or three white people assigned to this program by the county. The dude was placed in a job immediately (and had a good manufacturing resume), and the girl thought the program was too diverse for her *bullshit* and split after one day.

Race is hard. Race is hard for a lot of reasons, but one is that people like to conflate it with class as to not offend anyone, but it also doesn’t move the conversation forward. In my post yesterday, I referenced the post on Jezebel about white women and slave women. The post is hella frustrating. Mostly because there are some good points in it that get lost because the end claim is that women at large were screwed instead of a more complex discussion of whiteness, blackness, and womanhood. So I’m going to talk about race in the same context as that post, 12 Years a Slave. There will be spoilers.

So there are two white women in the film I’m going to discuss: Mistress Ford and Mistress Epps. The first is the wife of Solomon’s preacher Master. The second is the wife of the major aggressor in the narrative, a man who prides himself as a slave breaker. Then there are three black women I wanted to discuss: Eliza, Mistress Shaw, and Patsy. All of these women are slaves in different degrees of danger and subjugation.

Mistress Ford is a sad person; she is shallow and ignorant (however her husband also plays Sherlock, le sigh). Mistress Ford tells Eliza that she will soon forget her children after rest and food. Now, by all purposes the Fords are the kind owners, but bitch said what? Now, I’m not the motherly type, but I think I’d miss my kids even after a nap and a sandwich. Mistress Ford represents everything that is wrong with this society without being openly cruel. Upon seeing Eliza’s constant distress, she tells her housemaid that she can’t be around that kind of depression, but she doesn’t order Eliza beaten. Mistress Ford commits a kind of passive violence. She benefits from slavery, but doesn’t directly get her hands dirty. In some ways, I’d argue this is a greater sin. She appears to have a happy marriage, while sure she has limited rights, she isn’t a prisoner in her home.

Moving on to Eliza, Eliza is a recaptured slave who escaped with her children. At least her daughter was the product of a rape by her Master…I’m calling it rape because she lacks the agency to refuse. Eliza’s son is sold as is she, but to different owners. Master Ford attempts to buy the whole family, but the slave trader refuses saying the girl will make him a lot of money because some men are perverts and she is light skinned. Eliza screams, cries, and promises there will be consequences for taking her children. She is removed from the room and assumedly beaten. Ford purchases her and Solomon. Obviously, the conversation between her and Mistress Epps happens, but Eliza continues to mourn her children. Solomon and Eliza fight about it and survival. She points out to Solomon that masters fancies can change, and just because he has favor now doesn’t mean he’ll retain it after all she was her master’s favorite too and ended up being sold by his daughter after he fell ill who harbored animosity to Eliza and her daughter. We last see Eliza being removed from the scene by two men; the audience is left to assume she was sold for being too depressed. Eliza talks about the shame she feels for doing what she had to survive with Solomon, noting that in the end she still ended up here: in slavery. Eliza is a prisoner  and a slave.

Mistress Shaw is a different kind of black woman in the film. She has ascended her position as slave, and notes in conversation with Solomon and Patsy, that she isn’t ashamed of how she got there (sexual exploitation), because it has been many years since she worked a field or felt a lash. Master Shaw sexually abused Mistress Shaw while raising her position. She now has other slaves serving her. Also, has mentioned in yesterday’s post, Mistress Shaw desires retribution like the world has never known against all slaveholders that would include the man who made her a Mistress. It isn’t said whether Mistress Shaw has been freed. I suspect she has not been freed. Mistress Shaw provides some interesting insight while in a position of comfort and privilege within her circumstance, she still isn’t free, and she curses all those involved in the slave trade. She is a slave, but not quite the terrorized prisoner as the other black women are.

The last two women have the most complex relationship to one another. We’ll start with Patsy because while her situation is worse, so much worse, it is easier to explain. Patsy is a slave, and it is alluded to that she was born on the plantation. She is more effective in the field than any man, which earns her the attention of Master Epps, and eventually, he rapes her…a lot, but only once is shown on the screen. It is pretty horrible and triggering. She can’t escape his abuse, and while Mistress Shaw tells her there is nothing she can do to stop him, it may help her elevate her position in the long run. Except Mistress Epps targets Patsy out of jealousy and frustration. Patsy begs Solomon to kill her, which he refuses to do because that is a damnable sin. Later in the film, Solomon is ordered to whip Patsy while Master Epps and Mistress Epps watch; the former believed Patsy had run away. Epps decided Solomon isn’t doing it hard enough and takes over. It is the most graphic and disturbing scene in the film. Patsy is a slave, a prisoner, and by far the most sympathetic/pathetic character through no fault of her own, which is awful to write because she was a real person. There is nothing she can do; she has no power, but that to end her own life. While, the film never says, I think we can assume Patsy died on that plantation.

Oh, Mistress Epps, she’s a raging bitch. It also sucks to be her. Mistress Epps hates Patsy; she is violent toward the girl every scene they are in together. Mistress Epps demands Master Epps remove Patsy from the plantation, which he refuses to do in front of all the slaves, telling her not to embarrass herself. She tries to punish and torture Patsy every change she gets, and while at first it may have been jealousy, I think it evolves into having an outlet for her frustrations. Mistress Epps has limited power in her home because Master Epps is a bastard, but she abuses Patsy because she can, and that gives her power. That said this is the human condition. Mistress Epps feels completely out of control of her life and her husband so she takes it out on those in weaker positions than her own. I’m not defending her behavior, just stating that this is the situation.

There have been many articles about the relationship between Mistress Epps and Patsy, and some of them addressed the long history between white and black women of jealousy and suspicion.  I’d like to change this conversation a bit: what do the conversations around this relationship tell us about the co-opting of black narratives. I think a great deal. At best, we see one woman of limited privilege in a jealous rage taking it out on the victim of sexual abuse (huh, that sounds familiar, guess the song plays on?) or we have a white woman taking out her frustrations of feeling (not necessarily being) powerless on the victim of sexual abuse.  I didn't find the film offensive, in fact I found it to be the first film about black history that didn't  play up the role of white people, well that is until we as a society started to discuss it. All that said, the film is over, and we’re talking about the white woman’s narrative. Sure it is Patsy’s narrative too, but that isn’t how it has been framed. I’m not saying it is a conversation we shouldn’t be having; we should. We need to unpack this relationship and try to understand it. This makes me feel like while the story is a black narrative, we’re still trying to view it through the white lens. Inadvertently, we’ve made this narrative about the white people, and while the argument can be made the story is always as much about the villain as the hero, I’d say that isn’t the case in this film. We see villains disproportionally represent those we other in society, and they don’t get nearly the discussions Mistress Epps does.

So in the very least if we’re going to talk about the white people in the film, let’s talk about whiteness, and how it played out here. There are no white heroes in this film, even Bass who admits to being cowardly. Even Master Ford, the kind master, shouts at Solomon for lying about being a free man. The poor white people feel superior to the slaves even when they perform the same labor, often seeking to distance themselves from the slaves. Whiteness then as it does now provides a blanket of protection. Our white laborer in the cotton fields picks less than 100 pound of cotton, which would get any slave whipped, but not him. All the white people participate in the systematic oppression of the enslaved, and I’m including the white man/”friend” who eventually comes for Solomon. None of these white people are shown trying to end slavery. As the saying goes, “if you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem.” This film could have had the subtitle: white people, still the problem.

Now back to the women. White women lack agency and power during this historical period, and I don’t subscribe to the hierarchy of oppression or the oppression olympics. But these are fundamentally different kinds of oppression, and yeah there might be some similarities if you dissect it enough, but they are different. To build solidarity we draw on shared experiences, but to be in solidarity with other people is to understand and respect the differences.

Finally, I want to say I don’t believe this co-opting is always intentional, sometimes it is. But I think people are trying to find common ground, and it is our instinct to include ourselves in the narrative instead of taking a step back and listening. Additionally, it is much easier to say, well it was bad for us too instead of just owning up to the fact that people who looked like me oppressed entire groups of people. That isn’t saying, I agree with that oppression, but it is as much a part of my history as slavery is for black people. By being white in the US, I have to take responsibility for the role of white people in slavery, and subsequently in all the policies that have been enacted to oppress people of color.