Glennon Doyle is woke BAE
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| Best Self Magazine |
Ladies and gentlemen. I know I have been accused of beating up on our White brothers and sisters (although, calls behavior recently with tiki torch rallies, calling the cops on people of color and otherwise largely remaining silent in moments of adversity for people of color, which your privilege affords you, but I digress). There is a sister amongst us who gets it. Who really and truly gets it.
Recently, in an article on The Cut, Glennon spoke about how White Women arrive at social justice in Trump's America at an Oprah sponsored event, saying “I know that many of us are feeling alone and ignored and threatened and abused … And this is painful. But what we need to remember is that this is just a touch of the pain that so many marginalized people in this country have been feeling for ages. What sucks is that it took us being personally affected to finally show up. We cannot show up for the movement and say, ‘Here we are!’ until we say, ‘We are so damn sorry it took us so long.’ … And so when white women say to me, ‘How do I lead? Where do I begin?’ I say, ‘You do not lead! And you don’t begin anything!’ The fight for civil rights is not new, we’re just new to it.”
I'm a fan.
Glennon is not shy to share her insights with her people, exactly the opposite.
In a recent interview on Luvvie Ajayi's podcast Rants and Randomness, Glennon shared her thoughts on the opioid crisis, noting what most people of color noticed; the difference in language used to describe America's massive drug problem. "Now it's called the opioid crisis. Of course it was called the war on drugs when it was Black people. Because in a crisis you have victims, but in a war, you have enemies."
In the same podcast, Glennon reflected upon a hard conversation she had to have with a "big white church" in Dallas, where one of the congregants attempted to quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Glennon quickly snapped back, "We are all big fans of Martin Luther King. That's because it is easier to love a dead civil rights activist than an alive one, because the dead one is no threat to our status quo."
Glennon then followed up by saying "Don't tell me how you feel about Martin Luther King Jr. right now. Tell me how you feel about Colin Kaepernick right now. Because that is the indicator of how you would have felt about Dr. Martin Luther King. Don't tell me how you feel about the freedom riders right now. Tell me how you feel about Black Lives Matter right now."
"You know that scripture that says, 'You have to work out your own faith with fear and trembling?' I feel like I have had to find my own place in the racial justice space 'with fear and trembling'.", a place that Glennon is brave enough to explore and encourages others who look like her to be brave enough to explore as well. "I think we are all asking the wrong question right now." she says."Everyone is like 'Are you racist? Are you racist?', to me, that's not the question anymore. The question is 'Do you care enough to become educated about the history of our country?'"
Glennon knows her message ruffles feathers, and she does not shy away from that, "My job is not to fill the seats with women of color,' she says. "They’re out there doing their work. My job is to speak to my audience of white women and expose them to people who have been in this fight for a very long time. I think that changes consciousness."
"My job is to speak to my audience of white women and expose them to people who have been in this fight for a very long time. I think that changes consciousness."
In a recent interview on Luvvie Ajayi's podcast Rants and Randomness, Glennon shared her thoughts on the opioid crisis, noting what most people of color noticed; the difference in language used to describe America's massive drug problem. "Now it's called the opioid crisis. Of course it was called the war on drugs when it was Black people. Because in a crisis you have victims, but in a war, you have enemies."
In the same podcast, Glennon reflected upon a hard conversation she had to have with a "big white church" in Dallas, where one of the congregants attempted to quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Glennon quickly snapped back, "We are all big fans of Martin Luther King. That's because it is easier to love a dead civil rights activist than an alive one, because the dead one is no threat to our status quo."
Glennon then followed up by saying "Don't tell me how you feel about Martin Luther King Jr. right now. Tell me how you feel about Colin Kaepernick right now. Because that is the indicator of how you would have felt about Dr. Martin Luther King. Don't tell me how you feel about the freedom riders right now. Tell me how you feel about Black Lives Matter right now."
"You know that scripture that says, 'You have to work out your own faith with fear and trembling?' I feel like I have had to find my own place in the racial justice space 'with fear and trembling'.", a place that Glennon is brave enough to explore and encourages others who look like her to be brave enough to explore as well. "I think we are all asking the wrong question right now." she says."Everyone is like 'Are you racist? Are you racist?', to me, that's not the question anymore. The question is 'Do you care enough to become educated about the history of our country?'"
Glennon knows her message ruffles feathers, and she does not shy away from that, "My job is not to fill the seats with women of color,' she says. "They’re out there doing their work. My job is to speak to my audience of white women and expose them to people who have been in this fight for a very long time. I think that changes consciousness."
"My job is to speak to my audience of white women and expose them to people who have been in this fight for a very long time. I think that changes consciousness."
But Glennon knows, and embraces the fact that this national conversation is bigger than her "I’m a queer Brooklynite lefty," she says. "I’m not going to pretend I have a deep understanding of what it’s like for white women in Alabama. That’s why we’re having these conversations. We want women to go out and have them in their own communities."
Women like Glennon are critical to the fight for equity and racial justice.
- For one, they are humble enough to realize that they are new to this fight and there are ways they need to just shut up and listen to those who have been in the struggle for much longer than they have.
- Two, they acknowledge that white supremacy and privilege is a problem loudly in places that their privilege has allowed them to be (talk about using your privilege for good!)
- Three, women like Glennon get access to spaces people who look like me do not. Countless women of color have stood to say the same things Glennon has said, and she acknowledges that. However, because of her platform, influence, and, well simply because she is a White woman, she gets the ears that have traditionally avoided the messages of people of color. That is called being an ally. And I think White women need to see it modeled. For every Tomi Lahren who is cute and put together but who spews hatred an bigotry, there is a Glennon Doyle out there ready with intellect, witt, humor, and passion to speak to spaces and faces that would normally not hear this message.
I live.
Glennon is the author of two best selling memoirs, Love Warrior (reflections on family, sobriety, and the struggle to love) and Carry On, Warrior (about recovering after infidelity). Glennon also leads her 2012 created philanthropy, Together Rising, an organization that collects small level donations to benefit efforts from families with children who have stage 4 cancer to protesting the Dakota pipeline and Syrian refugees. Bless your life and check her out.
Women like Glennon are critical to the fight for equity and racial justice.
- For one, they are humble enough to realize that they are new to this fight and there are ways they need to just shut up and listen to those who have been in the struggle for much longer than they have.
- Two, they acknowledge that white supremacy and privilege is a problem loudly in places that their privilege has allowed them to be (talk about using your privilege for good!)
- Three, women like Glennon get access to spaces people who look like me do not. Countless women of color have stood to say the same things Glennon has said, and she acknowledges that. However, because of her platform, influence, and, well simply because she is a White woman, she gets the ears that have traditionally avoided the messages of people of color. That is called being an ally. And I think White women need to see it modeled. For every Tomi Lahren who is cute and put together but who spews hatred an bigotry, there is a Glennon Doyle out there ready with intellect, witt, humor, and passion to speak to spaces and faces that would normally not hear this message.
I live.
Glennon is the author of two best selling memoirs, Love Warrior (reflections on family, sobriety, and the struggle to love) and Carry On, Warrior (about recovering after infidelity). Glennon also leads her 2012 created philanthropy, Together Rising, an organization that collects small level donations to benefit efforts from families with children who have stage 4 cancer to protesting the Dakota pipeline and Syrian refugees. Bless your life and check her out.
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