By Meghan Serceki
Intersectionality is perhaps the most important term to grasp in discussions of social issues. Scholar and advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term in 1991 in her article, “Mapping the Margins,” to accentuate the shortcomings of identity politics. Put simply, she finds that identity politics “frequently conflates or ignores intragroup differences,” and understanding intersectionality is her answer to these issues.
The Merriiam Webster dictionary defines “intersectionality” as “the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.”
They also include a quote from Adia Harvey Wingfield saying, “Crenshaw introduced the idea that when it comes to thinking about how inequalities persist, categories like gender, race, and class are best understood as overlapping and mutually constitutive rather than isolated and distinct.”
Simply put, when talking about issues that face people who belong to multiple marginalized groups, we have to realize that they are compounded.
For example, a Black woman faces discrimination for being a Black woman — not just for being Black, and not just for being a woman. We cannot fight sexism individually from racism and improve the situation of Black women, it needs to be a concerted effort against all forms of injustice and bigotry. As Crenshaw puts it, “although racism and sexism readily intersect in the lives of real people, they seldom do in feminist and antiracist politics.”
Arguably the group of individuals who find themselves situated in the intersection of the most systemic issues are Black trans women. They are affected by sexism, racism, transphobia often conflated with homophobia, and more.
In 2011, the National Transgender Discrimination Survey collected data on trans* experiences in almost every aspect of society. There’s a lot of information to unpack from the document, but it all leads to the same conclusion: trans* individuals of color face exponentially more discrimination than White cisgender counterparts.
As the introduction to the report states, “people of color in general fare worse than white participants across the board, with African American transgender respondents faring worse than all others in many areas examined.”
For example, at the time of the survey, trans* people experienced unemployment at twice the rate of the general public, and Black trans* individuals experienced it at four times the national rate. Those who were unemployed (not even accounting for race) were twice as likely to be homeless than the general population and had a myriad of other devastating consequences. Of these individuals, 55% reported being harassed by both staff and residents at shelters, and 29% were turned away altogether.
Similar trends manifest in education, health, family life, public accommodations, and more. And none of this accounts for specific gender identities — transgender women specifically.
We see this also being reflected in reports of hate violence being committed against Black trans women. The Anti Violence Project found that in 2013 a whopping 72% of victims of hate violence homicides were transgender woman, and among those the vast majority were transgender women of color.
Within this same study, the AVP found that trans* people of color were 6 times more likely to experience violence from the police compared to cisgender survivors and victims.
One of the most overt and pressing issues facing the Black community right now is police violence. We’ve all seen the devastating effects of racism built into law enforcement in the United States, and we mourn those who have lost their lives because of a corrupt system. Black Lives Matter. Black Trans Lives Matter.
Making sure their inherent human dignity is recognized is of utmost importance, and unfortunately there are many systems which seek to suppress this. It is all of our responsibility to fight injustice on all fronts.
As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”