Hold the Line, Ladies

Dear White Women, This One's For You

Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash

This is for my fellow white women. If you aren’t a white woman, you can probably head out. Or you can stay. It’s fine with me either way.

But my dear, dear, dear white women. I would like to take this moment to gently take you by the shoulders and say, “Come closer. I want to whisper something in you your ear.” Then I would like to pull you even closer so I can slap you across the face and scream, “Wake the fuck up!”

Keep in mind, this is all done from a place of love. I’m doing this for you as much as I’m doing it for me and every other woman we know.

I don’t care how you voted in the election. I don’t care if you have Donald Trump’s face tattooed on your ass or you’re still sporting your “I’m with her” bumper sticker on your minivan. We are ALL at risk and it’s time to put that bullshit aside and work together.

Did you see what happened in Idaho? In case you missed it, let me tell you. There was a town hall in Coeur d’Alene that was hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee. This was a public meeting that was attended by about 450 people, including Teresa Borrenpohl. Borrenpohl has tried unsuccessfully to run for office as a Democrat several times. In case you didn’t know, Coeur d’Alene is DEEEEEEP red.

Everyone at the event was told by the dude in charge that private security was there and they would remove anyone who “refused to respect the rights of others.” OK, cool. So incredibly vague guidelines that can be manipulated for or against anyone the moderators prefer. Got it.

The town hall got started and there were some rumblings from the crowd. For instance, when one guy mentioned the amazing job he’s done “protecting doctors from being forced to perform abortions,” a few of the women in the room got a little grumpy. The moderator scolded them for “popping off with stupid remarks.” The stupid remark this asshat was referring to was, “Women are dying.”

That’s when Teresa got vocal. She asked if this was a town hall or a lecture? The Big Man in Charge did not like her tone and he asked the sheriff to have a word with her. The sheriff stopped by her seat and told her to pipe down or she’d be asked to leave. Well, Teresa (and the rest of us), know that we STILL have the freedom of speech and she was like, “I’m not going anywhere.”

That’s when the sheriff motioned to three giant mercenaries all in black with NO MARKINGS on their clothing to grab Teresa and remove her from the meeting. There are videos of this altercation and you can hear Teresa repeatedly demanding that these men identify themselves. They do not. The sheriff smirks as he records her on his cellphone (probably a little something for his spank collection) and the emcee calls her a “little girl.”

These fucking guys.

Now, white women, this is the part that’s important. Teresa is in a room of approximately 450 people and not ONE person stood up to defend her. Not ONE person came out swinging. Teresa was dragged out of the room, fighting the entire way. She was handcuffed and detained. And everyone just sat there.

There were several women (and men) smiling and encouraging the barbarism, but there were also women you could hear on the recording saying things like, “This is terrible. Oh wow.”

No.

Not “Oh wow.”

You need to be saying, “Not on my watch, motherfuckers!”

You need to be saying, “Hey, Representative Fuckface! Do not tell us that it’s stupid to say women are dying due to a lack of safe healthcare!”

You need to be saying, “Call her little girl again, you pile of steaming garbage.”

You need to be saying, “Hang on, Teresa! I’m coming.” And that’s when you start throwing hands, feet, teeth, other motherfuckers, whatever you have.

Yes, you’re going to be arrested too. Yes, you’re going to be dragged out too. But if we don’t start defending one another it’s going to get even worse. We must be willing to stand up and take a hit if we have to. We must be willing to form a line of “little girls” who like to “pop off” and tell these goons that they’re going to have to take us all.

I get that not all of you are physically able to do this, but MANY of you are. MANY of you are sitting there wringing your hands and hoping someone else will step in. That’s not going to happen. White women, you can’t just keep saying, “That’s not OK” and expecting shit to change. If you disagree with what you’re seeing, rise up! Find your courage and YELL.

I guarantee, if even one other woman joined Teresa and tried to fight those guys off, more women would have come running. We are all waiting for that one person to get it started, but NO ONE IS COMING. It’s going to have to be you who gets it started. Someone has to go first and then other women will wake up and join you.

As I said before, this isn’t a Republican or Democrat issue, this is a WOMAN’S issue. I know conservative women think they’re immune from this shit, but I hate to tell you, you are not. We have a common enemy right now: the white, conservative, weird, creepy ass motherfuckers who wrap their hate for women in a flag and a cross.

Conservative white women, they used you and your vote to drag their Orange King across the finish line and they’re using you as shields to stand up in front of the media and defend his dirty work. But when they no longer have a use for you (and the time is coming fast), they will drag you out of public spaces too.

And when that happens, I will stand up for you and your rights. I will do that because you are my fellow woman and we need to protect one another. We cannot go back in time where women were not equal. Even at our height, we were never equal, but we were closing that gap. And now it’s widening every single day. I don’t care if you want to stay home and spit out babies every 10 months and make dinner for your man and never vote, but you should not make EVERY woman in America live that life. Every woman should be allowed to live she life SHE chooses. Every woman in America should be able to speak in public and voice her concerns to her elected representatives without fear.

I know I’m screaming into the void but I am begging you to listen. We don’t have to agree on anything except “women’s rights are human rights.” That’s it. And if you agree with me on that, then we should stand together the next time we see ANY WOMAN being manhandled by a bunch of faceless cyborg looking assholes on the orders of terrified incels with tiny pricks.

The first time we saw it, we were stunned. But we won’t be stunned next time. Next time we know what to do. May I suggest punching those fuckers in the throat.

I say this with love, of course.