When White Women Take A Knee
Photo: William Loyd
I woke up this morning to a headline that a bunch of the women’s field at crit pro nationals took a knee in protest of Roe V. Wade being overturned. I’m proud that there was enough organization within the bunch to do something to protest against an act that will remove access to legal and safe abortion for so many folks in America.
It reminded me of a piece I wrote for International Women’s day in 2021 for SRAM.
“Thanks to colonialism, patriarchy, and racism, women’s movements have historically focused on the wishes and priorities of cis-gendered, able bodied, white women and are structured around an unfair power structure that disenfranchises anyone who does not fit into that description. In my opinion, the disregard of true intersectionality within these movements, makes them ineffective for ever achieving women’s equality.”
So as soon as I saw the headline… I laughed. I laughed because I thought it was annoying and predictable. OF COURSE when something happened that affected white women in a big way, the women’s peloton would decide it was worth publicly protesting.
I laughed because someone actually took initiative to “bring politics into sports” which forced a situation where folks who are actually pleased with Roe V. Wade were put in a position where they had to decide to show as much by not kneeling. It also forced a scenario where folks who usually try and keep their heads down and avoid politics within cycling had to pick a side, lest they be grouped with one crowd or the other. I can only imagine how awkward that was. I really wish I was there to experience everyone sitting in this discomfort. It was possibly a revelation to some that not everyone competing in that group agrees that women should have access to legal and safe abortion (among other things).
I laughed because I don’t recall seeing protests from elite women for trans rights that have been getting stripped away both inside and outside of the sport at a terrifying pace.
I also laughed because I can’t imagine that if I’d done the same thing the summer Colin Kaepernick was taking a knee, it wouldn’t have made things even more difficult for me. I just don’t think such a large group of women would have knelt with me and dealt with the consequences involved in making sure I was safe. Before 2020 when things came to a head, there was 2016. It was the time when 45 and Hillary were going head to head campaigning for the presidential election. Black folks were being murdered left and right, and I was traveling by myself, around the country, racing criteriums.
Race after race they play the national anthem, and I’d stand there fiddling with my bike computer until it was over. I usually clap afterward, not because I’m proud of the USA, but because I appreciate a good performance and some of those folks were singing that little ditty with everything they had. In every city I visited, SOMEONE had been recently murdered and/ or brutalized. There were signs of it EVERYWHERE. Their names are painted on the pavement, Memorials all over, and people wearing t-shirts with their names on it. We had so many new Black people becoming hashtags that year.
I will never forget arriving at Minneapolis airport. While waiting for my bike, I noticed there was a chauffeur waiting for Diamond Reynolds. In the week before my arrival, Diamond was streaming to Facebook live while the police shot and killed her boyfriend, Philando Castile. Her 4-year-old daughter was in the car.
I am NOT a hugger, but I asked Diamond if I could give her a hug. I felt so much love and sadness for her and her baby.
But this isn’t a cry for myself. Nor am I saying folks should stop protesting. I’m just saying I hope everyone keeps this same energy for everybody, cuz we are seeing an influx of civil rights being stripped away.
Y’all understand that this is a big deal because folks at the top of the sport don’t usually take a stand. At the national championships no less. Protest without something to lose is not very effective. There’s got to be something at stake. To have the audacity to stand up for something at a venue where you’re fighting for the ability to represent your country, and also a venue where in less than a month’s time you’re losing rights over your own body is brave. It’s brave and it’s bold and it needs to happen more. It also needs to happen in numbers.
It needs to happen for Black folks, it needs to happen for trans and non-binary folks, it needs to happen for Gay folks, it needs to happen for folks with a uterus, and anyone else with a target on them. Here’s the kicker… some folks are Black, trans/ non-binary, gay, AND have a uterus! Again for the people in the back:
“You can’t fight for women and not fight for Black women, trans women, disabled women, or any of the other intersections where any one who identifies as a woman resides.”
If we all keep waiting for the big thing to happen before we protest, we’ll keep finding that we’re now trying to reverse a thing that could have been prevented. I don’t mind being labeled as bitter. Of course i’m bitter, and I have every right to be, but that doesn’t stop me from doing what I need to do.
Y’all are ridiculous to think that these things can stay out of sports as if they don’t have an impact on the athletes. Having just gone through a battle to keep my own uterus, I’m pretty annoyed that i don’t get to decide what I can and cannot do with it in so many parts of America. It also isn’t missed on me that the Men’s field didn’t organize at all. But that’s a different blog post I guess?