Reaction To Patricia Arquette And Her Invitation To The People of Color

When I heard the Oscar speech of Patricia Arquette, I was happy that she was speaking about women getting equal pay as men.  After all as a minority woman, we make less than both white women and white men, and Latina women make less than black women.  So this was a good thing.

Patricia stated

“It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.”

But soon her wonderful speech sparked my rage by her confusing statement of

"So the truth is even though we sort of feel like we have equal rights in America right under the surface there are huge issues at play that really do affect women. It's time for all the women in America, and all the men that love women and all the gay people and all the people of color that we've all fought for to fight for us now."


To this I was confused because as a minority woman I want equal rights for both minorities and women, I did not realize that I had to choose a side and being a person of color automatically disqualified me from being a woman, or meant that I did not support women’s rights movement.

The second thought that went through my head is that not all white women have supported the minority movement so that is a very bold statement to make and since black women and Latina women make less as compared to white women (see here for facts), I would say that her support did not take us very far because we are still not making as much a her.

I found it sad that she did not see women of color as being apart of her women’s movement.  From this statement it seems that she feels that white women are getting the short end of the stick here, when in fact all minorities have their own burdens to bear.  It would seem as though she is saying

“ You know people of color now that we have helped you in your plight you seem to forget who helped you get there and now you need to get on the bandwagon and support ours.”

As a woman we have to endure discrimination of our own, as minorities we have to endure discrimination of our own, and as a double minority being both a woman and a racial minority we have to endure discrimination of our own.  I do not think that it was fair for her to discredit the inequality that other races have to face and women of color have to face and tell us to jump on her bandwagon.  Especially since I felt that as a woman I already was.  I want equal pay for woman, but apparently my opinion only counts as a person of color opinion and not a women’s opinion.

Today Patricia tried to clean up her statement on her twitter, citing.

“Wage equality will help ALL women of all races in America. It will also help their children and society.”

“Women have been basically paying a gender tax for generations.”

“If you are fighting against #Equalpay you are fighting for ALL women and especially women of color to make less money than men.”

Well this offends me even more.  As a women of color I am well aware that I make less than you as a white woman and a white man, I do not need you to point this out to me to get me to jump on your side.  I thought I was already on your side, until you separated white women from women of color.  You do not think that women of color know that gender equality will benefit us in some way?

Does she not think that us women of color do not understand that we are women and are unaware of the gender inequality issues, when we live it everyday? It must be, because she seems to have to point out the fact that all women need to stick together on this issue for the better of all women as a whole.  She says this statement as if she is telling us women of color something new.

As a person with a masters and almost complete with my PhD, I can say that I am appalled at the salary that I have been offered at jobs often times.  Which is why I support the issue of equal pay for all women.

I do not think I have ever said,

“ Well I would like all women of color to make more money, forget white women.” 

 I identify as a women and a minority  (my mother being black, and my father being Panamanian or Hispanic).  I never think to myself that I must pay attention to the advancement of only minorities and forget the fact that I am a women.

Patricia tries to defend her statement like us women of color are blind to the fact that we have a vagina in between our legs and only see ourselves as black.  Or that she said “we” (not sure who the we is) have supported the people of color movement and now your need to support us.

Last time I check Patricia unarmed black people were still get killed by the police, blacks still make less than whites, and there is still racial discrimination.  So I did not realize that the “we” she is referring to had ended all suffrage for minority people, and now we need to move on to her case since her group has help us colored folk so much.

I think some people can be so culturally insensitive that they do not even realize it.  And for Jennifer Lopez who was applauding during the Oscar speech do not celebrate too soon, she actually meant that since you are a women of color you need to join in supporting her women’s movement.  It is obvious that since JLO is Latina she can only support one minority group at a time.