Essential Labor

“It makes white women uncomfortable to think that they are no different from their hired help. What they chase—and have been given—is validation, acceptance, and success, but only on terms set by white men. Proximity to power, however real that feels, is a simpler choice than solidarity....Can they [white women] get past themselves and get on our level? Only then do we have a chance. In Johnnie Tillmon's words, “No woman can be liberated, until all women get off their knees.”