Ragex [ray-gex] (n.) ragexism, ragexist, ragex-esque
- The intersection between race, gender, and sexuality
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Let’s get straight to the point: the criminal justice system is shitty. It often does the opposite of what it is intended—it kills the people, abuses the people, and rapes the people who are often the most vulnerable in the first place.
The dominant framing right now of police brutality is focused on young, Black men, which is valid. I too was convinced that for now, this should be our primary focus. Neither do I necessarily disagree with that now, because yes, black men are being treated like animals, beaten bloody, and then shot, unarmed in the streets, and this is bad.
However, this is a widely shared experience that occurs commonly with black women. And not just with black women, but with all women of color, and with women of color of the LGBTQIA community, and with all members of the LGBTQIA community. Which brings me to ragex: the truth that the Women’s Movement, Black Lives Matter, and the fight for LGBTQIA rights are inextricable.
For me, I found it difficult to align myself with the LGBTQIA movement, simply because I’m straight. Not that I did not support it, but I didn’t think I could relate. Now, I question why not? We are all deviations from the “normal” and therefore, we are all threats, defying the white, male, heterosexual standard. Yet, we have all been socialized to question those who are different from us. If we other each other, what example is that setting for the “dominant” forces against us?
It all comes down to labels. The difference between identity and ambiguity. On one hand, we can find comfort in identity and shared experience. On the other, why are we so worried about labels and how others identify? We should not have to explain ourselves and who we are, nor be able to, in order to feel safe and accepted.
However, this othering is not only inherent in police officers, but enhanced by law enforcement culture which serves to maintain raced, gendered, and heterosexual “order.” So who do you turn to if your “protectors” are killing you? Abusing you? Raping you? The answer is your community. We must support each other, and not just those like you, but the entire “othered” community. Ragex is not a threat. Ragex is the link—the shared struggle and experience that can bridge us together.
Amen to all of this. It is so true that we are more inclined to relate to those most like us and sympathize with people who are going through similar problems as us. As beneficial as this may be, it absolutely can create divide between people. But your point is exactly the answer in that, the divide of people who have been otherized is already too prevalent, and that divide between marginalized groups is not beneficial. In addition, identity is indeed something that is fluid and can coexist with other identities, so it doesn’t make sense to separate and try to deem one exclusive than the other. Whether its the criminal justice system or school push out in our education system, the shared experience of identities is strength that can bring change.
“Thanks nugget.”
I love this call for a solidarity movement that does not flatten meaningful differences, while at the same time does not reproduce the atomization and hierarchization that is already so harmful to social relations!
This might be a silly thought, but I always wonder if links of solidarity can be built around affects like joy and power rather than just suffering or injury, which seems to me to be the dominant mode of cohesion in identity politics. Which is totally not to negate structural harm, suffering, or rage, so much as to actively try not to let disempowerment be the primary mechanism by which we form our communal identities. What do you think of that in relation to your concept of ragex above? Like what are the ways we form fierce and healthy communities through other modes than restrictive identity categories, while still doing the necessary work of recognizing difference?