At BGP, we believe periods are an intersectional issue. While our core mission is to ensure that no one should ever go without the period care they deserve, we also make it our business to explore how periods sit in the wider sphere of inequality. We care passionately about ending racism in all its forms, and have provided a resource focusing on unlearning anti-blackness, as well as practicing “Intravism”(1) in our own organisation. We’re working relentlessly to do better.
With the privilege I have as the CEO of BGP, I have promised you all that I will continue to use my power, and that of the organisation, to call out injustice. (And I want to add that if there’s ever anything you think we’ve missed, be sure to let us know.) However, with the upsurge in online antisemitism at the weekend, while I was very vocal on my personal Instagram, I found myself facing a self-imposed block when it came to talking about Jew-hatred as BGP. As a Jewish woman, I didn’t know how to articulate the pain that came, honestly, not just from Wiley’s diatribe, but from the silence that accompanied it, at first.
But also I was in pain, because after much reflection, I realise that my own reluctance to speak out about it came from my own internalised antisemitism. I was scared that if I used my power as a Jewish woman, it would simply prove Jew-haters’ assertion that Jews hold all the power. I’m writing this to show you how insidious racism in all its forms really is. Even those who fight against it, internalise it.
Alongside the work that many of you are doing to examine your own racism, just like me, I would like to invite you to look at your antisemitism too. Look at how you might have internalised the assumptions of money and power, and note how the slipperiness and the ancientness of it, means that whatever we do, we’re vilified. I’ll list some pieces and Instagram posts and profiles to learn from and point you to further resources.
Gabby
I have obtained permission from the below accounts, please follow with respect and remember not to expect them to educate you!
@allyrosenbergartist The Many Ironies of Jew Hatred
Nadine Batchelor-Hunt - When Wiley told me I wasn't Black