ERA Now: It’s Time To Make Space For Black Women
In a college lecture series, I attended last year centered on violence and police brutality, the speaker read a list of names, and the audience was told to stand up if they knew them and their story. For Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, and Freddie Gray, everyone was standing. But when the list shifted to Black women, and Black trans women, in particular, almost everyone was sitting. Everyone knew this extensive list of men, but when the women were shared, nothing. Why didn’t we know these Black women and why didn’t we care? This lack of regard for the unique experience of Black women, the misogynoir faced and perpetuated on both aisles of the sex and race spectrum, is exactly why the ERA is needed now more than ever.
Since the 1900s, women have been fighting for constitutional rights and protections. In 1972, after Congressional approval of the Equal Rights Amendment, three-fourths of the states (38) had to ratify the ERA by 1979 for it to be adopted into the Constitution. Many states quickly ratified the amendment within the first year, but facing conservative opposition the progress grew stagnant, still short by three states.
Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1969, was a fierce advocate for the ERA. In 1977, She also became the first Black woman to run for president under a major party. Despite her qualifications and historic run, she did not receive the party nomination, largely because she lacked support from her colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus, and the National Women’s Political Caucus, both of which she was a founder of. The irony is that many members of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed a white man, George McGovern, over one of their founders because they did not believe a woman could effectively hold the office. Chisholm also received many death threats and scares during her run, including letters calling her the n-word and outlining the view that a woman could never hold office. The unprecedented harassment, mansplaining, gaslighting, and threats from both politicians and constituents are exactly why the ERA is needed. The ERA sets the tone, defining how America views women and their role in society, ultimately, creating space for them to envision themselves and occupy spaces like the presidency. It wouldn’t have handed her the nomination, but it would’ve given her a fighting chance.
In 2020, although America continues to make strives toward true equity for every citizen, discrimination based on sex is a subject that still isn’t explicitly addressed in the Constitution and gender-based discrimination remains extremely prevalent. Although the ERA uses the language “on account of sex,” most courts have interpreted similar language as protecting all gender identities. ever. The intersectionality of the experiences of Black women — in particular, the large spectrum of racism and sexism we face– is what the ERA would strive to rectify. Black women’s identities stem from disparities of both race and sex, and are often alienated by the policies, procedures, and failing leadership of the United States.
Many critics of the ERA argue that the 14th amendment’s Equal Protection Clause makes the ERA meaningless. Although many courts have argued that the clause includes sex discrimination, we cannot rely on this interpretation to remain consistent. With a Supreme Court that has only become more conservative over the last few years, we need the ERA to solidify the notion that gender-based discrimination is unconstitutional. This explicit statement in the Constitution will reduce gender-based discrimination and give states more basis to do so. Every citizen, regardless of gender identity, deserves to be protected. The ERA gives this basis of protection by reducing discrimination. The bottom line is that the United States cannot be a world leader for democracy and deny a concrete foundation for all of its citizens to be treated with dignity and respect. The country cannot preach freedom and equality but deny women constitutional protections in the same breath.
In January 2020, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA, even though the deadline for ratification was 1979. However, Congress extended the deadline once before to 1982; they can extend it again, making the amendment ratified. The House voted to remove the deadline in February 2020, now only the Senate is left. It is not enough or acceptable for certain states to grant rights to women, the Constitution needs to solidify them for the entire country. The laws written by old white men do not serve all people. We are no longer accepting these mundane policies dangling a taste of equality and equity over our faces. We demand the ERA deadline be removed, and the process for the ERA to be amended into the Constitution to commence.
The future is here, and it is a Black woman. In the words of the great giant Shirley Chisholm, in her ERA debate on the House floor in 1970, “The Constitution they wrote was designed to protect the rights of white, male citizens. As there were no black Founding Fathers, there were no founding mothers — a great pity, on both counts. It is not too late to complete the work they left undone. Today, here, we should start to do so.” It is time to make Shirley proud and make that happen.
