riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (02/11/84)
I read an interesting letter in a small, black East Austin newspaper
the other day. It was written by a black lawyer who, after completing
his law degree, had decided to locate his practice in the East Austin
neighborhood he came from. He was complaining that too many blacks
would like to see more black professionals succeed and return to their
communities, but then, when the time comes, prefer to patronize
established white businesses.
Put that way the argument had a point. The lawyer didn't say "blacks
should patronize blacks", meaning that a black who needs to do business
with First National Bank should deal only with black tellers and loan
officers -- taken to the extreme, this would amount to self-imposed Jim
Crow rules; what he did say is that blacks should support those
competent black professionals who have made a point of putting their
talents to work in the community where they come from, often at
considerable financial loss.
Maybe there is a message here for women, too. If a woman {doctor,
lawyer, Indian chief} demonstrates a particular aptitude and interest
for helping women with the problems which are peculiarly theirs, then
she deserves to be rewarded for it -- on top of which her clients will
benefit from her special insight. Sometimes this is only logical:
although there are doubtless gifted males and incompetent females in
OB/GYN, one can understand why women might have more trust for a female
gynecologist. (Similarly, if I had prostate trouble, I think I would
tend to want a doctor who at least had a prostate gland!) Another
example is a friend of my mother's, a female lawyer who specializes in
getting a fair share for her female clients in divorce cases.
But when this reaches the separatist "women should patronize other
women" stage, with no regard to ability or whether or not the matters
at hand involve a necessarily female perspective, then the attitude is
sheer sexism. At best it is unfair and spiteful; at worst it will
perpetuate the very discriminatory attitudes feminists are trying to
overcome.
--- Prentiss Riddle
--- ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle