This is the text from Tricia Arrington's keynote address to
last year's Conference, held at George Washington University.
-When I was little my favorite expression was, "I can do it
myself!" I often had temper tantrums, and was prone to
holding my breath until my face turned blue. I was angry. I was
misunderstood, and I wanted to do things myself because I
was the only one who knew what was best for me. This past
summer I remember having a conversation with my mother
that ended when I exclaimed with the same clenched fists,
foot stomp, and anger of when I was five, that "I can do it
myself!" We were both a little shocked because I had always
been somewhat quiet and compromising, and if I got angry I
didn't show it. This time I was angry, and I wasn't holding my
breath.
The reason I was angry had to do with my health care, or
lack there of. I had just come from my last official doctor's visit,
and I realized that my doctor once again did not answer any of
my questions and was no use to me. But, that wasn't the real
fire inside. My doctor had tried to give me a pap smear for
about the fifth time, and I refused. Why? Because I was
scared. Because no one bothered to explain to me what one
was, and because I didn't want a male doctor that I didn't like
or trust putting his hands inside me. So, I didn't get the pap
smear, but I did realize how much I don't know about my body.
What makes me physically a womyn.
After my little episode I made it a point to try and educate
myself about my own health. The more I read the angrier I got.
This was the first time I felt dominated by a male society.
Since then I have been trying to gain control of my health
care. I don't have health insurance. This was not originally by
choice, but I think that now it is. I don't see how giving large
amounts of money to people who don't understand or fulfill my
needs does me any good. Now that i have been taking over
my life and destroying the myths created by the medicalized
society and the meat centered food industry, my health has
improved and i feel better about myself as a person. But the
important thing to note is that I wasn't doing this all on my
own. I got a lot of help from my friends, mostly wimmin with
the same problems, and most of whom are in the PSU.
I think progressive groups and the Progressive Student
Network is important for several reasons. It's important to
focus on what a network is. I have heard it described as a net
that works. It is helpful because it can save us, it holds us
together, it keeps us from falling out, but at the same time it
allows us to breathe. Because it is a network it brings people
together who share common ideas. It makes our work as
small groups much easier because we can compare and
combine our efforts with the much larger web. We can reach
out to many more people. There is also a freedom in our
network, because we are not a mass, crowd or mob. We are a
group of individuals working together. We don't lose our
identity within the group; in fact we gain more of an identity
through learning and discussing our ideas.
We should also take into account our motto: study and
struggle. We all know how important it is to have our voices
heard. To stand up for our rights, to fight and to yell. I have
had the opportunity to study with an incredible Latina womyn
who, like me, is just learning to use her voice, to yell. She was
brought up in the silence of a convent, was married, had four
sons and a daughter. With the death of her daughter, Elena
found her voice as a womyn. She returned to school and was
amazed to find people studying wimmin, when her previous
experiences taught her that man was the center around which
wimmin revolved. With her new found voice, Elena has gained
the courage to speak and be heard, even at the cost of her
marriage. People like Elena remind us of the fact that students
aren't always between the ages of 18 and twenty-one. We
should also remember that not all students go to school. Elena
reminds us that we should look to ourselves for support and
inspiration in our struggle.
It is also important to remember the study part of our
struggle, and I don't mean homework. I mean educating
ourselves and other people on issues. We should never
assume that everyone in the group knows the details of a
particular issue. I remember seeing a graphic that said
information is power, share it. This is an important factor that
can make our voice larger and louder.
We also need to make sure that we cover all aspects of the
issue. A lot of things can get lost inside an issue. Reproductive
freedom is a perfect example. The catchword "choice"
adopted by the media and politicians overshadows other
equally important issues. Choice is a bleached word that
ignores the racial, economic, and heterosexist blockades to
real choice, reproductive freedom. Reproductive freedom
means the right to choose to have a child or not to have a
child. Rape, forced sterilizations, inadequate health care and
inadequate social services prevent wimmin from having
complete control over their bodies.
As wimmin we must to regain control over our lives and our
bodies; as students we must regain our voice and our power
within society. We shouldn't be afraid to realize that the adults
and the institutions of our society have failed us. We need to
take it upon ourselves to create change, to challenge
patriarchal society and institutions. We shouldn't be afraid to
work outside of the system. We don't have time to wait around
for the system to change. Racism is killing people today,
inaccessibility of health care -- reproductive health care -- is
threatening wimmin's lives. Our needs are now!
We need to take back our lives. We need to empower
ourselves. We need to inspire each other and regain our
voices (loudly). These are all things we need to do in order to
move forward, lifting as we climb. Those who have already
failed us, those who would have us sit idle watching TV, tell us
that we are going too far, that we are wrong in our struggle. I
would have them listen to these words by June Jordan:
I am not wrong, wrong is not my name
My name is my own, my own, my own
And I can't tell you who the hell set things up like this
But I can tell you that from now on my resistance
My simple and daily and nightly self-determination
May very well cost you your life.
