Crenshaw provided different examples to contextualize intersectionality, including the notion that “African-American women experience sexism in ways that are distinct from the ways that white women experience sexism.”
Vazquez emphasized the importance of acknowledging these things as well as any privilege you might have—something she herself has done and continues to do.
“I’m Hispanic; I identify as Mexican and Puerto Rican. When you look at me, visually, I could kind of be anything,” she expressed. “Yet I have cousins that are darker. And there’s a difference there. And I’m very aware of that difference.”
She continued, “I check my privilege because there have been opportunities that have been given to me because I kind of blend into the masses. I assimilate a lot easier than my cousins who are darker skinned than me.”
Making these self-interrogating efforts can be hard for some, Crenshaw said, because they think things like, “Okay, well, they’re saying I didn’t work hard for what I have. They’re saying I don’t deserve the advantages that have.”
“No, it’s just that those who don’t have what you have don’t deserve less, because they might’ve worked just as hard if not harder than you did,” she added.
