Troublesome Quotes...

I think I've mentioned before that I collect quotes. I love a good quote. One that speaks to you on some level. Or one that is clever with a turn of phrase. I love them. 

Years ago before the great UnOprahing I subscribed to O Magazine and one of the things she did was put in quote cards or bookmarks as a cool little keep sake. She also loves a good quote. (I probably should get over it and go back, I'm sure she misses me) Anyway...

I've had some of these cards and bookmarks for ages. Like two decades at this point. And they've sort of receded into the background. Every once in awhile I'll stumble on one in an usual place that it's been tucked and read it again. But for the most part they are wallpaper. 

This week I took a picture of a book I was reading and the bookmark I was using was one of the quote ones. A friend misread the person's name and it actually caused me to look at it for the first time in a long time. Like actually look at it. 

"Truth is the only safe ground to stand upon." Elizabeth Cady Stanton

It's great quote. It's a great sentiment. It's a great reminder. 

My father used to say something similar, basically if you always tell the truth it's just easier than trying to remember who you told which lie to. 

It's also a really good solid feel. I am standing on truth! Like a solid foundation right? Just a great quote. 

But...

Elizabeth Cady Stanton could probably also be credited with the first "All lives matter" quote. 

Not exactly that phrase, but the same sentiment for sure. 

See, she and Susan B Anthony are probably two of the most famous suffragettes. And they both also opposed the 15th Amendment. They took the stance that the right to vote should not be extended to Black men before it was extended to women. And here is where they split and why you probably are more familiar with Susan B Anthony's name. Anthony said it was a right for all. That human dignity should not be determined by gender or by race. She didn't want to open voting rights to yet another group of men and leave the women out. It's actually not a bad argument at all. It was Universal Rights, Anthony was not willing to say that another group of men should get the vote when women weren't. All men and women should have basic rights. And Stanton who is widely credited for starting the women's rights movement agreed and...well.. she added more information to her stance that Anthony did not. 

She said that Black Men shouldn't vote ahead of white women because "We educated, virtuous white women are more worthy of the vote..." Welp...there you go. Our very first white feminist. 

White feminists are different than feminist who are white. They are the ones who when pushing for women's rights really mean white middle class women. When talking about the priorities of women they mean white middle class women. It's a common and recurring issue and it's been with us from the start. 

Stanton wasn't fighting for the rights for all women. She didn't want Black women to vote anymore than she wanted Black men to vote. She wanted the right opened up to white women. That was her idea of equality. White women on par with white men. Not everyone having the same rights. 

In today's parlance she is problematic.

But it's still a great quote. 

And this little blog reflects it, I think.

The truth is she wasn't a good person. Not someone I'd want to hang around with. But she did do a lot for pushing rights for women forward. Even if in her mind it wasn't for all women. These historical figures are complicated. They were from a different time. But like I said, she would have been an All Lives Matter responder sure as shit. 

We are still battling for Universal Rights. We just need to make sure we are on the side of TRULY Universal, not a universe that resembles me only. 

Truth is the only safe ground to stand upon.

Even when it's not as pretty and as tidy as you'd like it to be.