Every now and then VL gets tips from readers around quite controversial subjects. Many are hard to confirm and we choose not to publish them, but I found a tip I received today so disturbing that I felt it needed to be shared with readers.

Are the words “feminist” and “racist” always contradictory? Many women of color who considered themselves isolated from the women’s movement of the 1970s would probably say no. And if what we gather from the following tip is true, it would look as if racism is alive and well in the California chapter of N.O.W. not just in the form of exclusion, but in the form of ignorance.

VL is publishing the following information in good faith as the opinion of a VL reader, but we can’t prove or disprove the statements, so please read on with that caveat in mind. If anyone wants to counter the accusation or clarify any points, this is your forum as well. Here’s the letter in its entirety:

“I am a member of the California chapter of the National Organization for Women, and attended my first CA NOW Board meeting on February 24th this year. It was open to the public, so I see no problem in sharing statements that I heard there.

The California chapter president, Kimberly Salter, who was talking about visiting New Orleans during the National NOW State Presidents’ conference and talking to New Orleans residents, stated that the residents were all very appreciative of “the Mexicans” for coming to work there and live in tent cities, and she added that it was a cultural issue, because Mexicans were used to leaving their families and living in tent cities to send money home, and that other cultures wouldn’t do that.”

One of the other people there gave her a chance to reframe her
statments, saying that they had been insensitive, and she clearly didn’t understand at all why what she had said was offensive. Several people in attendance at the meeting left shortly afterward in protest.

Later in the day she revisited her statement and said that what she had meant to say was, “Mexicans from Mexico,” as if that would take care of the problem. One of the Latina Board members literally threw up her hands in disgust at that point.

Since that time, Ms. Salter has not made any public apology,
demonstrated that she understands why her comments were upsetting, or made any attempt to become more sensitive to issues of race.

National NOW has also had this brought to their attention, and has
failed to take any action. They were quick enough to jump on the anti-Imus bandwagon, but when it comes to racism within their own ranks they refuse to even see it.

Ms. Salter is running for re-election as President of California NOW,
with elections taking place this weekend in San Diego. Please spread the word and ask people to call National NOW to demand that they not allow the California chapter to be run by someone who clearly has no grasp of the kinds of race issues that affect Latina women throughout the state.”

Let’s hope that NOW steps up to the plate and addresses this issue. In the meantime we’d love to hear opinions from anyone else who attended the meeting, and from our readers in general. What do you think about the comments?