I am a self-proclaimed feminist. I believe in intersectionality and inclusiveness. After the Women’s March I have seen many signs from my sisters who are concerned with the way white feminist do things, with the way we have left them out. I want them to know, I hear you. Frequently, I believe those of us who experience privilege forget that not everyone has had our experiences. Some women are not able to yell and scream and make a scene because they fear police brutality, that is their reality and we cannot look down on them for not being able to “do more.”

I saw a sign from the march that has stayed with me."I'll see you nice white ladies at the next #Blacklivesmatter march, right?" I’ve seen a lot of women of color who are angry that so many white women voted for Donald Trump. I could not agree more. I am disappointed in my fellow people who did not see racism as an immediate disqualifier as it should have been. As a feminist, who is also white, tell me what can I do? How can I help you? I will be advocating for BLM, I will be advocating for you, tell me what else I can do.

I will no longer pretend that the suffragette’s had you in mind, truthfully, they didn’t and I will stop glorifying them, I will stop acting like they were thinking of all of us. I will no longer act like our second wave represented you either. They did not. Women of color had been working and had been supporting their families long before white women were entering the work force. They forgot about you when demanding equal pay, when demanding to have jobs that were more than cleaning a house or getting coffee. I will stop idolizing them. See, I believe we can appreciate what they did for the women’s movement without pretending that they did things with all women in mind, without pretending that their ideals weren’t founded in racism and without you in mind. I want to apologize, for the way you were treated, for the way you were excluded and for the way we chose to ignore those facts.

I want to tell you that the third wave is for you. We are here and we will demand equality. We refuse to make the mistakes of our grandmothers and our great grandmothers. Our movement is to include you, our movement is challenging those who came before us. I am a feminist. I’m not claiming to do everything right, I am not perfect. I make mistakes, and when I do, I ask that you tell me, tell me when I am insensitive to your issues, when I don’t represent you accurately, tell me when I say or do something racist. I refuse to pretend that I am perfect, and I refuse to exclude you. This movement is for you, to include you. When we talk about equality for women we will advocate for all women and to answer your question, I will see you at the next BLM march, we all deserve respect and equality and I will no longer deny you those basic human rights.