By: Carmen Phillips

In reply to Sunny.

I think it’s very fair that Ida can’t hide from being Black (in the same way that she can “hide” from being gay — though I think there’s some complications as well around the ways that erasure can be a double edge sword for femme cis women too). I also think that as a dark skinned Black woman, Hattie walks through the world very differently from Ida, who is light-skinned. And that’s part of what the comment is speaking too.

There really are no easy answers! But it’s fair to say that in some context, Hattie’s comment could be seen as saying “Ida wasn’t Black enough” —?I don’t personally think that’s what she was saying, but I see it.