Playing Politics While 3 Women Die Each Day : NOW: The response to the Simpson verdict has split the feminist organization.

There are defining moments in every person’s life and every movement’s. One came for me when the National Organization for Women and Patricia Ireland, its president, publicly censured me for what they term “racially insensitive” statements and for ranking domestic violence as a higher priority than racism in L.A. NOW’s response to the O.J. Simpson verdict. Neither charge is true. What is at issue here is how the feminist movement, and NOW in particular, will respond in the future to all feminist issues, including violence against women.

We can only speculate on the intentions of national NOW, but here at L.A. NOW, we have and will remain committed to maintaining a national dialogue on domestic violence, using the symbolism of Simpson and other batterers in our midst to educate the public about this epidemic. The tragedy of three women dying every day at the hands of men who are close to them makes the human toll incomprehensible. We will never truly know the scope of the loss. What would have become of Nicole Brown? What contributions have we lost in the three women who will not live to see the end of this day because of domestic violence? These are questions of such magnitude that I am unable to comprehend the playing of politics with their lives.

Violence against women makes all women sisters. The rapist and the batterer do not discriminate. They do not ask you your party affiliation, your income or your ethnic origin before they beat or rape you. They see a woman, a wife, a girlfriend. That is all that matters. The issues we are committed to are colorblind; the work we do and our progress will benefit all women.

Johnnie Cochran showed America the strategic use of the accusation of racism and its success in eclipsing the issue of domestic violence and the victims of domestic violence. It is an accusation, however, that will backfire when used against someone whose work and commitment to civil rights speaks for itself, as my leadership does. This modern-day crying of “Wolf!” decimates the importance of a word that no one should become desensitized to. It is an insult to all who have fought to live Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream that a person be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.

As advocates for women, we will judge batterers and rapists and anyone else who would presume to hurt women by the content of their character. We do this work for our sisters, our mothers, our daughters and ourselves. I am answerable to women at risk in this country. I will not be derailed by political correctness zealots or by the appeasing of those who have disliked the power and the effectiveness of our message.

Ireland was quoted by the Associated Press that one of NOW’s priorities was to reelect black women. What about re-electing all feminists? If we are to begin to marginalize all our issues along the lines of race and politics, then what has become of the advocates for women? I will not abandon women of color or anyone else because of the politics of division. If national NOW’s position proves anything, it is how desperately our leadership is needed and how we have a moral obligation to continue.

Ironically, it is national NOW whose silence has been deafening about domestic violence in the aftermath of the Simpson verdict. It is Ireland who, at a national NOW Violence Against Women rally in Washington this past April, told Denise Brown that she couldn’t speak to the crowd about domestic violence because of the “racial issues” involved with the Simpson trial. This, while the crowd called out for Brown to speak for all families who have experienced the devastation of domestic violence.

Political positioning means nothing to children who no longer have their mother. It means nothing to women who flee in the dead of night to save themselves and their children. These women, whether they be black, white, Latina or Asian, only want the beatings to stop. We, the National Organization for Women, owe them at least that.