This morning I opened the New York Times to discover a photograph of 16 African-American women who are graduating from West Point this year, posing in their dress greys, as is tradition. My first thought was “Wow, 16 African-American women in one class at West Point!” My second thought was “You go girls!” They had their fists raised to their shoulders in a gesture of sisterly solidarity.

Sixteen women of color in West Point dress greys stand on the steps of a building. Two stand on a railing, sabers crossed above the stairs and above the heads of the other women. All have one fist raised. IMAGE CREDIT: Twitter, May 7 2016.

Then I read the caption: “One Photo, Sixteen Clenched Fists, and Riven West Point.” Apparently, a white Iraq veteran turned blogger decided that the clenched fists were meant to invoke the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which he accuses of advocating the murder of policeman and, even, of all whites. Putting aside this mischaracterization of that movement, who is he to make this interpretation of these young women’s gesture?

A West Point alumna who advises the girls testifies that their gesture was meant to signify sisterly solidarity. She remarks: “These ladies weren’t using their fist to say ‘Black Panther.’ They were raising it to say Beyoncé.”
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This is an example of the demonization of black bodies that George Yancy diagnoses. (See his essay “Dear White America” in the Stone.) Who is this white guy to impose his fears and anxieties on these bodies?

To be where they are these women must be awesome. Within the Black Lives Matters movement, their gesture is regarded as a show of solidarity, rather than indicating any affiliation with any political movement. The Times consulted a student leader of the Black Lives Matter movement who wisely remarked, “raising the fist was a way for a younger generation of blacks to pay respects to the civil rights accomplishments and create ‘a space for themselves in institutions where they tend not to have a sense of belonging.’” Imagine the impediments these women have defeated to achieve their graduation from this elite military academy. Hard enough for any woman, but for an African-American woman infinitely more difficult.

Let’s lift up our voices in support of these women, so that we can drown out the white man’s attempt to demonize their gesture. As the leader from Black Lives Matters noted, “If you want to make an institution appeal to a certain kind of crowd, you don’t stigmatize some of the more important cultural pieces to a student’s background.” Until whites learn that others deserve to be able to define themselves and to speak in their own voice, we will continue to be a society in which racism constricts the culture of possibilities for our citizens of color.

P.S.- As I write, I’m hearing on NPR an account of how black jockeys, who won 15 out of the first 28 Kentucky Derbys, were systematically eliminated from competition.