In her essay, “La Güera,” Cherríe Moraga delves into the observations and experiences that led to her understanding of oppression and intersectionality. Moraga recognizes the privilege she had by being “‘la güera:’ fair-skinned,” meaning that she was “born with the features of [her] Chicana mother, but the skin of [her] Anglo father” (23).

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Although she faced oppression as a result of her heritage, she recognizes the other privilege she had by being educated. The intersectionality of her identities provided Moraga with opportunities she wouldn’t have had otherwise. But it was not until she understood her sexuality that she began to understand the full extent of the workings of oppression. Moraga argues that “danger lies in ranking the oppressions” and that “without an emotional, heartfelt grappling with the source of our own oppression, without naming the enemy within ourselves and outside of us, no authentic, non-hierarchical connection among oppressed groups can take place” (24). “La Güera” explores Moraga’s claims that “it wasn’t until [she] acknowledged and confronted [her] own lesbianism” that she began to empathize with her “mother’s oppression–due to being poor, uneducated, and Chicana” (23). Moraga’s lesbianism served as a platform for her understanding of oppression and the silencing of these oppressed groups.

Moraga teaches us that the divisions in the feminist movement between white women and those of color results in not acknowledging how one can be both oppressed and oppressor. In order to admit one’s role as an oppressor, one must ask “some very frightening questions,” writes Moraga: “How have I internalized my own oppression? How have I oppressed?” (25). Moraga describes this as the “oppressor’s nightmare” because people are “afraid to look at how [they] have failed each other” (27). They are “afraid to see how [they] have taken the values of [their] oppressor into [their] hearts and turned them against [themselves] and one another,” and, most of all, they “are afraid to admit how deeply ‘the man’s’ words have been ingrained in us” (27). Although we may fear recognizing our internalized oppression, Moraga ask readers to acknowledge their privilege and their oppression in order to begin to understand how they are the participants of the oppression faced by other communities. Only then will we be able to combat the divisions within the feminist movement. 

Source:

Moraga, Cherríe. “La Güerra.” This Bridge Called My Back, edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa, 4th ed., State U of New York P, 2015, pp. 22-29.