The Master's Tools

 “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master’s house as their only source of support.” -- Audre Lorde

Yes, it is the 4th of July. That may be one reason I am holding off on writing something lengthy.

This quote by Audre Lorde does pertain to some of the things I might have gone off on today.

I will also tell you that I have spent some very unproductive time thinking about this quote really literally.

I first heard it at a young age. Even though I knew it was meant to be more metaphorical, I was still thinking that tools should be tools. If the master wasn't letting you use them, that's one thing, but they should be able to work, right?

The interference of the "master" can be a real issue, but I think you also have to consider the structure of the house. If what shelters the oppressor comes from demeaning others, capitalizing on ignorance and hatred... you get a very flawed shelter from that.

I have read the full essay a few times, and I didn't think so much about that next line, about the women. That has a different resonance now, but yes, there are absolutely men who are threatened by it. 

For today I will only add that it is worth thinking about what shelters us and how it was built. These can be things that are very hard to honestly scrutinize; culturally we have told stories that may contradict what we start to find. 

That only makes it more necessary.