Rinku cites, as her guiding vision, an epitaph on the grave of Trinidadian-born pianist, entrepreneur and community activist Carmen England, in north London’s Highgate Cemetery, a place where many noted socialists, including Karl Marx, are buried. The epitaph reads, “She caused her People to realise their Beauty.” Rinku is driven towards a legacy that helps all people, but especially people of color and women of color, realize their own beauty, and also the depth and scale to which they can exercise the full transformative power of that beauty through relationship, action and ideas.
Rinku identifies as a feminist to her core, and her work for decades has been rooted in feminism. Yet, like Claudia Jones and Carmen England, she is grounded in a more expansive vision. Rinku is an open thinker who welcomes frank interrogation of everything, even her own ideas. Likewise, she interrogates the notions of equality and even equity to examine their limitations, as both come from an individualistic worldview that may accept current hierarchies and simply aim to expand more people’s access to the best stuff being hoarded at the top of the hierarchy. Is that acceptable as a high enough goal when the bigger vision should be a world free of domination, where everyone thrives and has space for joy?
Here is a selection of writings and quotes from Rinku about feminism and her role in leadership as a member of the executive board of the Women’s March:
- THE END OF FEMINISM? FAR FROM IT – Public Books
- THE ENDURING POWER OF WOMEN’S PROTESTS – Zócalo Public Square
- HOW TO DO INTERSECTIONALITY – Narrative Initiative
- Why I Marched on Washington—With Zero Reservations – Colorlines
- These Farmworkers Know How to End Sexual Harassment in the Fields. Will Wendy’s Listen? – The Nation
- The Lefty Critique of Times Up is Tired and Self-Defeating – The Nation
