The Real Meaning Of The Master's Tools
A common misunderstanding about Audre Lorde's speech explained.
Audre Lorde’s speech The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House is often misinterpreted to mean that activists cannot use the tools that dominant systems use, yet in context, the speech has a different meaning.
Lorde was speaking to white academic feminists whose money came from the system they were trying to change. She knew that dominant institutions were not going to support activism that dismantled their power and activists were not going to dismantle the source of their income. If real change was to occur, it had to come from outsiders who had no conflict of interest between their activism and the source of their power.
The “tools” Lorde is referring to in this speech are not the universal methods of activism. Lorde herself wrote, spoke, and published. She was perfectly comfortable using tools the system used. Rather, she was speaking about people and work owned and funded by the system. A hammer is not the master’s hammer if he doesn’t own it. Likewise, any political technique is not the “master’s” if the dominant system doesn’t own it and hasn’t bought and paid for it.
The metaphor of the master’s tools is often misinterpreted to mean that activists cannot use the tools themselves, rather than that they should own their own tools. In this misapplication, activists look at what the most dominant systems do and just do the opposite. This results in absurd conclusions, like “they have lots of money, so we should do all our activism without money” or “voting is a part of the system, so we can never create change through legislation.” Some tools are universal. Just because the master owns a tool doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get your own. It means that you should make sure the tool you use really is yours.
The conclusion of Lorde’s speech is more dire than that activists should avoid some tools while using others. Any tool owned by the master will not work. If an activist’s paycheck or source of power comes from the system they are trying to change, their incentives are not aligned, and they will fail, or worse - act to defend that system against real change. The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. Who owns the tools and organizations of a movement matters. You can use any tool, as long as it is actually yours.
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