white feminist ivanka trump uses toni morrison quote to compare busy schedules to slavery

In an honest review of self-proclaimed feminist and empowerer of women, Ivanka Trump’s upcoming self-help book, ‘Women Who Work’, aimed at (rich, white) women in the workplace, NPR points out that most, if not all, of the advice wielded in the book, can be traced to other sources in the vague bibliography.

Reviewer Annalisa Quinn highlights that the book’s main ideas and insights aren’t so much original ideas from Ivanka herself, but more of a “curation”, as Ivanka describes. But one of the more trouble misappropriations in the book is the use of Toni Morrison quote from her 1987 masterpiece, ‘Beloved’, which is used to compare it to mastering one’s scheduling, as a means to segue into a chapter about “working smarter”.

Nevermind that the actual quote is about the psychological trauma of slavery.

“Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another,” is written in what Quinn describes as, “cute faux-handwritten capitals” (and tagged #itwisewords: Ivanka Trump Wise Words, that is) before opening the chapter on time management.

Quinn points out that in the chapter, Ivanka asks: “Are you a slave to your time or the master of it? Despite your best intentions, it’s easy to be reactive and get caught up in returning calls, attending meetings, answering e-mails …”

Throughout the book Ivanka misappropriates quotes from other great black women like Maya Angelou, flipping them to suite narratives wealth white women who only need more ”passion“ to reach their goals in the workplace. Ironically, in a section called ”Staking Your Claim“, Ivanka’s message is clear as day: take whatever you want and put your name of it. Voilà! Now it’s yours.

*Erin White is an Atlanta-based writer and AFROPUNK’s editorial and social media assistant. You can follow her on Tumblr or friend her on Facebook. Have a pitch or an inquiry? Shoot her an email at erin@afropunk.com.

Banner Photos (left to right): Toni Morrison by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Ivanka Trump via thehairstyler.com