Black Lives Matter

Throughout our class discussions, we have touched on the place of Black feminism in the larger scope of the Freedom Struggle. Book after book, I feel that the common narrative is centered around the male, until we have reached How We Get Free and Making All Black Lives Matter. These two books incorporate the females place in the movement, showing the interlocking oppression women face due to their many layers of oppression through class, race, gender, and identity.
Taking a look back at the big pushes from BLMM into media, the cases have been predominantly male victims. Ransby comments on this, acknowledging that the BLMM campaigns "have wrestled with an obvious dilemma: the most highly publicized victims of police violence during this time, and in terms of dominant narrative, have been male. That is not because Black women have somehow been sheltered or exempted form such violence"(Ransby 108). Women's struggles being left out of the main picture is not something new, as females have been looked at as second-class citizens in a way for centuries. It is important to note that the "Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality against Black Women" campaign was able to 'unearth' "documented hundreds of cases of police violence against Black women."(Ransby 108). One might ask, if these cases exist, why have they gone unnoticed? Well, it is due to the interlocking oppression discussed previously. The people having the most power, males, can in some ways, direct the narrative of the movement. When we think about police brutality, the statement is typically something around "white police officers killing Black boys", but what about the Black girls? Why are they consistently left out? I believe the Combahee River Collective would comment that “If Black women were free, it would mean the everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.”(CRC 22-3).  For females to finally gain the freedom they most deserve, every oppression on their many layers would have to be lifted first, meaning virtually everyone else would become free as well. Given this, what do you think freedom would look like for these women? How could the BLMM accomplish this and in what ways?

Comments

  1. Alexis TomassiniMay 2, 2019 at 1:19 PM

    I agree with Taylor that most of the movement that we have talked about have revolved around African-American men, leaving out the role of women in discussion. Even if women were involved in movement, their representation has been erased. For example, black feminists began the Black Lives Matter movement, yet their leadership is forgotten. Due to the movement revolving around the police brutality of black men, the violence against black women is looked over. I think this movement is an important movement for the black community, especially for black women. By shifting the main focus of the movement being based on police brutality (which is a huge and very important issue to address), the movement should focus on the overall oppression of black people. Within the movement, people’s individual oppressions and problems at the local level can represent a larger, global, systematic issue. The Black Lives Matter movement can make the oppressions within an African-American females everyday life visible and in the eyes of the rest of the world. In order for black females to be free, white men, white women, and black men must realize their privilege compared to black women and be able to give up their privilege (mostly white men). This would result in giving black women more opportunities for work, equal pay, a more valuable education, healthcare, and many other rights or necessities.

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  2. Emily JackoMay 6, 2019 at 6:43 PM

    I agree with Taylor in the fact that women's voices are overshadowed by the males voice in most of the texts that we have read in class. The idea that women face multiple layers of oppression and the term interlocking oppression comes into play when focusing on these texts. Most of the narratives, leave out these important views of women and what they face when taking a stand in these movements. As Black men, they still face oppression, but when relating to Black women, women are in a lower hierarchy and when the LGBTQ+ community comes into play they could be placed at the bottom in society. Facing interlocking levels of oppression that hide their opinions in society. The male role seems to direct the way that society moves, and when considering the women’s say in their bodies the man’s voice should not have an opinion. Taylor asked the question of, “What do you think freedom would look like for these women?” I believe that if they were to gain freedom, they would be recognized for being who they are, whatever that may look like, and have their voices heard and their needs and wants accepted and have them matter when making decisions for society. She then asked “How could the BLMM accomplish this?” In my opinion, I believe in order for the BLMM to accomplish this, they would need to accept all forms of Black women and accept their goals for a changed society and take those into consideration when moving forward to gain a step in the right direction.

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