Making All Black Lives Matter

The Black Lives Matter movement is a movement that is in the best interest of the black community. Yet, the black community is not unified, as stated on page 86, “the class divides within the black community in Baltimore were on full display during the protest”. Race, gender, class, and sexual orientation intersect to make some people’s voices heard during the movement, and others not. Women were strong leaders during the Black Lives Matter movement, yet the movement focuses around the violence of young, black men. Violence against black women or black trans women are left out. Social media becomes a big factor of the movement, especially for people who have lost their voice. Hashtags such as #blackwomenmatter and #sayhername went viral and opened up many people’s eyes at other issues outside of police brutality of black men. There is a critical question on whether this movement is a feminist movement. I think that this movement has feminist ideas that can make this movement a feminist movement. Black women, especially black queer women or black trans women, are most oppressed. By starting hashtags and talking about the inequality within both the society and the black community, people can start to see things that they may have not been aware of. The Black Lives Matter movement can become a feminist movement by dismantling the white capitalist, surpremiast, heteropatriarchy. Another important part to understand about the Black Lives Matter movement is that there is a huge economic disparity within the society. Not only within the society, but within the black community, there are economic disparities. African-Americans in general are paid less and specifically, female African-Americans are paid the least. This is a part of a larger systematic problem.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 2, 2019 at 7:30 PM

    I agree with Alexis' point that, despite being founded on the basis of a black feminist agenda, the Black Lives Matter movement still publicizes the violence against young black men more frequently than the violence against black women. Though BLM is far more inclusive of women than predecessors like the Black Power movement, there is still much progress to be done in order to more widely circulate and address the specific traumas and oppression that black women face. I agree that social media largely aids in this effort; I remember the outpouring of posts surrounding Sandra Bland's case very vividly. While social media has been an incredibly useful tool for the BLM movement and others of a similar nature, online platforms can also be toxic spaces and cannot fully replace the impact of direct action and face-to-face encounters and protests. Ransby notes that it needs to be a combination of both, and that we should be both grateful for and critical of the hyper-utilization of social media moving forward. I also agree with Alexis' deduction that the Black Lives Matter movement intends to tackle not only individual acts of violence and racism but the entire system in which those situations end up being products. The disenfranchisement of African Americans within America's capitalist structure creates disproportionately poor conditions for those who are black, and especially for those who are black women. The issue of class within the black community also raises question about true and false forms of "blackness," creating a disparity that makes it difficult to identify any "one" or unified black community.

    - Hannah Flick

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  2. Sarah ByrneMay 2, 2019 at 8:16 PM

    I agree with both Alexis and Hannah's points. Black feminists founded the Black Lives Matter movement but they are essentially erased from the narrative. Women in these types of movements are overlooked or not acknowledged at all; it is very rare to see them in any sort of powerful positions without some opposition from men. This dates back to the Civil Rights Movement, and the Black Panther Party's views on women in the movement. Women were not really allowed to do anything until they founded their own groups like the Combahee River Collective. These movements are getting better with inclusion but there is still work that needs to happen. I also agree with the points about how BLM focuses on the violence against African American men and essentially leaves out black women, black trans individuals, and black gay people. BLM is a progressive movement that has led to change, it just needs to be more inclusive overall and I do believe the goal of the movement is to fix the social and systematic problems African Americans face in the United States.

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  3. Nathaniel McIntyreMay 5, 2019 at 12:00 PM

    Alexis, Hannah, and Sarah have all made very valid points in terms of how much the BLM movement has yet to do for black women. I think at its core, the BLM movement intended to be intersectional in its inclusion of LGBTQ black folks and black women but in reality has yet to actually help break down the systemic barriers preventing them to move forward. Putting intersectionality into praxis by actually making room for those carrying more than one minority status is easier said than done. BLM movement struggles to achieve full inclusion due to the internal disparities and issues within black communities. As a black trans guy I feel as though there is still a bridge that has yet to be crossed between cishet black people and LGBTQ black people. In class DK mentioned that there is not really one sole black communities but rather multiple "type" of black communities that at times will intersect together. I personally think that the BLM movement will continue to struggle moving forward until unity among all types of black people is achieved.

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