Black Feminists vs. the World

I found the Combahee River Collective article very interesting. I always find it very empowering to see Black feminists groups like this one who are not only interested in empowering Black women but who also set working and uplifting definitions as to what it means to be a Black woman. I also appreciated that they considered their politics to be struggling against not only racism and sexism but also class and homosexual oppression as well. Being a Black feminist means not only fighting against these oppressions but understanding that they interlock and that it is important to be a support system to your sisters who are fighting against oppressions you have never expierenced. I think it is important to realize that you don't have to consider yourself a feminist to speak out toward such oppressions, even if you don't like the F word, it doesn't mean that someone is going to look past the fact that you are Black and a woman, you will still try and be silenced and the powers of patriarchy will still be tried and used against you. That's why the power of the feminist movement is so important, it gives Black women a chance to come together as a collective and share experiences and struggles.

I love the quote by Michele Wallace on page 315; "We exist as women who are Black who are feminists, each stranded for the moment, working independently because there is not yet an environment in this society remotely congenial to our struggle- because, being on the bottom, we would have to do what no one else has done: we would have to fight the world."

I feel like 30+ years later we are still fighting the world, and now it seems like we are fighting our brothers and each other, because during the 70's Black was beautiful and women were fighting as one cohesive unit, but now it seems that being a feminist automatically means your a lesbian and many women are afraid to identify as such because of the stigmas of our society. The only way we will have an environment that is conducive to the empowerment of women, is if we create one.