Mules of the Earth

The majority of the feminist theory works that I have been exposed to have been authored by middle-aged white women. Of course my intention is not to take away from what they have to say about their experience as women in a male dominated patriarchal system. Much of what they have had to say has been valid. Yet their theories and beliefs are not necessarily tenets or facets of the foundation of the type of feminism I hope to exercise in my own life. In both the Combahee River Collective Statement as well as the Patricia Hill Collins piece, we are introduced to a new type of feminism; a feminism which recognizes that we cannot simply isolate our oppressions one at a time because they are indeed interlocking. Black feminism, as stated in the Combahee River Collective Statement, is the logical political movement to end the systems that cooperatively serve to oppress women of color. There are so many parts of this particular reading that resonated with me but I will try to limit my response to just a few.
One of the first things we learn as students at Spelman College, is about the concept of interlocking systems of oppression. But looking back, it was not until someone had introduced me to this theory that I had, myself, been able to articulate to others my experience as a young black woman. Since this idea has been engrained in me since my first days at Spelman, I believe I take for granted how heterosexism, racism, classism, and sexism all hold black women back. Or rather, I take for granted that this fact may not be obvious to those who do not have access to such knowledge or those who are not a part of this particular special population of black women.
Reading the Combahee River Collective Statement again made me realize that the battle is not in honing in on the issue, as it often is. Instead, the battle is to make others truly and fully understand and then to convince them to compassionately care about the struggle that is a black woman’s life. Black women are often pitted between black men and white women as allies but again issues of race and sex fail to make either partnership fully cohesive.
Another statement that made me think about myself as a black woman and the scope of the damage done to me by my surroundings was a quote from an early group member: “We are all damaged people merely by virtue of being black women.” This made me think of Zora Neale Hurston’s critique that black women are the mules of the earth. The authors go on to assert that if black women were free, it must mean that all people are free. Our freedom, in other words, cannot be secured until all forms of oppression cease to exist. That is a daunting task. My question then is, is the only solution to eradication of black women’s oppression to make white men understand our pain?