Response 9

“The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.” -Malcolm X. This is one of the most impactful quotes that have been said about black women struggle. Black are expected to be strong, understanding, caring, and be there for everyone but who is there for them. In the statement “(1977) THE COMBAHEE RIVER COLLECTIVE STATEMENT” it says “This focusing upon our own oppression is embodied in the concept of identity politics. We believe that the most profound and potentially most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else’s oppression. In the case of Black women this is a particularly repugnant, dangerous, threatening, and therefore revolutionary concept because it is obvious from looking at all the political movements that have preceded us that anyone is more worthy of liberation than ourselves. We reject pedestals, queenhood, and walking ten paces behind. To be recognized as human, levelly human, is enough”. This means to me that black women are always there fighting for everyone else but when it comes to ourselves we don’t necessarily go as hard as we do for others.  And like many of the snapshots posted, many black women are always in the frontlines fighting for what’s right. A person’s gender, race,or sexuality should not be an obstacle for them to be or achieve things in life. 

Society seems to cancel out or overlook people or things that are not the norm. We as a society need to change that and allow all people to have all the opportunities as everyone else. In the documentary “Paris is burning” was one of the most inspirational things I have ever watched. These men were going through their own pain and struggles of life also having society bashing them they created a world of their own to be who they are and live their dreams that they know they wouldn’t be able to in society. This documentary also reminded me of the show “pose” on Netflix which is based on the documentary. It really shows the pain and struggle that the people of this community had to go through and how they supported each other. To me the ball played a very important part of the lgbtq community having that safe slave of being themselves and around others like them allow them to show their full potential. Lastly because of society limiting that community.