As black people fight for liberation, black women’s voices are utilized to further the movement but are never heard when it comes to our own concerns. When you are a black woman, sexually and racially you are oppressed. When topics such as black liberation are discussed, it is viewed as liberation needed for black men before women. We can see this kind of centering of black men within modern day movements as well, like black Lives Matter. Black women, although being at the forefront of the movement and the organizers, have been continuously left out of discussions regarding black lives and liberation. It is easier for society to name black male victims than black female victims. This sort of erasure develops over time as black women are told to devote themselves entirely to the black men in the community which means putting their needs before your own. From an outside perspective it can be seen as women being expected to remain submissive to men, but with blackness there is an extra element added into the justification for expected submission, that being race loyalty. The Combahee River Collective Statement of 1977 explains that although we have solidarity with black men, there is still sexism that needs to be addressed and that black women need to protect themselves from within the community. “It was our experience and disillusionment within these liberation movements, as well as experience on the periphery of the white male left, that led to the need to develop a politics that was anti-racist, unlike those of white women, and anti-sexist, unlike those of Black and white men.” To be a black woman is to combat white supremacy and the patriarchy at the same time. In my experience, it is very validating to read that there is in fact more than one issue that intersects and affects our experience. Growing up I witnessed how  a lot of the time my community will not acknowledge that you can be two things at once. And this presents itself as people in my community comparing our progress to the progress made by other groups. I’ve heard ignorant comments that claim raising concerns about how black men treat black women is divisive, or how society cares more about the LGBT than they do black people, which is entirely false. Black queer people are often left out even more when it comes to black liberation as the movements we have center black cishet men and give little attention to those facing multiple systems that can contribute to violent and usually deadly attacks due to their identity. In the video Paris is Burning, they mention how being gay and being a black man makes the world harder for you. Like Lizbeth mentioned in her response “Both racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia are captured in the scene of the snapshot and the documentary film, without community and their solidarity the struggle would be greater and safe spaces would not exist had they not created them for themselves and each other. In the same way the Mothers house the children, black individuals who share a common struggle had to be “homes’ to the younger and set an example.” By forming solidarity with ALL black people, it helps us fight against oppression much more effectively. We will not get any further by fighting with each other when the real threat is the people at the top.