The documentary “Paris is Burning” by Jennie Livingston is a film who talk about the issues of racism and poverty of gay African Americans and Hispanic. In 1990, in New York was organized a ball where gay and transgender have to show their costumes. The show opened with an entrance of Pepper Labeija, who wore an immense puff of gold lame , gloves up to her elbows. She was a legendary drag queen. In this film we saw gender issues focusing on drag balls. In this ball the gays and transsexual perform femininity as drag queens. Drag is a form of community for those who are rejecting by the society like gay and transsexuel people. Those people are rejected, and marginalized because they do not have the expectation of gender roles. If you were born as male, you need to behave as a male, but in ‘Paris is burning’ we saw that men wore women’s clothes, act as female. Pepper Labeijra said:” the mother of house I can never say how a woman feels I can only say how a man who acts like a woman or dresses like a woman feels. I never wanted to have a sex change”.
“ The combahee River Collective Statement” was a blak feminist lesbian organization since 1974. But they struggled against racial, sexual, heterosexual and class oppression. Their beliefs were about equality for all, non lesbians separation such as white lesbians and black lesbians sharing the same ideas, and peace between them.They were fighting for their rights because they were faced with multiple oppressions, such as sexism, sexual oppression, and racism. Also society must recognize the intersectionality of both men, and women of color. They thought that they have to fight together, people of color and feminist and Lesbians because they experienced the same oppression. So all of them have to feel solidarity about the race.“Although we are feminists and lesbians, we feel solidarity with progressive Black men and do not advocate the fractionalization that white women who are separatists demand. ” We struggle together with Black men against racism, while we also struggle with Black men about sexism. So to fight for their rights, they found their own strategies:”We realize that the liberation of all oppressed people necessitate the destruction of the political -economic systems of capitalism and imperialism as well as patriarchy.”
The snapshot of Mohammed Ahmed about the myth of race shows us this illustration: we all have to be together to fight against racism. We are all the same, black, white, yellow. Let’s put our hand together to be strong.
Talking about strategy, I found the snapshot of Glory Kalu Wilson “3RD World Women we cannot live without our lives” This demonstrates that women of color want to be free to do what they want to do. They want to get their own space. In the picture it was not only blak women, but women of color. I think, to be strong all have to be together to win the battle.
