the film” paris is burning” was strong and passionate. the film provides a vision of a fierce proclamation that LBTQ lives matter, now as they did then. in the ball world they can express who they are without trying to hid themselves of their true identities that excluded them from the normal world. The performances are the most important and influential parts of the film. After the performances you can see the joy and wonder on their faces, conveying just how much it means to them to be able to perform and let their personality fly. Not only was ” paris is burning” emotional, but it also made me feel compassion to many of the individuals in the film.

the reading ” the combahee river collective statment” was a black feminist organisation that was active between 1974 and 1980. The group was created because there was sense that both the feminst movment or civil rights movement didn’t reflect the particular needs of black women. It was unfair that during the american women’s movement but didn’t gain enough credits for it. They believed that all work should be organised to benfit and equally distributed amongst the workers. It really amazes me how much the system really fails us and not much has been done about it.

I really liked the “Paris Burns” video because it shows desire, passion, love, beauty and melancholy. It shows how life teaches many things and how everything is a sacrifice, for example, older people are tired of the system because they cannot have a normal life because young people and adults can see them as weak, fragile people and even feel sorry for their age and condition. Something that surprised me a lot watching the video was that a grag queen was murdered and left her body under a bed in a hotel as if it was worth nothing, as if his wife was not going to hurt anyone, as if she had no right to to live, the most painful thing was that she also had dreams and wanted to have a family even though the life she led did not give her the opportunity to have one. I think it may be what happens in many cases when they go to intimidate the other person, they don’t know her true gender, they think they are her accomplices and they can even kill her.

In “The Combahee River Collective Declaration” it is observed how identity politics is where the person only focuses on their own oppression. It is mentioned “In the case of black women, this is a particularly disgusting, dangerous, threatening and therefore revolutionary concept because it is obvious from looking at all the political movements that have come before us that anyone is more worthy of liberation than we are.” . themselves”.

IMANE CHAABA

REFLECTION 9

In the 1990 film, “PARIS IS BURNING”, a ball is where LGBT people and drag queens feel a hundred percent themselves. It’s a place where they don’t feel judged. The ball is an entrainment environment but it is their home at the same time. Some people are there for the excitement and some are for the winning. The thing that surprised me while watching the movie is that the LGBT community and drag queens existed way before that I have thought. They have developed their communities very well. They would have military, business, models, and professors parties so they fulfill their life needs. One of the greatest things mentioned in the film by a drag queen is that rejection from the parents could lead to some seriously bad consequences and that’s the reason why all the gay kids are out in the streets looking for people to understand them. LGBT community or drag queens are very ambitious people who have big dreams and will do anything to take a step forward in order to make their life better. I loved the movie and how real and honest was. Nobody was actually acting but everyone was being his own self talking about their sex life, hormones, and surgeries which were very amazing to watch.

The reading ” The Combahee River Collective Statement” article is about a group of black females who are seeking change in politics by trying to make an end to oppression. Their beliefs and decisions were inspired and taught from their own past and personal experience. In a world where the male is dominant, it is very difficult for the black community to stand up for their rights. These women are so brave for being lesbians and have the courage to face racial politics and racism It is very that black people have always been at the bottom when it comes to America’s economy which makes it very clear how badly they were treated. This group of women believed in themselves and how valuable and capable they can be. They believed that nobody will make a change if they don’t make it themselves. Sexual politics is very connected to sex, race, and class. Black women were always getting disrespect from men. Being black and feminist is hard because it has its ups and downs. As was mentioned in the article: “They are, of course, been more threatened than black women by the possibility that black feminists organize around our needs”.

(1977) The Combahee River Collective Statement and  Paris is Burning introduced me to identity politics and interlocking opression. I never considered the separation of communities when it comes to activism and it’s impact. Identity politics is a huge factor in halted progression in America. Instead of fighting as a combined effort for freedom and liberation, people are just advocating for themselves and personal community, almost competing with one another. And interlocking oppression’s association with identity politics. Many people face opression whether it’s because of their race, gender, sexuality, or class. Interlocking oppression is when someone faces multiple or all of these aspects of opression. Identity politics involves comunities fighting for their personal shared opressions. It was intresting to learn about these concepts and how they impact our society.

Combahee River Collective was a group of black feminist lesbian organizations active in Boston from 1974 to 1980. They developed the Combahee River Collective Statement. They were an instrument in highlighting that the civil rights movement and the white feminist movement did not address their issues as black lesbians. They wanted to address the issues of the black lesbians since they felt that no other movement addressed them. The issues they promoted included Abortion, Rights Rape, and health care, Sterilization abuse. The Combahee River Collective investigates the relationship between racism, heterosexism, capitalism, and racism in their article “Combahee River Collective Statement.” Combahee River Collective, a group of black feminists, worked to firmly and clearly clarify their viewpoint on feminism politics, thus separating themselves from their male counterparts and white women. The activists focus on four important areas in the statement: the origins of modern Black feminism, the realm of politics, a brief history, and the group’s challenges and practices. The Combahee River Collective Statement challenges the definitions of feminism and antiracism presented by radical feminism and by Black liberation movements and openly critiques their approaches to achieving their goals.   Through this challenge, the Combahee River Collective condemned the suppression of Black women by bringing the matter to the forefront and making it unavoidable.

I really enjoyed watching Paris is Burning because of how informative it is. The culture that they live by definitely provides a sense of community which is very inspiring. Overall, this documentary provides support and a kind of safe space for people who relate to these beautiful drag queens, people who society constantly turns their backs on. Listening to the stories of how racism and poverty have affected their lives and how very young people will leave their homes in hopes of finding a place to feel accepted, it made me tear up. We are all people who deserve love and to be free, and so many of us are hurt every day over not being accepted. This was a very interesting and overall enjoyable watch.

The biggest takeaway from The Combahee River Collective Statement is that when Black women are free, everyone would be free, and the system would change. It is so frustrating that Black women are often not given credit for their work, whether in women’s movements or simply in general. This course has really made me realize all the ways the system has failed most of us. Shockingly, the year is 2022, and yet sometimes I feel like not enough has been done, not enough people are actually free.

The term “Identity Politics,” was freshly introduced to me. When a group of people have a particular racial background or ethnic and form exclusive political alliances, that is an identity political group.  I read a passage called THE COMBAHEE RIVER COLLECTIVE STATEMENT. I like this article because it makes a lot of sense to me, and I love the agenda the black feminist is working on. I also recognize the time that this is written in, you have to keep in mind that Jim crow laws ended in 1965. This is taking place in the 1970s.Im sure black women needed a feminist group to speak out for them. That is basically what THE COMBAHEE RIVER COLLECTIVE IS for. they are a group of black feminists.  Black feminist politics also have an obvious connection to movements for Black liberation. To me they make it clear they really want social, political, economic, justice for black women most importantly. This doesn’t mean that they don’t care about other people or feel men aren’t important. They just understand that A group of black women need to come together and represent. There are plenty of activists who aren’t racist but don’t really speak out for black women and find ways to fight injustice they go through. Black women are smart and important. I’m glad even after the 1960s The Combahee River collective and many other black female activists before them and after them exist to help make things better for other women and leave a mark.

 I thoroughly enjoyed the video, Paris is Burning, because it describes not only the LGBT community sticking together but it also fighting oppression. As mentioned one transgender woman described how she wished she was a white blonde girl since she gets whatever she wants no matter how she gets it. I also had this feeling when I was younger maybe around 10. I have always wished that I was born white because I knew that they had a greater advantage in society. Not only that but I knew that they had it easier in life than Hispanics did. Now that I’m older I see that my younger self was a“victim of a white-dominated patriarchal society. I’m glad that I’m no longer ashamed of what race I am or where I came from. 

I genuinely feel for the young kids who run away from home or are kicked out of their homes simply for their gender identity. It’s sad to think that they just abandoned their own children. To be honest, this film hit home for me because I was always afraid of being kicked out of my own home by my own mother/father because I’m attracted to men. I’m genuinely happy that a lot of parents/people have come to accept the LGBT community. 

Paris is burning encompasses passion, hope, beauty and even depression. Adults, middle aged people and old people who feel dejected from society form an alliance to create events amongst themselves to relieve themselves of loneliness and make meanings of incidence while there is little to no chances of acceptance. The film is a very touching journey of people who wish to live normal lives just like everyone else, even though our community may regard them as mentally unstable and uniformly fragile. Tragic to discover that a Drag queen who dreamed of having a family passed away. She was strangled and left under a bed in a hotel in New York City. My guess is that it was either a hate crime or a lover. A person who had dated him without knowing his original gender but finding out later. The balls and numerous events have been going many decades and have provided solace to these individuals. They created a world, a place to suit their desires and fill their frustrations. The balls and events with classy varying themes have been moved on from generations to generations. Sad to know that even underaged children leave their homes to find comfort elsewhere because their parents or family refuse to accept them for what they chose to be. 

The Combahee River Collective Statement strives to provide essential support to people who have been oppressed by the system, by the manipulated enforced policies which degrades the potential and capabilities of people especially people of color.

The articles for this week were truthfully quite frustrating due to the fact that it further solidifies my views on capitalism, gender, race and oppression. Truthfully speaking, I find it shocking that there still remains such a disparity between where we need to be and where we are, as women who are a part of the feminist movement. I do believe that the articles had a plethora of information which is extremely important from an education standpoint, as the more we know the more we can change, from a place of complete understanding. 

When it comes to how capitalism affects race and gender, I do believe we can easily pinpoint where the issues arise, (e.g in salary disparities, marketing ploys and inequities in how women of color are treated in respect to their health). There are actually studies that show that African American women face a higher risk of passing on during childbirth, than any other race. This is a fact that I not only find alarming but shocking. There is also the fact that expectations are placed on women of color, as soon as they are of childbearing age, there is an expectation that children precede marriage, as though that is the only and proper way to live. As a woman of color, I can honestly say that no one understands truly how powerful we are.