Category: DB 5

While reading Combahee River Collective they mention a lot of issue and hardship feminist women of color face in their day to day lives. Almost all of the things they discussed is still very much relevant today. They highlight how black women are seen and treated as they are the lowest of the low. When they say “We realize that the only people who care enough about us to work
consistently for our liberation are us.” The feminist movement was a fight/movement that sought equal rights and opportunities and greater personal freedom for women. But it was not the same for all women. It wasn’t like that for women of color. I realize also that women of color wrote a lot of these statements, marched a lot of marches, protested.. but sometimes it like things have not changed much. I mean like a lot of things have changed but the negative outweighs the good, so that’s maybe why it can feel like that. In addition when they say ” attacked by our peers, particularly Black males… the reaction of black men to feminism has been notoriously negative…they realize they might not only lose valuable and hardworking allies in their struggle but that they might also be forced to change their habitually sexist ways of interacting and oppressing women. Accusations that black feminism divides the black struggle are powerful deterrents tot the growth of an autonomous black womens movement.” This statement stresses how black women had to literally fend for themselves because not only they knew their struggles, and pain but black men, who undergone the same racism as women, wasn’t on their side.

La conciencia de la Mestiza/ Towards A New Consciousness by: Gloria Anzaldua

Acceptance of multiple identities, instead of picking a side. Mestiza? Developing a tolerance to ambiguity, tolerance to contradictions. A way forward. A way to embrace all identities. Accepting everyone as what they are. She uses the concept of mestiza talking about mixed race. It is like a combination of races. Accepting each other. 

When reading the article and watching the film, theme is more of equality , oppression and safety. The article summarizes the fact that colored females go through a lot of negative aspects in life and not only that they are not granted the same opportunities. when watching the film I can say it sends the same message but its more about females coming together and protecting themselves and also fighting for their equal rights.

In the article the “Black feminism and the combahee river collective” it gave examples on what colored women faced in society it was more than not being able to vote, it was about how they were being treated. For example,”we are actively committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression”. This quote lets me know that they face a lot limitations just because they are women. The film also showed things like that, but it showed women protecting themselves( learning to fight) , it seems like black women were being targeted a lot. they came up with a way to protect themselves by learning how to fight and protesting about it and calling their movement “Women’s War”.

my thought about this writing and film is that its interesting and informative. in my mind I believed that females only faced limitations on voting and equal rights. now learning that females were harmed ,beaten, raped ,etc is shocking to me because that never crossed my mind.

I feel that some of these issues resonant today because when it comes to female being harassed and sexual assaulted , that still happens. There are allegations on a lot of men pertaining to them harassing females. when you watch the news sometimes you do hear about men beating other women but I can say when it comes to equal rights that has changed for the better today. Females in careers that they have pay the same as men or even more, such as engineering. females tend to have a bigger paycheck than men.

Leticia Rodriguez 

Dr. Munshi 

GWS 100 

March 7, 2021 

How We Get Free Published 2017 by: Haymarket Books introduced by: Keeange-Yamahatta Taylor Speaks about black women feminist fighting for liberation of racial equality and black female oppression since 1974. She speaks of black women being extremely oppressed by and having a negative relation between American political system. She points out many factors that still is a problem today. Women face sexual oppression on a day-to-day basis and cannot escape that bias mentality in majority of men. We face it at home with our spouses, and at work with our colleges. 

Black women under political rule and oppression have been a reminder of racial and black female inequality for centuries. Black feminist leader gain not attention nor respect from our own government.  Black women face the oppression of slavery but, also face oppression of being a black women period. She writes that for years black feminist faced difficult times of pain and defeat. Through it all we must understand the fight is never over. Women must have a voice gain what we want and so much deserve. 

During the color feminist movements from the late 1970s into the early 1980s many individuals like Jo Carrillo and Combahee River Collective along with organizations like the National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) strived to promote their beliefs and bring light to their projects. Carrillo wrote a poem: “And When You Leave Take Your Pictures With You: Racism in the Women’s Movement” speaking about how “white sisters radical friends” (Carrillo) like to portray colored individuals in a brighter light instead of seeing the reality of how their lives are actually pictured. Keeanga- Yamahtta Taylor on the other hand writes about how a Black feminist lesbian socialist group played a role in informing individuals on their goals while also promoting their movements, beliefs and goals. Although these two authors/poets tackle African American oppressions differently, both of them were able to provide a deeper understanding of how the 1970s played out for women of color.

Carrillo starts off her poem with this line: “Our white sisters radical friends” and continues to reuse it over and over again throughout the whole poem. I believe this is so because she wants to emphasize how white women fantasies colored women as “sisters and/or friends” as if they are not seen as beneath them. The point of the poem is to show the reality of how colored women exist from a day to day basis as well as how they are treated. If white women saw colored women “in the flesh not as a picture they own, they are not quite as sure if they like us as much. We’re not as happy as we look on their wall” (Carrillo). The point of the poem is to put in the perspective of colored women to show that the reality of their lives is not all sunshine and rainbows.

Similarly in “The Combahee River Collective Statement”, Taylor speaks on how and why feminist individuals cultivated a group that was dedicated to bringing in change towards the women’s movement. The National Black Feminist Organization discusses four major topics regarding Black feminism: “1. the genesis of contemporary Black feminism 2. what we believe, the specific province of our politics 3. the problems in organizing Black feminists, including a brief history of our collective 4. Black feminist issues and practice” (Taylor). By doing this, the group provides knowledge about their organization and the underlying problem within society that they are aiming to fix and fight for.

These two individual women touch on the topics and issues of racism and inequality of colored women in different ways. Although both took a unique approach, Carrillo and Taylor were able to address the bitterness that Black feminist felt during the ate 1970s into the early 1980s.