Be All of Yourself
A couple weeks back, I attended a talk at Columbia University entitled "Combahee River Collective Mixtape: Black Feminist Sonic Dissent Then and Now" featuring speakers Daphne Brooks (look her up!!), Kara Keeling, ad Jacqueline Stewart. The talk centered on discussing the history of the Collective, using music interspersed within the conversation, and what they're looking to attack in the days ahead, especially with the atrocities being committed by and surrounding this current administration.
The reasoning behind why the Collective began was due to disagreements within the National Black Feminist Association. The Collective wanted to be come more political in their organizing as opposed to focusing on consciousness-raising. They felt very specifically, and still do feel I might add, that the liberation of Black women is a necessity. This liberation mind you, is not in conjunction with, or relation to, anyone else or their freedom. Meaning families, children, husbands, partners, friends, Black men, the diaspora on the whole, none. The specific, intentional, and explicit freedom of Black women. One quote related to this was, "We are the only people who care enough about us to fight for us." It is unfortunate how accurate that is, not just for Black LGBT community activists but for the entire Civil Rights Movement which is still going on today. All the same, if Black women don't stand up and fight for the rights of Black women, who will?
One particularly poignant comment I vividly remember was a quote from a member of the Collective who said when she was at a meeting, it was the "first time [she] could be all of who [she] was at the same time." She was finally in a safe space in which she could be the intersectional woman she was: black, a female, lesbian, radical, and an activist, without feeling the need to cage herself off to fit into just feminism without blackness or vice versa or caring about LGBT rights but again having to ignore her blackness even though it's an integral part of her character. Say this to yourself aloud, "I AM." That's it. Just those two little words. But those two little words are an affirmation. They affirm to you that you are a singular being, autonomous and exquisite in your intricacy. You are amazing and deserve to be told so. Don't compartmentalize yourself to be more palatable for those around you. If they can't take all of your in your messy, crazy, glory ,they don't deserve you. Find someone who can. And even if there's no one, the point is, it's not for them anyway. There is a very low value placed on Black women’s psyches in this society. They are just as fragile (hinting at the fallacy within the Black Superwomen complex) as anyone elses. Has no one ever though that just a little crazy may sometimes be healthy? If you are comfortable with you and you're healthy and thriving, that's what matters most. Going through a time of personal discovery (even if it's never-ending as I've found my personal one to be), can be incredibly enlightening. Try things out, see how you like new and different experiences. You never know what could turn up.
PS. There were visuals and great music playing throughout this talk and it only made it that much more incredible.
The reasoning behind why the Collective began was due to disagreements within the National Black Feminist Association. The Collective wanted to be come more political in their organizing as opposed to focusing on consciousness-raising. They felt very specifically, and still do feel I might add, that the liberation of Black women is a necessity. This liberation mind you, is not in conjunction with, or relation to, anyone else or their freedom. Meaning families, children, husbands, partners, friends, Black men, the diaspora on the whole, none. The specific, intentional, and explicit freedom of Black women. One quote related to this was, "We are the only people who care enough about us to fight for us." It is unfortunate how accurate that is, not just for Black LGBT community activists but for the entire Civil Rights Movement which is still going on today. All the same, if Black women don't stand up and fight for the rights of Black women, who will?
One particularly poignant comment I vividly remember was a quote from a member of the Collective who said when she was at a meeting, it was the "first time [she] could be all of who [she] was at the same time." She was finally in a safe space in which she could be the intersectional woman she was: black, a female, lesbian, radical, and an activist, without feeling the need to cage herself off to fit into just feminism without blackness or vice versa or caring about LGBT rights but again having to ignore her blackness even though it's an integral part of her character. Say this to yourself aloud, "I AM." That's it. Just those two little words. But those two little words are an affirmation. They affirm to you that you are a singular being, autonomous and exquisite in your intricacy. You are amazing and deserve to be told so. Don't compartmentalize yourself to be more palatable for those around you. If they can't take all of your in your messy, crazy, glory ,they don't deserve you. Find someone who can. And even if there's no one, the point is, it's not for them anyway. There is a very low value placed on Black women’s psyches in this society. They are just as fragile (hinting at the fallacy within the Black Superwomen complex) as anyone elses. Has no one ever though that just a little crazy may sometimes be healthy? If you are comfortable with you and you're healthy and thriving, that's what matters most. Going through a time of personal discovery (even if it's never-ending as I've found my personal one to be), can be incredibly enlightening. Try things out, see how you like new and different experiences. You never know what could turn up.
PS. There were visuals and great music playing throughout this talk and it only made it that much more incredible.
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