October 19, 2018 – The Worlds of Ntozake Shange and Digital Storytelling

Response to Multiracial Feminism: Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave Feminism

by Perry O'Parsons on October 19, 2018 1 Comment

Thompson’s article clarified for me, a feeling I have had since I started this class. My understanding of the feminist movements before taking this class has been very skewed. Until taking this course, I never thought to question the narrative which either excludes/ignores the issue of race from the feminist movements or presents non-white feminisms as a reaction to white or “mainstream” feminism.

Overall, Thompson clearly articulates this widespread misunderstanding. Additionally, by citing specific vocabulary, history, authors and groups, Thompson offers a much fuller view of the important role of women of color in the history of second-wave feminism. She also outlines the pitfalls of hegemonic feminist thinking and quotes women of color on their opinions of the exclusion of women of color in feminist movements.

However, I find parts of her article are still somehow lacking. The title of the article, Multiracial Feminism: Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave Feminism suggests that she is writing specifically about the omission of women of color in the narrative of the feminist movements. In her article, however, she has a tendency to continuously pair women of color with working-class women, militant white women, and anti-racist feminists.

Plainly, I think this approach to the subject subtly continues the marginalization of the feminisms of women of color. Lots of parts of the article speak to the singularity and importance of multiracial feminism, but her pivots back to white contribution seem to undermine it.

Certainly it is important to discuss how white women can, and have been successful allies to women of color, but I felt the amount of space devoted to this topic in the article was unnecessary. I thought the article was meant to specifically discuss the exclusion of women of color, from the historical narrative of Second-Wave Feminism and their contributions and importance in that movement. I felt that the extensive discussion of white, anti-racist feminists was out of place in the article and didn’t directly serve the point.

The “Angry Black Women”

Uncategorized

by Aissata Ba on October 19, 2018 2 Comments

I find it interesting and not at all surprising that no matter where we, as women of color, go, we have to re-identify and prove ourselves. We have to convince others why we belong and deserve to be where we are. We contribute so much to history but nothing is ever credited to us. I think this is one of the many things that make black feminism or any feminism different from that of white feminism. Up to my knowledge and I recognize that that knowledge is limited, white women do not have to go through the phase of needing to accepted or the desire and requirement to create a discourse space. By discourse space, I am referring to a space that welcomes all kinds of discourse. This is a necessary component and, most of the times, an obstacle for black women because their stories and contributions are always ignored or not given the credit at which it deserves. They are not allowed to be angry at the system that keeps them oppressed, they are not allowed to be intelligent as that would make them intimidating, they are not allowed to talk about race because “why does everything have to be about race” etc. This Becky Thompson mentions when talking about the ignored stores and contributions of women like Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, and Marilyn Buck. The stories we don’t learn about because “black women do not contribute much in intellectual communities.”

I found Thompson’s conversation about the small group of white women who were “determined to understand how white privilege had historically blocked cross-race alliances among women, and what they, as white women, needed to do to work closely with women of color.” An important aspect of fighting against any type of oppression is first realizing that it exists. Then comes recognizing who benefits and who surfers from this oppression. When the group that benefits from this oppression, even if it’s just a small population of them, realizes their privilege then and only then can there be hopes of eliminating that oppression.