We know that there is such a thing as racial-sexual oppression which is neither solely racial nor solely sexual, e.g., the history of rape of Black women by white men as a weapon of political repression. Flashcards. We realize that the liberation of all oppressed peoples necessitates the destruction of the political-economic systems of capitalism and imperialism as well as patriarchy. [3]. The Combahee River Ferry, also called the Combahee River Raid, was a military operation that took place over the River Combahee, South Carolina, in 1863. My mother died at fifty-two, fifteen years after she filed for bankruptcy; the chronic exhaustion she felt from work was masking the symptoms of an untreated and ultimately deadly case of lupus. During our years together as a Black feminist collective we have experienced success and defeat, joy and pain, victory and failure. Theoretically rich and strategically nimble, it imagined a course of politics that could take Black women from the margins of society to the center of a revolution. While my father believed that a revolution was within the grasp of those who fought hard enough to make it happen, my mother, who had studied English, French, and Spanish in college, was finishing her doctorate and raising me and my brother. We can obviously create a politics that is absolutely aligned with our own experiences as Black womenin other words, with our identities. Match. Mao Zedong: Reader, Librarian, Revolutionary? Key concepts addressed in assigned readings. We discovered that all of us, because we were smart had also been considered ugly, i.e., smart-ugly. Smart-ugly crystallized the way in which most of us had been forced to develop our intellects at great cost to our social lives. As black feminists, members struggle together with black men to fight racism, but against black men to fight sexism. One issue that is of major concern to us and that we have begun to publicly address is racism in the white womens movement. 5, No. How do we mobilize all of this energy and actually bring about fundamental political, social, and economic change?. Alexander Gnassi . We had been reading about divisions within the feminist . She and my father met in high school, dated through college, and eventually landed in graduate school, at SUNY Buffalo, in the early nineteen-seventies. The overwhelming feeling that we had is that after years and years we had finally found each other. We dont have to do white feminism, we dont have to do patriarchal Black nationalismwe dont have to do those things. Wells Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell, and thousands upon thousands unknownwho have had a shared awareness of how their sexual identity combined with their racial identity to make their whole life situation and the focus of their political struggles unique. As Black women we see Black feminism as the logical political movement to combat the manifold and simultaneous oppressions that all women of color face. In the reality of organizing, these tensions manifested themselves in white womens desire to focus their organizing on abortion rights, while Black feminists argued for the broader framework of reproductive justice, which included the struggle against forced sterilizations of Black and brown women. Combahee River Collective (1974-1980) - BlackPast.org Above all else, Our politics initially sprang from the shared belief that Black women are inherently valuable, that our liberation is a necessity not as an adjunct to somebody elses may because of our need as human persons for autonomy. I was still annoyed by her absence and neglect when I was younger. We have tried to think about the reasons for our difficulties, particularly since the white womens movement continues to be strong and to grow in many directions. Instinctively, many of us turn to history as a way to grasp some frame of reference. Enter the Combahee River Collective. It was years before I pulled those different strands of my mothers life together. If lynchings, police brutality, and rat-infested housing were the best that American democracy could offer Black Americans, then how bad could communism or socialism really be? The fact that racial politics and indeed racism are pervasive factors in our lives did not allow us, and still does not allow most Black women, to look more deeply into our own experiences and, from that sharing and growing consciousness, to build a politics that will change our lives and inevitably end our oppression. All of this stood in stark contradiction to what, as a young person, I had understood feminism to be. Black feminist politics also have an obvious connection to movements for Black liberation, particularly those of the 1960s and I970s. Black womens extremely negative relationship to the American political system (a system of white male rule) has always been determined by our membership in two oppressed racial and sexual castes. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like interlocking, manifold, inroads and more. Merely naming the pejorative stereotypes attributed to Black women (e.g. 350-354, Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Meridians, Vol. [2]. The psychological toll of being a Black woman and the difficulties this presents in reaching political consciousness and doing political work can never be underestimated. The Combahee River Collective Statement: Annotated They realize that they might not only lose valuable and hardworking allies in their struggles but that they might also be forced to change their habitually sexist ways of interacting with and oppressing Black women. When we first started meeting early in 1974 after the NBFO first eastern regional conference, we did not have a strategy for organizing, or even a focus. If the 1960s was America's decade of mass mobilisation, the 1970s perhaps saw the greatest explosion of groups clambering for their rights to simply exist. If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression. 384-401. How One Mothers Love for Her Gay Son Started a Revolution. 3 (2017), pp. There is a very low value placed upon Black womens psyches in this society, which is both racist and sexist. It was one of, if not the first, documents to coin and define identity politics, and its descriptions of interlocking systems of oppression are integral to Kimberl Crenshaws concept of intersectionality. If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression. Many of us were active in those movements (Civil Rights, Black nationalism, the Black Panthers), and all of our lives Were greatly affected and changed by their ideologies, their goals, and the tactics used to achieve their goals. No one had the right to strip socialism and its rootedness in collectivity, democracy, and human fulfillment from Black women, or the Black radical tradition. Rr_||2=?|,f]a]IWrYWs~qH(OSn4b$ yV_IU{L]HJ>l#)r<1-a/ %}:f4&-4qIQ >zx /w\p @0P' In a political moment when futile arguments claimed to pit race against class, and identity politics against mass movements, the C.R.C. Many of us were active in those movements (Civil Rights, Black nationalism, the Black Panthers), and all of our lives Were greatly affected and changed by their ideologies, their goals, and the tactics used to achieve their goals. from those groups was the explanatory power of their statement, which was first collected in Zillah Eisensteins anthology Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism, in 1978. Do you find this information helpful? At the beginning of 1976, when some of the women who had not wanted to do political work and who also had voiced disagreements stopped attending of their own accord, we again looked for a focus. The authors argued that race, sex, and class had to be considered together in the lives of black women, and that no one would fight for them except themselves. The quest to transform this country cannot be limited to challenging its brutal police alone. Our politics evolve from a healthy love for ourselves, our sisters and our community which allows us to continue our struggle and work. This may seem so obvious as to sound simplistic, but it is apparent that no other ostensibly progressive movement has ever consIdered our specific oppression as a priority or worked seriously for the ending of that oppression. However, we had no way of conceptualizing what was so apparent to us, what we knew was really happening. 4, No. In the fall, when some members returned, we experienced several months of comparative inactivity and internal disagreements which were first conceptualized as a Lesbian-straight split but which were also the result of class and political differences. Our situation as Black people necessitates that we have solidarity around the fact of race, which white women of course do not need to have with white men, unless it is their negative solidarity as racial oppressors. The collective joined together to develop the Combahee River Collective Statement, which was a . 3, Gendering the Carceral State: African American Women, History, and the Criminal Justice System (Summer 2015), pp. Teaching with Reveal Digitals American Prison Newspapers Collection, Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism, As Angela Davis points out in Reflections on the Black Womans Role in the Community of Slaves,. The Combahee River Collective was a Black feminist lesbian organization active in Boston from 1974 to 1980. But Black women who tried to utilize public welfare so that they could spend more time caring for their children were demonized as freeloaders, even as white women who chose to work at home were celebrated for prioritizing their families over personal ambition. 6, No. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. 1, No. The final, definitive version was published in Zillah Eisenstein, ed., Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism (Monthly Review Press, 1979), 362-72. The women of the C.R.C. Although our economic position is still at the very bottom of the American capitalistic economy, a handful of us have been able to gain certain tools as a result of tokenism in education and employment which potentially enable us to more effectively fight our oppression. We discovered that all of us, because we were smart had also been considered ugly, i.e., smart-ugly. Smart-ugly crystallized the way in which most of us had been forced to develop our intellects at great cost to our social lives. If black women were free, everyone . During the summer those of us who were still meeting had determined the need to do political work and to move beyond consciousness-raising and serving exclusively as an emotional support group. (There was no refuge in Boston at that time.) The work to be done and the countless issues that this work represents merely reflect the pervasiveness of our oppression. ITHAKA. We also often find it difficult to separate race from class from sex oppression because in our lives they are most often experienced simultaneously. Identity politics has become so untethered from its original usage that it has lost much of its original explanatory power. The Combahee River Collective Statement appeared as a movement document in April 1977. Equality of men and women is something that cannot happen even in the abstract world. hbbd``b`U@P: 1D8 @k2~$2012b`Mg . endstream endobj startxref 0 %%EOF 248 0 obj <>stream The statement is an important piece of feminist theory and description of black feminism (Balliet, pg. The Combahee River Collective Statement conceptualized the notion of intersectionalitythe idea that marginalization and oppression are experienced simultaneously in different, interlocking ways as a result of how systems of domination interact with people's identities. The synthesis of these oppressions creates the conditions of our lives. 43, No. Gender was also an incomplete answer. But they were not only reacting to the deficits they found in organizations led by white women and Black men. Although we are in essential agreement with Marxs theory as it applied to the very specific economic relationships he analyzed, we know that his analysis must be extended further in order for us to understand our specific economic situation as Black women. At an event in late April, 1979, Barbara Smith, with megaphone, protests nine murders of women of color that took place in the first months of the year. He is the leader of the house/nation because his knowledge of the world is broader, his awareness is greater, his understanding is fuller and his application of this information is wiser After all, it is only reasonable that the man be the head of the house because he is able to defend and protect the development of his home Women cannot do the same things as menthey are made by nature to function differently. 3/4, SOLIDARITY (FALL/WINTER 2014), pp. 22, No. For the first Read MoreCombahee River Collective (1974-1980) As we grew older we became aware of the threat of physical and sexual abuse by men. Above all else, Our politics initially sprang from the shared belief that Black women are inherently valuable, that our liberation is a necessity not as an adjunct to somebody elses may because of our need as human persons for autonomy. Before looking at the recent development of Black feminism we would like to affirm that we find our origins in the historical reality of Afro-American womens continuous life-and-death struggle for survival and liberation. In 1973, Black feminists, primarily located in New York, felt the necessity of forming a separate Black feminist group. After all, werent we all women? There is also undeniably a personal genesis for Black Feminism, that is, the political realization that comes from the seemingly personal experiences of individual Black womens lives. The C.R.C. 2-3, Hypatia, Vol. I havent the faintest notion what possible revolutionary role white heterosexual men could fulfill, since they are the very embodiment of reactionary-vested-interest-power. We do not have racial, sexual, heterosexual, or class privilege to rely upon, nor do we have even the minimal access to resources and power that groups who possess anyone of these types of privilege have. believed that another world was possible, one in which Black women, and thus all of humanity, were freed from systems of oppression and exploitation, as the result of a collective struggle that reached down to the roots of the problems we face. Malcolm X made it plain: The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.. As Black feminists we are made constantly and painfully aware of how little effort white women have made to understand and combat their racism, which requires among other things that they have a more than superficial comprehension of race, color, and Black history and culture. 1. Eliminating racism in the white womens movement is by definition work for white women to do, but we will continue to speak to and demand accountability on this issue. Black feminists and many more Black women who do not define themselves as feminists have all experienced sexual oppression as a constant factor in our day-to-day existence. We reject pedestals, queenhood, and walking ten paces behind. were not the first to break with white feminist and Black-nationalist organizations. Learn. In the sixties and seventies, fighting for the rights of queer people was considered radical activism. It celebrated the possibilities of a political coalition born out of solidarity among groups who recognized the need to be engaged in struggle. The Combahee River Collective Statement is believed to be the first text where the term identity politics is used. They could not help her relax, work less, or be more present. Our development must also be tied to the contemporary economic and political position of Black people. During our time together we have identified and worked on many issues of particular relevance to Black women. In this way, the C.R.C. In our consciousness-raising sessions, for example, we have in many ways gone beyond white womens revelations because we are dealing with the implications of race and class as well as sex. In A Black Feminists Search for Sisterhood, Michele Wallace arrives at this conclusion: [2] Wallace, Michele. As children we realized that we were different from boys and that we were treated differently. Black feminists and many more Black women who do not define themselves as feminists have all experienced sexual oppression as a constant factor in our day-to-day existence. We must also question whether Lesbian separatism is an adequate and progressive political analysis and strategy, even for those who practice it, since it so completely denies any but the sexual sources of womens oppression, negating the facts of class and race. Have a correction or comment about this article? Although we were not doing political work as a group, individuals continued their involvement in Lesbian politics, sterilization abuse and abortion rights work, Third World Womens International Womens Day activities, and support activity for the trials of Dr. Kenneth Edelin, Joan Little, and Inz Garca. Even our Black womens style of talking/testifying in Black language about what we have experienced has a resonance that is both cultural and political. In the practice of our politics we do not believe that the end always justifies the means. HTKo0>!0`PzN6WK$i:$%>>%O/Kp}XfAi8;84q0~23:\B. In the statement, the authors described the concept of identity politics in the following way: We believe that the most profound and potentially most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody elses oppression. Our politics evolve from a healthy love for ourselves, our sisters and our community which allows us to continue our struggle and work. A combined anti-racist and anti-sexist position drew us together initially, and as we developed politically we addressed ourselves to heterosexism and economic oppression under capItalism. We feel that it is absolutely essential to demonstrate the reality of our politics to other Black women and believe that we can do this through writing and distributing our work. It made sense of her senseless death, just shy of the twenty-first century. Wallace is pessimistic but realistic in her assessment of Black feminists position, particularly in her allusion to the nearly classic isolation most of us face. Equally dismayed by the direction of the feminist movement, which they believed to be dominated by middle-class white women, and the suffocating masculinity in Black-nationalist organizations, they set out to formulate their own politics and strategies in response to their distinct experiences as Black women.