The Combahee River Collective discusses four main points: how black feminism has evolved, the group’s beliefs, obstacles to organizing Black feminists, and Black feminist issues and projects. The goal of this document was to educate the audience about the main points outlined in the beginning, which they do in great detail. The women’s movement in America caused the need to create a separate movement for Black feminists so that they could clearly articulate the struggles their community faced. The group as a whole believes that “Black women are inherently valuable…our liberation is a necessity…because of our need for bodily autonomy. There are numerous obstacles in the way of organizing Black feminist groups, such as lack of privilege, psychological tolls, negative reactions from black men, and more. The intersectionality of identities is briefly discussed at the end, but the main point of the document is liberation and equal rights for Black women. (The Combahee River Statement, 1977)
Ijeoma Oluo spoke about why it is difficult in the United States for us to have proper conversations about race, despite it being a topic that everybody should know about. She claims that “we are deliberately denied the tools we need to talk about race,” and that is important because that ignorance about the broken system allows that system to prosper. She also discusses how a lot of white people want other people to see us as the “good guys” and “not racists.” Our intentions don’t amount to anything if we make choices that will make life harder for those around us, even if we didn’t “mean to.” (Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want To Talk About Race | Talks at Google, 2018)
Audre Lorde’s excerpt discusses how we view differences in our society. She points out that we often view differences in our populations as being in opposition to one another, instead of just existing qualities. Human “difference” is more often viewed as human “deviance,” from the white norm. She speaks about how she’s experienced different facets of her identity that have caused conflict in her life, such as being a Black woman and a Black lesbian. The conflict comes from the idea that being a lesbian as “un-Black” and thus is a threat to Blacknationhood (Audre Lorde, “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference,” in Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1984), pp. 114-123).
I think there are numerous parallels between these texts, despite the gaps in time between all three of them. I think that all three authors would be in agreement that educating the oppressor about why their oppression is wrong is normally a task that falls upon the oppressed when the oppressor should be making more of an effort to bridge the gap. Oluo and the Combahee River Collective both recognize how the current political / socio-economical systems in place function because the general public is unaware of how damaging they truly are to minorities. The Combahee River Collective and Lorde both discuss how intersectionality between identities, such as race and gender or race and sexuality, create their own unique conflicts regarding Black feminism.
I think “Keep Ya Head Up” acknowledges the struggles of Black women, particularly mothers, with its lyrics. While it does not say verbatim the problems that Black women face in their community, the song talks about Black women being disrespected, tossed aside, and eventually abandoned once they have a child. He also calls out the issue of rape and other abuse. I think the song could be seen as positive or negative depending on the individual. I can see one person interpreting it literally as “you should keep your head up because things will get better eventually,” but I can also see someone finding the message of the song hypocritical since in our society the oppressors often want people to be docile and wait for change instead of fighting for it. (Tupac. “Keep Ya Head Up.” 1993)
My (late) question for the class is: Do you agree with Oluo that we are conditioned to not speak out about injustices in our political and socio-economic systems?
To answer your question: I definitely think we are conditioned to not speak out about injustices. I know that as a white-passing person, I often feel like I cannot participate in talks about race or voice my opinion when I think perhaps someone is being racist. Much less about our political systems. I also think the privileged community also incentivizes others to keep quite because it’s beneficial to them.