enhanced_deficit
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Our patriarchal society doesn’t always tell the stories of Black women
Our patriarchal society doesn’t always tell the stories of Black women
To be Black and a woman means you are always at intersections, exposed to varying levels of discrimination, racism, sexism and prejudice
An aerial view from a drone of a large-scale ground mural depicting Breonna Taylor with the text “Black Lives Matter” that was painted at Chambers Park over July Fourth weekend in Annapolis, Maryland. Patrick Smith/Getty Images By Andrene M. Taylor
July 22, 2020
Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, Natasha McKenna, Michelle Cusseaux, Tanisha Anderson and countless other women and girls have been killed by police or died in their custody. Their gender and race leave them exposed to police violence. Yet, unlike Black men, the stories of Black women and girls being hunted, objectified, harmed and sometimes killed by police remain seemingly sidelined in the call to upend policing as we know it.
Much of this has to do with the way our society treats women, and in particular, Black women. Thirty years ago, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality to describe the way race, class, gender and other markers of identity intersect, interact and overlap with one another. In other words, our identities are simultaneous and dynamic rather than discrete and static.
Intersectionality brings to the fore the reality that to be Black and a woman in the U.S. means that you are always at the intersections, exposed to varying levels of discrimination, racism, sexism and prejudice, often all at once. So, as we take on this next iteration of Black liberation, it is necessary that we centralize the particular ways Black women, whether cisgender, trans, able-bodied or not, middle-class or poor, educated or not, are impacted by the oppressive forces of police violence.
If the ethos of the current movement to address systemic racism does not focus on Black women, it will fall short of upending the oppressive economic, political, social and cultural systems we intend to escape.
Race, gender and class are at the center of the way we understand the structural, political and iconography of resistance. We live in a patriarchal society, which means men’s, including Black men’s, experiences and stories are privileged. It is by design we know about police killings of George Floyd, Philando Castile, Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice, but know very little about the deaths of Alberta Spruill, Shantel Davis, Shelly Frey, Kayla Moore, Kyam Livingston, Miriam Carey and Eleanor Bumpurs, who all were killed by police or died in their custody.
This is something we have seen throughout history. Nearly 6,500 Black people were lynched between 1865 and 1950. While that figure includes women and children, we don’t commonly think of women as victims of lynching.
Related
Entire House Of Reps Gives Standing Ovation To Cops After Killing Unarmed Mother
Miriam Carey's sister points out 'double standard' after latest White House security incident
FOX 5 DC
February 26, 2018
Critics were quick to point out the leniency shown to Jessica Ford (left) compared to Miriam Carey, who was shot dead by police. (Images courtesy Metro Nashville Police Dept/ CNN)
Lawyer representing family of Miriam Carey arrested
Our patriarchal society doesn’t always tell the stories of Black women
To be Black and a woman means you are always at intersections, exposed to varying levels of discrimination, racism, sexism and prejudice
An aerial view from a drone of a large-scale ground mural depicting Breonna Taylor with the text “Black Lives Matter” that was painted at Chambers Park over July Fourth weekend in Annapolis, Maryland. Patrick Smith/Getty Images By Andrene M. Taylor
July 22, 2020
Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, Natasha McKenna, Michelle Cusseaux, Tanisha Anderson and countless other women and girls have been killed by police or died in their custody. Their gender and race leave them exposed to police violence. Yet, unlike Black men, the stories of Black women and girls being hunted, objectified, harmed and sometimes killed by police remain seemingly sidelined in the call to upend policing as we know it.
Much of this has to do with the way our society treats women, and in particular, Black women. Thirty years ago, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality to describe the way race, class, gender and other markers of identity intersect, interact and overlap with one another. In other words, our identities are simultaneous and dynamic rather than discrete and static.
Intersectionality brings to the fore the reality that to be Black and a woman in the U.S. means that you are always at the intersections, exposed to varying levels of discrimination, racism, sexism and prejudice, often all at once. So, as we take on this next iteration of Black liberation, it is necessary that we centralize the particular ways Black women, whether cisgender, trans, able-bodied or not, middle-class or poor, educated or not, are impacted by the oppressive forces of police violence.
If the ethos of the current movement to address systemic racism does not focus on Black women, it will fall short of upending the oppressive economic, political, social and cultural systems we intend to escape.
Race, gender and class are at the center of the way we understand the structural, political and iconography of resistance. We live in a patriarchal society, which means men’s, including Black men’s, experiences and stories are privileged. It is by design we know about police killings of George Floyd, Philando Castile, Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice, but know very little about the deaths of Alberta Spruill, Shantel Davis, Shelly Frey, Kayla Moore, Kyam Livingston, Miriam Carey and Eleanor Bumpurs, who all were killed by police or died in their custody.
This is something we have seen throughout history. Nearly 6,500 Black people were lynched between 1865 and 1950. While that figure includes women and children, we don’t commonly think of women as victims of lynching.
Related
Entire House Of Reps Gives Standing Ovation To Cops After Killing Unarmed Mother
Miriam Carey's sister points out 'double standard' after latest White House security incident
FOX 5 DC
February 26, 2018
Critics were quick to point out the leniency shown to Jessica Ford (left) compared to Miriam Carey, who was shot dead by police. (Images courtesy Metro Nashville Police Dept/ CNN)
Lawyer representing family of Miriam Carey arrested
