Understanding Black Feminism
Blog Checkpoint
As I said in the first blog, I have begun to recognize how much of my understanding of Black feminism was shaped not by being a silent observer. Growing up as a young Black person that lived in Africa and only came to America a decade ago, I believed I understood struggle. I knew what racism was; the middle schooler who always asked if i used to hunt for animals, my coworkers asking if I came here because I was a bastard etc. But when conversations turned to Black feminism, I felt defensive and often confused. My ignorance came from a quiet assumption that feminism, even Black feminism, was secondary to “real” racial issues. It wasn’t until much later did I realize that this thinking was precisely what Black feminists have been criticizing.
Reading “The Failure to Transform: Homophobia in the Black Community” by Cheryl Clarke honestly made me understand a lot more than I realized. Clarke does not separate racism from sexism or homophobia, but she exposes how tightly they are woven together. As a young Black man, I view Black liberation as a unified struggle against white supremacy. Yet she insists that a movement that refuses to confront its own sexism and homophobia cannot truly be liberatory. Her critique felt personal. I used to laugh at jokes that belittled queer people. I felt that since I never really “hated” them, it truly didn’t matter. I was also the “as long as it’s not in my face, i don’t care” guy. Clarke forced me to see that such attitudes were not harmless, and they were hindrances that stopped the progressive transformation that the Black community desperately needs.
My ignorance was also rooted in a narrow historical narrative. In school, when we discussed civil rights, the spotlight was always focused on male leaders. I’ve always noticed it, but I never really thought much of it until I read “The Problems of Negro Woman” by Claudia Jones. It was then that I understood how long Black women have always talked about their own political vision. Claudia argues that the progress of the entire race depends on the uplift of Black women. That statement challenged my belief that gender equality was an add-on to racial justice. She reveals that the neglect of Black women’s issues is not new and is actually historical.
However, the most direct confrontation of my ignorance came through the Combahee River Collective Statement. The Collective articulates the concept of interlocking oppressions operating simultaneously. Before reading their statement, I used to rank different struggles. Racism came first and everything else seemed secondary. But the Collective rejects that hierarchy. They argue that Black women experience oppression in ways that cannot be reduced to either race or gender alone. Their analysis made me reconsider my own position. If I fight racism but ignore sexism, am I truly fighting oppression or just fighting to reduce my own oppression?
At my age, ignorance on subjects like this makes me feel like a child. I told myself I simply had not been exposed to these ideas. But ignorance is also a choice. Black feminist thought has existed for generations. Clarke, Claudia, and the Combahee River Collective have spoken clearly about the need for transformation within Black political movements. My failure to listen was not because the work was unavailable but rather, I felt it better to engage in Black identity that made me the most comfortable.
There is also a level of fear embedded in this ignorance. For many young Black men, feminism feels accusatory, as we feel like it blames us for the community’s problems. Yet these citations reveal something different. They call for accountability, not alienation. None of them call for the erasure or punishment of the Black men but a change in the community.
My ignorance is luckily not fixed. It is being dismantled piece by piece through reading, reflection, and engaging in this class. To interact with Black feminism is to accept that liberation must be collective. It requires admitting that I have benefited, even in small ways, from patriarchal norms within my own community. But it also offers something liberating: a world of Black freedom that does not sacrifice Black women, queer people, or anyone else in the process. I am learning that understanding Black feminism is not a betrayal of Blackness but an essential part of it.
CITATIONS
The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977)
Problems of Negro Woman by Claudia Jones
https://kennesaw.view.usg.edu/d2l/le/content/3820831/viewContent/59390724/View
The Failure to Transform by Cheryl Clarke
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