Kick Murder Squad PleasurebotI will never trust a philosophy or outlook like I do Black Feminism.
When I say Black Feminism, I mean the outlook that came out of the Combahee River Collective.m, and what as grown from that in the decades since.
The thing I love most about Black Feminism is that it challenges you. This comes as a throughline from African Diaspora culture in general. It does NOT fuck around.
Black feminism grants no quarter. It doesn’t let you have a little bit of oppression as a treat. It doesn’t say “we’ll let that one slide.”
A Black Feminist will call out anyone. They will call out their best friend. They will call out their leaders. They will take down fucking ANYONE.
You don’t have this “Oh they are good so let it slide” bullshit.
And that makes it FUUUUCKING HAAARD.
Because then you start saying shit like “what really am I saying here?” And “what effect does this language have on others?”
Honestly, this is what it was like growing up in my Black family. I felt like fucking EVERYTHING was a test.
And some of that is trauma, I know, but a lot of it is the fact that my Black family would teach me, and then give me as much room as I needed.
And if I was an ass, there was none of this “oh that was a mistake” stuff. It was “Child that was a choice you made and now you have responsibility for that choice.”
I had to OWN my shit.
I just keep thinking about how a society that’s built on that mindset would be so different.
So much of our society is built on this Northern European “assumption of goodness.” Like the whole checks and balances bullshit. That assumes everyone has these good intentions and WANT to work within the expectations.
And then when they don’t, very clearly don’t, we STILL give them the benefit of the doubt. Trump will literally burn this fucking country to the ground before we say “Nah, this cat is fucked, he got to go!”
Like we just keep trusting in the goodness of people and the system to right itself, despite all evidence to the contrary.
I keep thinking how Black Feminism could not give a single fuck about intentions and expectations and words. Like nah, you have outcomes, and that’s what matters.
And there’s no trusting the system. Obviously there’s a lot of overlap with afropessimism there, but there’s zero trust in the structures of society. Because there has never—literally never—been the illustration that those structures will be trustworthy.
Black folk ain’t gonna walk in expecting to beat the house.
So I just think a society built on a Black Feminist framework would be so different.
Black feminists would watch Trump talk about grabbing a woman crotch and shit would be OVER for that man. Nah, not even once. I’m out.
And I feel like the structures would not be built on trust and intentions. Checks and balances would not be “as long as everyone cares.”
Because it would be “wait, did you say y’all were making immigrants LESS free? Nah, you are out. Byeee.”
So many movements start from a position of we will save ourselves and might help others if it’s convenient.
First wave feminism, second wave feminism, various waves of queer rights, various white-adjacent cultural movements, even the male-dominated civil rights movement suffered from that.
It’s always “us, and others as an addition. Maybe.”
And there inevitably ends up being just a differently shaped hierarchy.
Black Feminism came right out of the gate with “Not one of us is free unless all of us are free.”
They were like we see the same thing every time and it’s always the same story. You don’t get a little oppression as a treat. Not one of us is free unless all of us are free.
And so many people are just like “well that’s just impossible.” And that response tells you everything you need to know, really.
And like, I get it. Even thinking about that is fucking hard.
Because it makes you look at yourself and realize just how much your freedom relies on the oppression of others.
But to a large extent Black folk, especially Black women, are born into that realization, because they see it happening so much in real time. It’s a consciousness that is impossible to ignore.
But it’s fucking hard, still, I get it.
Too many people don’t, though. Too many people say “we can’t free EVERYBODY.”
And those are always people who will look someone in the eyes, as they step on their face to climb.
zipkid - Breaker of Systems
Calligrafae@FinalGirl I'm especially appreciating reading this right now after coming across several local people in the past few days doing the whole 'but the immigrants are coming here to freeload off our benefits and they're a drain on our economy' bullshit and it's like, when did you stop lifting your neighbours up? When did you stop celebrating their wins? Why are you so selfishly concerned about benefits that you personally aren't even in receipt of? Why are YOU deciding who's entitled?
@welshpixie exactly this. Like there’s this entire zero-sum mentality, like there’s only enough pie to go around. And meanwhile there’s a fucki no warehouse full of pies being held back, but the owner looks like you so can’t say nothing about that.
Like don’t you see? If anyone is not free, then SOMEONE has the keys. You just want that someone to be YOU.
I’m so done.
@FinalGirl And also that they're attacking the people in receipt of these supposed limited-quantity benefits instead of attacking whoever's in charge of providing enough benefits for everyone who needs them in the first place. Turning on each other for daring to want pie when they're starving instead of looking at who's only baking one pie for the whole street.
@welshpixie It’s “Divide and Rule” all the way down, innit?
Joshua A.C. Newman@FinalGirl
This is an amazing overlap AND contrast with the Jewish perspective of “Morals are what you do, not what you believe, or what you are” on the one hand; and on the other hand, “If we keep our heads down, smile at antisemitism to assure White people we’re not THAT kind of Jew, and stay useful to power, we will be rewarded with Whiteness.”
There’s an ongoing reckoning in my family between prioritizing the first vs. prioritizing the second.