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.