The psychological toll of being a Black woman and the difficulties this presents in reaching political consciousness and doing political work can never be underestimated. There is a very low value placed upon Black women’s psyches in this society, which is both racist and sexist. […] If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.
Excerpt from “The Combahee River Collective Statement,” as fully published in How We Get Free: Black Feminism and The Combahee River Collective, edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Haymarket Books, Chicago/Illinois, USA, 2017. Her book received the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction.
The year 2017 marked the fortieth anniversary of the Combahee River Collective Statement, which introduced to the world terms such as “interlocking oppression” and “identity politics.” The Combahee River Collective (CRC) was a radical Black feminist organization formed in 1974, growing out of the antiracist and women’s liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It was named after Harriet Tubman’s 1853 raid on the Combahee River in South Carolina that freed 750 enslaved people.
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes on Black politics, social movements, and racial inequality in the United States. Her book From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation won the 2016 Lannan Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book. Her articles have been published in Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, Jacobin, New Politics, The Guardian, In These Times, Black Agenda Report, Ms., International Socialist Review, and other publications. Taylor is Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University.
Three Worlds One Vision 
Should be a great read. Writers like these are so needed in today’s society.
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So glad you dropped by, Pallavi 🙂 Taylor’s book provides valuable insight for those who seek to understand the struggles against inequality and injustice that black feminist activists continue to face here in the US.
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Thank you very much for your advice and I think we all should fight for the destruction of the oppression systems throughout the world!
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Martina 🙂
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Profound statement
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I agree, Derrick. After reading the CRC declaration, I was especially struck by this statement. It said to me that the black woman, whatever her gender identity, finds herself at the base of the human pyramid. In her book, Taylor explores the oppression, persisting to the present, that maintains the black woman as the most wretched among our species and how they can set themselves free.
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Thank you for sharing!!.. unfortunately there are closed minded elements in the world’s societies and it is not just the black women who are not free to be who they are, what they wish to be and realize their dreams… hopefully with technology and the new generation, there will be change… 🙂
Until we meet again, Happy Valentines Day!!…
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So very true, Dutch! As active members of the LGBTQ community, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and the founding members of CRC are well aware of this reality.
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Not to mention how one believes, if you have long hair, if you are not into religion or believe in the wrong religion, if you vote for the wrong person, if you dare to protest, etc. etc… the list is long…. 🙂
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So true, Dutch! We humans can be quite irrational.
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Thank you, Rosaliene. We are forever challenged to understand the lived-experience of another person. That experience comes to us from a different time, place, economic circumstance; and family, personal, national, racial, work, and educational history. The greater the psychological distance from our own past and present lives, the more likely we will fail the test of comprehension.
Thus we stand in judgment of something we cannot possibly know. As a result, we project an idealized version of ourselves on the other and imagine what he or she would have or should have thought, felt, and done. Too often there is little hesitation in so doing.
Instead, a more humble, generous, and hopeful position would be to say, “I have no idea what that would have been like for you. Please teach me.”
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Dr. Stein, thanks very much for sharing your thoughts on this issue. Through your former practice, you know well the cost of trauma in our lives. Even my own son has yet to understand and acknowledge my fears as a woman in navigating spaces dominated by men. Like lots of other men of our time, he dismisses them as paranoia.
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Tubman’s raid in 1853 freed 750 slaves — absolutely amazing. She was an astonishing person.
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I agree, Neil. Her example of courage in action should serve as an example of what we women, together with our male counterparts, can achieve in our struggle against racial and gender inequality of our time.
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That’s a deep and profound piece. There’s a lot to be done to make equality a reality and sustain it too
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It is, indeed, Winteroseca. Their statement continues to haunt me for it goes far beyond race and gender equality.
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That was an important message, thanks.🌺
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Thanks, Laleh 🙂
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❤️
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I’ve been fortunate to meet and get to know so many amazing Black women during my years of wandering. And their achievements have been accomplished against all odds. I do hope we’re heading toward a more equitable future for all. That too will be against all odds, but it’s up to each of us to do our part to make it a reality. Thanks as always for your activisim Rosaliene.
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Thanks for sharing, Henry 🙂 It’s also my hope for a more equitable future for all. I see no other way forward for our survival as a species.
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If Black women were free, we would have to pay them full value for all their unpaid and underpaid labor and surely capitalism would collapse. (Yay!)
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Dr. Bramhall, add to that all the unpaid work of women worldwide and capital would, indeed, collapse.
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Interesting read….good post
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Thanks for dropping by and for following my blog 🙂
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Sure, Anytime!
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Succinct.statement.there at the end. But not all black women, nor indeed all people, are “equal.” Therein lies the dilemma.
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Exactly! Thanks for dropping by 🙂
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“If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free….” Profound indeed. Do you think we’ve made any progress, however slow? What’s the next step?
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JoAnna, I’ll let Barbara Ransby, who gets the last words in Taylor’s book, answer your questions. A historian, writer, and longtime activist, Barbara Ransby is a Distinguished Professor of African American studies, gender and women’s studies, and history at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Here’s what she said in her closing remarks:
If we take to heart the spirit and politics of the Combahee River Collective Statement, what we go away with is this: (1) never be afraid to speak truth to power, and (2) in the face of racist, misogynist threats of violence and attacks, when you have the impulse to either fight or flight, what do you do? Fight! And, (3) always ally yourself with those on the bottom, on the margins, and at the periphery of the centers of power. And in doing so, you will land yourself at the very center of some of the most important struggles of our society and our history…. The final thought I will share is this…never hesitate to love your people, and the people who struggle alongside you, but also never be afraid to critique and struggle with those you love.
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Thank you, Rosaliene. Barbara Ransby’s words are packed with wisdom and food for thought. Allying with those on the bottom, on the margins, and at the periphery of the centers of power is familiar to me. Speaking truth to power is something I have done and will do again. Love is both necessary and crucial. To fight, critique and struggle are more challenging these days. Yet, I will remember this nudge to courage as I continue to let these words sink in.
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A remarkable and pithy “statement”. I enjoy how you mine the fields of ideas and share them freely.
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Thank you, Rusty. Taylor’s book is one of many books that have come to my attention in my exploration of the woman’s place in the world for my third book in progress.
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Thanks for the information and for sharing.
All the best
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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And thanks for dropping by, Klausbernd 🙂
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I truly want to be free. Unfortunately, the older I get the more I realize how little freedom exists in the world. Least of all for Black Women. Recently, I’ve made a concerted effort to practice freeing myself from expected reactions. Meaning, social constructs lock us into behaviors and agreements we don’t want to be a part of. People hit at you and expect you to hit back in the same way. I’m learning to control my immediate reaction, response and impulse. I may or may not respond at all. However, if I do respond, it’s on my time, in my chosen manner with only what is important to me to convey. And then I step away to preserve my peace. #growth
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LaShawnda, thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts. Freeing oneself from the expectations of others can be a lifelong struggle. Blessings ❤
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Black women have been only limited by the limitation they set for themselves based on their confidence level. CJ Madame Walker was a black woman who surpassed all odds. Oprah Winfrey is another black woman who too has surpassed all odds. The fight is the Black woman against all odds, rather, it’s the fights that Black women have among their inner-groups on whose Black should be the controlling factor for all other Blacks, especially Black women. Like-minded, see color yet be color-blind. Black is a society – a woman is a human being, not defined by her color, but her beauty both on the outside and inside.
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Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts.
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