Scholarly Research

Revolutionary Black Women's Activism: Experience and

Transformation

by Helen A. Neville and Jennifer F. Hamer

APPROXIMATELY THREE MONTHS AGO, a t w e n -ty-seven-year-old woman in Durham, North Carolina reported that she had been raped hy student-athletes. The woman was a single mother of two and a student at North Carolina Central College. But she was also an "exotic" dancer. This incident received national attention, not hecause the woman was raped, hut hecause the accuser was hlack and the alleged perpetrators were white ath- letes at Duke University. Since news of the allegations hit the media, America has been obsessed with the case, as it reveals historic and contemporary cleavages in race, class, gender and their intersections. Claims of inter-racial rape open wounds from slavery and the decades that followed in which black women's bodies were subjected to assault, objectification, and exploitation by white men. This case in particular also serves as springboard for larger conversations about contemporary racism, and the wealth and racial disparities between predominantly white universities and surrounding working- class and mostly black communities.

Negative controlling images of black women's sexuality have loomed large in the public discourse of the Duke rape allegation case. Initial press reports over-emphasized the accuser's part-time job as an "exotic" dancer. This conjured up images of the Jezebel. These images have subsequently reinforced arguments that blame the victim for the crime, as illustrated hy the tenor of many public comments—"she was a stripper, what did she expect was going to happen?" or "she knew what she was getting into when

she walked into that house." After learning of the rape allegations, radio talk show host. Rush Limbaugh, noted, "Some ho's were raped." We are certain that Limbaugh was not alone in these sentiments. Although Limbaugh did not question the claim of rape, he reduced the accuser to an object by referring to her and another woman dancer as "ho's" and thus not worthy of further con- sideration. Many women rape survivors are subject to blame for their victimization. Nev- ertheless, the legacy of black women's posi- tionality in the US exacerbates these public and private perceptions, and consequently the outcomes of cases and the healing process.

THE DUKE RAPE ALLEGATIONS are significantbecause they highlight issues that black women continue to face in the United States. The case also introduces one of the many sites of struggle that black women activists have organized around for decades. The prevalence of and silence around the sexual violence against black girls and women have been one impetus for the formation of radi- cal black women's and feminist organiza- tions such as the Combahee River Collec- tive*. The purpose of this special issue of The Black Scholar is to build on our earlier theo- rization of revolutionary black feminism, highlighting the role of praxis in challenging and disrupting race-gender relations in an era of globalization.' In this special issue, we contextualize black women's activism by briefly identifying the current conditions in which black women continue to fight and

Page 2 THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 36, NO. 1

struggle for an end to all forms of oppres- sion and exploitation. We are interested in not only providing a snapshot of the condi- tions which shape the lived experiences of black people, particularly women in the Unit- ed States (and abroad), but also in spotlight- ing the many ways in which black women have worked collectively to transform themselves and society.

To accomplish this we collected seven life narratives of black women activists working to end multiple forms of oppression. We present these stories in order to inform, inspire, and learn about the ways in which everyday activists become politicized; develop a critical consciousness grounded in the black experi- ence, as well as gender, class and other social identities; and commit themselves to collective action. Radical black women's stories have often been assigned to a historical footnote or omitted altogether. To help address this gap, we solicited the narratives of a broad range of black women activists—women whose con- sciousness and activism are consistent with rev- olutionary black feminist principles, but who may not label themselves revolutionary or fem- inist; women whose struggle for liberation span foci and local, regional, national, and international levels; and, women with long his- tories of political consciousness and activism, as well as those who are relatively new to col- lective work. The stories and histories of women at the beginning of their activist careers and those who do their work primarily at the local level are just as significant as those who are longtime revolutionaries with interna- tional reputations. Injustice is pervasive and exists across institutions and geographical space. Thus, each of these women's activist contribution is significant in the struggle for black liberation.

OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, works highlight-ing black women's praxis in the modern Civil Rights and Black Liberation movements have received some recognition. Kimberly Springer's Living for the Revolution: Black Femi- nist Organizations, 1968-1980 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2005) used oral interviews, historical documents, secondary sources, and the interdisciplinary theoretical literature to chart the development, growth, and decline of

five explicitly black feminist organizations that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Springer tackled theoretical questions related to the interplay between organizational struc- ture and identity in building a movement, and documented the successes and failures of these collective efforts. Focusing on black women's activism more broadly, Bettye Collier- Thomas and V.P. Franklin compiled historical and interpretive essays, as well as personal nar- ratives, in their edited volume. Sisters in the Struggle (New York: NYU Press, 2001). This col- lection highlighted gender politics in Civil Rights organizations, and the leadership and activities of renowned figures such as Septima P. Clark, Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Gloria Richardson. In one of the few books including the perspectives of poor and work- ing-class black women activists, Rhonda Williams, in The Politics of Public Housing (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), contex- tualizes the mobilization efforts of black women public housing residents to transform their social conditions.

This special issue of The Black Scholar builds on these works and others by uncovering the personal narratives of c o n t e m p o r a r y activists—^women who are currently engaged in collective sites of social, political, cultural and economic struggles. Drawing on the rec- ommendations of Sheila Radford-Hill in her work. Further to Fly: Black Women and the Politics of Empowerment (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000), we have organized the issue around the present social realities of black Americans, women's perceptions of these realities and their efforts to change the conditions affecting their lives. The autobio- graphical narrative method provides women who have limited professional writing experi- ence to unapologetically document their lives in a voice that is authentic to their realities. We begin by documenting selected sites of strug- gle followed by a discussion of the life narra- tives of the black women activists.

Social Conditions: Sites of Struggle

RACE AND GENDER RELATIONS under capital. accumulation in the new era of global- ization have structured the lived experiences of people locally, nationally, and globally.

THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 36, NO. 1 Page 3

Black women (feminists) have fought for lib- eration from Lhe constraints of oppression, and have worked toward a more humanist vision of social relations for centuries. Below we identify five current conditions that speak to the need for struggle, and around which the women activists included in this special issue are organizing.

Economics and Labor

WORKING-CLASS and poverty wages havehistorically been a mainstay of black economic existence in the US. Racial wealth disparities, continued labor market discrimi- nation, declining wages, and a necessary reliance on payrolls for wealth accumulation have meant that even middle-class blacks increasingly live fragile and precarious lives.̂ Relative to other groups, black households experienced the lowest median income in 2004 ($30,134) compared to $48,977, $34,241 and $57,518 for whites, Hispanics, and Asians, respectively.'' The income gap is complicated by the intersections among race, gender, and family constellation. According to the 2000 census, black women householders who lived alone had among the lowest average earnings, 69 percent and 53 percent of what their black male and white male counterparts earned, respec- tively.* For decades, the unemployment rate of black Americans has consistently been twice that of whites, irrespective of education level. The current period is not an excep- tion. Joblessness for blacks is twice that of the national rate and approximately one- quarter of blacks were without work in the past year.* Although the national poverty rate sits at thirteen percent, nearly one out of every four black Americans is poor.''

Twenty-five percent of black women in the US live below poverty, over twice the rate of white women (9 percent). The rate of pover- ty increases when black women parent alone. Thirty-five percent of single-parenting black mothers are poor, compared to 19 percent of white single-parenting mothers. In the twen- ty-first century, men continue to earn higher salaries than women in all of the major employment sectors.^ In the United States, 30 percent of black children are poor and

poverty rates vary by region. A staggering 41 percent of black children in rural areas are officially poor compared to 29 percent of their metropolitan brothers and sisters. Regardless of geographic area, almost one- third of African-American households expe- rienced food insecurity in 2003, compared to 11 percent of whites.*

Such trends are not isolated to the United States. Similar to their African-American sis- ters, black women and their children in vary- ing regions of the diaspora—their global sis- ters—disproportionately feel the pain of poverty. In Sub-Saharan Africa, one in two, or 315 million people, live on less than one dollar a day, and one in six children die before they reach their fifth birthday. Around the world, 66 percent of the world's nearly 900 million illiterates are women.®

Housing

LITY HOUSING, too, is of grave con- ^ ^ cern. The homeownership gap

between whites and African-Americans was 27 percent in 2002-47 percent of African- Americans owned homes compared to nearly 75 percent of non-Hispanic whites.'" Because of joblessness, underemployment rates, low wages, and limited resources available to black Americans nearly half of all public housing residents are black." Access to affordable and safe housing historically has been a problem for black Americans. Although Tide VIII of the Civil Rights Act (Fair Housing Act of 1968 and its amend- ment in 1988) ended de jure housing dis- crimination based on race, ethnicity, sex, religion, class, family structure, or ability level, there continues to be discrimination in the selling, rental, and financing of housing. Findings from the longitudinal Housing Dis- crimination Study sponsored by the Depart- ment of Housing and Urban Development underscore the persistence and pervasive- ness of racial injustice in this area. Consis- tently, blacks are more likely to be denied the opportunity to inspect a housing unit before making a decision to rent and are more likely to be encouraged to buy or rent in non-white racially segregated neighbor- hoods.'^

Page 4 THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 36, NO. 1

Prison

JOBLESSNESS AND LOW-INCOMES a l s o h a v econsequences for life outcomes. "Despite falling crime rates since 1991, the rate of incarceration has increased by more than 50% since that time" and prisons are essen- tially islands of color. Poverty, discriminatory policing practices, and institutional inequities in the justice system push African- American men, women, and youth into jails and prisons." Stringent state drug laws, repeat felony offender laws, and mandatory sentencing practices directly contribute to the increase and continued over-representa- tion of blacks in prison. This at time when there has been an actual decline in crime rates. Although black men are only about 12 percent of the male population in the Unit- ed States, four out of every ten male prison- ers are black. In addition, black women themselves are also grossly over-represented in the penal system. Approximately one-third of women prisoners in the United States are black. Black women also disproportionately suffer from the hyper-criminalization of black males. In their role as caretakers, black women are fighting for the lives of their hus- bands, fathers, uncles, sons, and other male kin. They are the ones left to raise children, make jailhouse visits, coordinate legal fees and trials, and challenge unfair judicial prac- tices. Moreover, the majority of women in state prisons are parents of minor children and, relative to white children, African- American children are nearly nine times as likely to have a parent in prison.'"*

Health

OVERALL, quality-of-life issues remain anintractable challenge for blacks in the United States. The percentage of the nation's population covered by employer- based health insurance is declining. Current- ly, about one in five black Americans is with- out health care coverage.'" The lack of access to, or poor quality of, available health care, coupled with racism both in society and in the health field, contributes to racial dispari- ties in physical health. These disparities are so glaring that even the United States gov-

ernment has prioritized this as an issue of public concern. Under President William Clinton, the Department of Human Services, Office of Minority Health (OMH) identified six major areas of health disparity in the US, including: infant mortality, cancer screening and management, heart disease, diabetes, HIV infection/AIDS, and immunizations. According to data reported by the OMH, black infant mortality is over twice that for whites. Black men are up to three times more likely to contract prostate cancer com- pared to white men. According to the Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention, black Americans only make up about 12 per- cent of the population in the United States, yet nearly one out of two people with AIDS in this country is black. Although men are more likely to contract the disease, the gross over-representation of AIDS is consistent across males and females. Researchers have built convincing arguments for structural violence as a root cause for the racial dispari- ty for a number of health concerns, especial- ly in the areas of HIV and AIDS.'"

In some cases, racial minorities have a lower or similar incidence of a disease com- pared to their white c o u n t e r p a r t s , but because of poor health care coverage or racialized practices in the medical field, the progression of the disease is different. For example, breast cancer hits women across racial and ethnic .lines in the United States at the same rates. Yet black women are more likely to die from the disease compared to their white counterparts."^ Studies have also indicated that physicians' decision making can be subconsciously influenced by racial and gender biases. Cancer studies have con- sistently documented these disparities. Two recent studies found that black patients seek- ing cancer-related treatments receive less aggressive and potentially life saving treat- ments than whites.'*

Women's reproductive rights and health are at the core of many of the health dispari- ties, yet the public discourse does not place these issues at the center of the debate. Lor- raine Cole, president of the Black Women's Health Imperative*, has argued that black women's reproductive rights are particularly vulnerable at this moment. She, along with 1.5

THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 36, NO. 1 Page 5

million others, participated in the multiracial coalition-sponsored National March for Women in 2004. The march was organized to demonstrate support for and educate/agitate around women's right to make decisions about their bodies and to have access to affordable and comprehensive reproductive health care. Some of the health disparities noted above are due, in part, to the lack of access to quality early prenatal care, family planning, contraception, and AIDS/HIV pre- vention outreach programs to black women.

Violence Against Women

THE SENSATIONALIZING of the Duke rapeallegations discussed at the beginning of the essay detracts from the significant problem of rape in all communities. Unfortunately, rape and sexual violence are an all too often occurrence that may involve individuals from all levels of society and any occupation. Research suggests that anywhere between 14 to 25 percent of women in the United States will be sexually assaulted at some time in their lives; recent official statistics from the US Department of Justice indicated that over 300,000 women are raped each year. More often than not women are attacked by some- one they know such as an acquaintance, a co- worker, or an intimate partner, rather than by a stranger, as in the Duke case. Four out of ten rapes is committed by a former or current inti- mate partner.

Sexual assault is not the only type of vio- lence women encounter from intimate part- ners (whether male or female). At alarming rates, women are physically and verbally abused, stalked, and face threat of economic or financial hardships in their romantic rela- tionships. Well over five million women each year experience some form of intimate part- ner violence, often times resulting in injuries and in extreme cases death (typically over 1,200 women are killed by their partners each year). Although most women survive physical, emotional, sexual, and financial victimization, these experiences take their toll on their lives. Women may lose significant days of paid work because of injuries sustained or legal battles; they may also experience physical (e.g., bro- ken bones, gynecological disorders, sexually

transmitted disease), psychological (post trau- matic stress disorder, depression, lowered self- esteem), and social (e.g., isolation) costs.''̂

Black Women's Activism: Seven Workers for Justice

BLACK WOMEN have a long history of con-fronting the injustices presented above and working collectively to transform society. Women's activism has served to counter the oppression and exploitation of everyday black folk in the United States and to resist race-gen- dered (and often class-based) forms of oppres- sion. More often than not, women worked within traditional black freedom movements. Harriet Tubman, for example, was part of the abolitionist movement, Ida B. Wells-Barnett was active in the anti-lynching movement, and Angela Davis worked in the Black Power move- ment. Some women also worked within white dominated women's movement organizations, such as Sojourner Truth, who actively partici- pated in the suffrage movement. The seven women activists represented in this issue have participated in traditional black, feminist, and/or black and feminist organizations and movements: Loretta Ross (National Coordina- tor of SisterSong African American Women Reproductive Health Collective), Linda Burn- ham (co-founder and Executive Director of the Women of Color Resource Center), Jaribu Hill (Executive Director of the Mississippi Work- ers' Center for Human Rights), Jamala Rogers (community activist and founding member of the Organization for Black Struggle), Karen Garrison (sentencing reform activist with Fami- lies Against Mandatory Minimums), Imani Bazzell (community educator. Urban League staffer, and founder and director of SisterNet), and Aishah Shahidah Simmons (award-winning African-American feminist lesbian indepen- dent documentary filmmaker).

Women's Life Stories and Struggles for Liberation: Common Themes

WE ASKED THE CONTRIBUTORS tO w r i t e abrief life narrative sharing their per- sonal journey as activists. In these essays, the seven women share, honestly and as directly as possible, what they believe has been most

Page 6 THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 36, NO. 1

central in their respective journeys as activists. Although we did not want to guide their life stories, we asked each contributor to think and write about specific events, experiences, and people that shaped or infiuenced them. We also asked that authors provide a title to their life story that would capture their experiences. Six of the women contributed original essays and one (Linda Burnham) asked that we include instead an edited version of an interview she completed as part of the Sophia Smith Collection, Voic- es of Feminism project.^" Some women in this volume have authored articles and books, while for others, writing the life nar- rative was one of their first forays into profes- sional writing. As revolutionary black femi- nists, we believe it is essential to provide women the opportunity to develop and share an analysis of their political development and work.

The life narratives or mini-autobiogra- phies, it turned out, share an unsolicited thread. It appears that among these activists there are common processes related to their respective developments of political con- sciousness. Realities of black life and these commonalities served as the basis of their life trajectories toward becoming revolution- ary black women activists. We identified two interrelated developments based on our close reading of the narratives: 1) common processes related to becoming an activist and 2) the challenges women face in their indi- vidual and collective political work.

Becoming an Activist: Conunon Processes

EACH OE THE WOMEN identified both exter-nal and internal processes that were instrumental in their personal and political journeys. Most research on social activism highlights the role of the larger political cli- mate and key political events in shaping peo- ple's political awakening. These life narra- tives are no exception. For Jamala Rogers, and many in her generation, one of the key incidents that began to awaken her political consciousness was the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Rogers writes:

Nothing prepared me or the nation tor the assas-

sination of Dr. Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968, not even my participation in the junior NAACR Two aspects of the Kansas City rebellions affected me deeply. One was that a twelve-year- old boy and his father were among the causali- ties. While schools and most business were closed my mother still had to go to work at the hospital. She ordered us not to leave the house. This was one order that I could NOT comply with. I ven- tured down to 31st and Indiana. The drugstore where I worked at the soda fountain was burned to the ground. The sting of teargas hung in the air, letting me know I wouldn't be hanging around too long. The next image I saw would stay with me for years to come: an army tank rumbling down the street. It was so surreal, I couldn't even get scared. That day I got Ameri- ca's message loud and clear: It was ready and will- ing to kill-even children-to maintain order and power. The rebellion of 1968 was one of several defming moments in my life. It took my under- standing of black struggle to a new level.

Bazzell discusses the importance of grow- ing up in the 1960s and 1970s at a time when, according to her, "There was a high level of racial and cultural consciousness in my home, neighborhoods and communi- ties." The Black Panther Party*, in particular, played a pivotal role in shaping her political awareness. "To me," she reports, "the Pan- thers were serious about helping people in very direct ways with the understanding that you must do right by folks and be a part of their everyday lives, as opposed to just giving speeches about how people ought to be. I appreciate getting this message at an early age." For both Rogers and Bazzell the racial movements at the time served as the initial awakening of their political socialization.

MOST WOMEN ACTIVISTS discuss the roleof their life circumstances in shaping their political consciousness and subsequent actions. Growing up black and poor or work- ing-class informed a number of women's experiences, as Ross succinctly describes: "My initial commitment to fighting white and male supremacy did not arise from polit- ical beliefs or from a politically active family, but the experiences I had as the sixth child in a poor, black Texas family of eight chil- dren. . ." Although Ross's political develop- ment was grounded in the deprived social conditions of her childhood, other contribu- tors grew up in politically active families.

THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 36, NO. 1 Page 7

Burnham describes her family's political views:

They had a strong race consciousness from the beginning, and part of that may have been their own upbringing. My grandmother on my dad's side was a Garveyite and had a stock in the Black Star Line . . . And in the streets of Hariem in par- ticular there was a strong tradition of the street corner orators and kind of a vibrant political scene in Harlem. And they both became active in the Young Communist League which, you know, between having some sense of international poli- tics just because of their own backgrounds, a strong sense of race politics, that then I think got sort of grotinded in the internationalist, pro- socialist, pro-national liberation politics of the communists and socialists of the day.

Not all of the contributors became politi- cized early in adolescence or young adult- hood, however. Garrison's political con- sciousness developed later in life. She begins her essay with a cogent discussion of the life circumstances that pulled her into political work and the process of defining herself as an activist:

. . . "Struggle" is a word that I began to use only recently when, in 1998, my children were vicious- ly swept into an unjust justice system. I would like to believe that I have always been an activist. But, honestly, when I first heard the term being applied to me I had to call and ask someone if there had been a mistake. I then looked up the term in the dictionary and I proudly realized that it was me. I am an "activist" who struggles against the US's unjust criminalization and incarceration of US citizens.

WHETHER THE PROCESS of political aware-ness was formed early in life through family socialization, or later in life, spurred by social realities and personal experience, most women identifiecl strong women role models who were influential in shaping their political beliefs. According to Rogers:

I marveled at mother's perseverance and courage while growing up and I didn't even have the full scope of the challenges and suffering. There are many examples that stand out as examples of mother's character, of her resistance to oppres- sion. I want to share a few of those because many of her attributes began my own.

Some of the role models who served as sources of inspiration were historic figures as well. Bazzell best captures the concept of what psychologist Kumea Shorter-Gooden refers to as "leaning on the shoulders" of

foremothers.^' Bazzell provides the following reflection:

Many nameless women inspire me in my daily life as I reflect on their lives, their work, their circum- stances, and what they have done with them. . . someone who seems to come back to me as most formative is Harriet Tubman. She is a real bea- con for me; a real model because I think she set a bar that is important. When I think I am tired, when I think I might be doing something, all I have to do is think about people like her and I know "I ain't done nothin'." I have not made any kind of commitment or any kind of strides rela- tive to the depth of commitment and work of people like her, so she keeps me in check.

In addition to the social and economic context of women's lives, personal experiences with oppression fueled consciousness and motivated women to resist actively racial-gen- der oppression. Ross reveals the role of early abuse in her activist journey:

Through incest committed by my cousin, I became pregnant when I was fourteen and had my only child, a son. Again, I did not know how widespread incest was in the African-American community at the time. I just knew that it had happened to me. At age fifteen, we had to fight for my right to stay in high school because it was common in the 1960s to force pregnant girls out of school. This became my first lesson in taking on a powerful institution and winning. Despite these traumatic events, I was a reasonably good student with wonderfully supportive parents. I received a scholarship to Howard University in 1970 when I was sixteen to study chemistry and physics, intending to become a doctor. There I was gang-raped at a party my freshman year and had an abortion. In my junior year, I was steril- ized by a malfunctioning birth control device (an IUD) from Howard University's health services.

Ross became aware of her political voice and her right to challenge oppressive conditions, whether it was sexual violence or incompe- tent health care, even as an adolescent and young adult.

DEVELOPING A POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESSand becoming active is a process that takes patience, a desire to learn through par- ticipation and from others, the belief that every contribution is a significant one, and considerable time. Some of these women have been journeying through this process for decades, discovering the meaning of black womanhood, feminism, race and racism, sex and sexism, heterosexism, and

Page 8 THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 36, NO. 1

radicalism. Some developed their revolution- ary ideas and practices as part of formal organizations that offered political educa- tion. Others came to the process in less for- mal ways, including responding to forms of injustice in their immediate environment.

ANUMBER OF WOMEN discussed early experi-ences with political activity, such as assuming a leadership role or participating in some form of activism in high school as an important aspect of this process. Early efforts were typically met with some initial success, as with Ross's battle to stay in school; these expe- riences instilled in the women a sense of effi- cacy that they could make a difference. Women's initial exposure to political issues or struggles planted the seed for later activism. For Hill, the process spanned several years. Her introduction to racial politics began in college, but it was not until later that she felt prepared to act on these exposures:

On the day my self-discovery began, they strode across the student union floor wearing black arm bands. I grabbed one of the guys I knew. "What's with the arm bands?" He looked at me for a moment and said, "Today is Malcolm's birthday." I then said, "Who is Malcolm?" He did not laugh at me. He did not belittle me. He simply told me about Malcolm and why we should remember him by loving our people. I felt like an idiot. I felt empty and shallow. I felt as though I was living a life without purpose. Did that prompt me to begin to study and learn the history of our peo- ple's struggle? Not yet.

Hill's narrative provides insights about the importance of political education. Individu- als initially may not fully understand, appre- ciate, or be able to act on the information they receive. However, repeated exposure to similar analytic interpretations may provide the foundation for later exploration.

The process of developing one's ideologi- cal stance also involves political education, but of a slightly different sort. The concept of study and struggle was important to the majority of the contributors as they devel- oped the analytic skills necessary to articu- late clear strategies and tactics to challenge adverse social conditions. A number of the women's political education was nurtured in organizations such as the Third World

Women's Alliance* and the League for Revo- lutionary Struggle*, but the process for oth- ers reflects an individual journey. Observing the power of knowledge in her struggle to free her sons. Garrison describes how she structured her life to conduct necessary research: "For nearly three years I slept on the floor between the computer in the din- ing room and the TV in the living room. I needed to get the knowledge to help my sons." Some women identified very specific influential readings. Simmons was "literally transformed in my bedroom while reading Sister Outsider. . . Her [Audre Lorde's] writ- ten words taught me that I had a responsibil- ity to not only be out, but to be engaged in the international struggle of the oppressed as an out black lesbian."

It's Not that Easy: Challenges to Activism

IN THESE NARRATIVES, activists share thevarying challenges they face in their efforts to do it all—to be workers for justice, paid workers in the labor market, mothers, partners, daughters, sisters, and friends. In addition to noting personal challenges, the contributors outline structural challenges to completing political work, especially during a time of retrenchment such as in the cur- rent political climate.

Some of the contributors tell about find- ing one's voice by confronting personal fears. These fears often had their roots in the general manner in which girls and women in this society have been socialized to doubt their skills and competence. Rogers notes that in the 1970s:

I was encouraged by the two of them [comrades] to take on more responsibility for leading the political work . . . I was not totally confidant yet of my abilities to engage in the ideological strug- gles of the day but I did understand how to artic- ulate the conditions of people and organize them into action.

Garrison comments on how unprepared she felt to do political work:

My background and training had absolutely no connection with what I n e e d e d to do . . . the biggest challenge for me was trying to u n d e r - stand what I had to read and to speak well when asked to speak. I would get so nervous because I had to contain the frustration.

THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 36, NO. 1 Page 9

This pair of quotes highlights that, although contributors have a wide range of political development, there are similarities among the women's experiences. Both Rogers and Garrison faced challenges but were not deterred as they grappled with finding the voice to articulate ideological positions. This struggle was similar for Rogers, whose politi- cal development began as a youth in Kansas City, Missouri and Garrison, who became politically active later in life as a mother of two adult incarcerated children.

WOMEN ARE SOCIALIZED to be the Caretak-ers of families, to conduct reproduc- tive labor, and to contribute economically to the survival of their families. In the narra- tives, women discuss the strain on personal relationships: sometimes marriages and part- nerships ended or intimate relationships were never initiated. Activists who are also mothers mention the difficulty in trying to "do it all" and a couple of contributors talked about the challenges of managing family, work, and activism as reasons for lim- iting the size of their families.

In addition to these personal struggles to find balance and to become effective leaders and activists, a number of organizational and external factors impeded the women's activism. A few of the women identify vio- lence, danger, and repression as significant concerns. Hill recalls an incident in which "police tear-gassed one of our protests" when she was freshman class president.

These women also struggled at various times in their lives to find, build, grow, and create an organizational fit for themselves and others. Rogers' narrative captures this process over a twenty-five year period:

. . . part of the Black Artists Group (BAG)* and the Kawambe-Omowale Drum and Dance Ensem- ble*. We decided to form the St. Louis chapter of the Congress of African Peoples (CAP)*. We acknowledged that there were no organizations devoted to the plight of the black working class. We founded the Organization for Black Struggle (OBS)* whose fundamental philosophy was to oppose all forms of oppressions and exploitation. In the late 90s, irreconcilable differences within the League for Revolutionary Struggle* led to its painful demise. Not only were longtime friend-

ships destroyed, the death of one of the largest Marxist-Leninist groups in the country left a con- siderable political void that has never been filled. My final act of leadership was helping to salvage a piece of our history and legacy by creating anoth- er organization. Socialist Organizing network (SON)*. After a few years and the loss of several disillusioned comrades, SON merged with Free- dom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO)*. FRSO continues to be my ideological home at a time when the overall Left has seen better days.

Rogers' narrative is not atypical. Other women note the formation and demise of organizations and the ways these organiza- tions changed over time to address the shift- ing positions of members a n d / o r social conditions.

MONEY may not make the world goaround, but it is essential to political organizing, whether nationally or at the grass- roots level. A number of the activists mention the difficulty in securing funds to support their work, as expressed in following quotes:

The number one major obstacles that I experi- enced with making NO! [documentary] was in the form of economic resistance from both insti- tutional and individual sources. What was both challenging and sobering was when I realized that a feature length documentary on the rape and sexual assault of black women and girls was not viewed as a funding priority by many institu- tions and individuals. And this painful reality crossed racial lines.

(Simmons)

I felt like, with the Resource Center, it was kind of like, OK, well, we'll see if you survive ten years or so on nothing. Then we'll believe that you actually are out there trying to do something, and then maybe we'll give you some money. So there were many years in those early years when . . . the organizational budget was $25,000-out of which came my salary, the rent, and anything else that happened in the Resource Center.

(Burnham)

In addition to trying to secure funds, women also discuss the difficulty at times in finding emotional and political support. Hill comments: "I learned the lesson we travelers in the cause of freedom and justice often have to learn, sometimes it is a lonely fight. I also learned that no matter what, you have to stand anyway."

Page 10 THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 36, NO. 1

Conclusion

THIS DIVERSE GROUP of contributors repre-sents varying age cohorts, (identity) poli- tics and approaches to praxis. Some of these women came to this project from a long fam- ily tradition of activism and have been involved in the struggle for decades. Others are newer to collective political work. Some of the women are recognized for their national or regional organizing efforts. Still others are known only at a more local level. These activists use diverse tactics and strate- gies, and focus on different but overlapping sites of resistance. Regardless of their differ- ences, these revolutionary black women activists have committed themselves to the liberation of black people—a struggle in which the destiny of all women and all humanity are intimately connected.

Endnotes

L Helen A. Neville and Jennifer Hamer, "eWe Make Free- dom'; An Exploration of Revolutionary Black Femi- nism,"youraa/ of Black Studies, 31, 2001, 437-46 and Jen- nifer Hamer and Helen A. Neville, "Revolutionary Black Feminism: Toward a Theory of Unity and Liber- ation," The Black Scholar, 28(3/4), 22-29.

2. Phillip Moss and Ghris Tilly, Stones Employers Tell: Race, Skill and Hiring in America, Russell Sage Publications, 2003

3. US Gensus Bureau 2006 4. US Gensus Bureau, 'The Black population: 2000," 2001,

http://www.censtis.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01- 5.pdf (accessed October 3, 2002).

5. US Gensus Bureau 2006. 6. US Gensus Bureau 2006. 7. US Genstis Bureau 2005. 8. US Department of Agriculture 2004. Also see, Jesse

McKinnon, April 2003. 'The Black Population in the US: Gurrent Population Reports," March 2002, P20- 541, US Gensus Bureau.

9. Pan African Health Organization United Nations Devel- opment Programme 2005.

10. Economic Benefits of Increasing Minority Homeown- ership: HUD Economic Report 2002-10-15.

11. National Organization of African Americans in Housing Naus, Volume 2/2 February 2005.

12. US Department of Housing and Urban Development, "Discrimination in Metropolitan Housing Markets: National Results from Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 8 of the Housing Discrimination Study (HDS)," www.huduse.org/publication/hsgfin/hds.html (accessedjulyl4, 2005).

13. Randall Kennedy, "Racial Trends in the Administra- tion of Griminal Justice," in NeilJ. Smelser, William J. Wilson and Faith Mitchell (eds.) America Becoming, Vol-

ume II, National Academic Press 2001; Dorothy E. Roberts. 1999. "Foreward: Race, Vagueness, and the Social Meaning of Order-Maintenance Policing," Jour- nal of Criminal Law & Criminolog), 89/3:775-836.

14. The Sentencing Project, 2006, www.sentencingpro- ject.org; Legal Services for Prisoners with Ghildren, "Prisoners with Ghildren: Facts and Figures at a Glance," 1540 Market Street, Suite 490, San Francisco, GA 94102, www.prisonerswithchildren.org.

15. See John Holahan and Arunabh Ghosh. The Econom- ic Downturn and Ghanges in Health Insurance Gover- age, 2000-2003, Washington: Kaiser Gommission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, September 2004.

16. See two excellent reviews for a discussion of structural and ecological issues related to the racial disparities in the spread of HIV and AIDS in the United States: San- dra D. Lane, and others, "Structural Violence and Racial Disparity in HIV Transmission,"/ourna/ of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 15 (2004): 319-335, and V. Mays and others, "HIV Prevention Research: Are We Meeting the Needs of African American Men Who Have Sex with Men}" Journal of Black Psychology, 30 (2005): 78-105.

17. American Gancer Society, "Breast Gancer Facts and Figures 2003-2004," http://www.cancer.org/down- loads/STT/GAFF2003BrFPWSecured.pdf#search='am erican%20cancer%20society%20breast%20can- cer%20statistics%20by%20race' (accessed September 15, 2005). American Cancer Society, "Race and Ethnic- ity Affect Breast Gancer Outcome," February 2003, http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS _l_lx_Race_And_Ethnicity_Affect_Breast_Gancer_Oti tcome.asp (accessed September 15, 2005).

18. P. B. Bach and others, "Racial Differences in Treat- ment of Early-Stage Lung Gancer," Nexu England Jour- nal of Medicine Ml (1999): 1198-1205. Steven Zeliadt and others, "Racial Disparity in Primary and Adjuvant Treatment for Nonmetastatic Prostate Gancer: SEER- Medicare trends 1991 to 1999," Urology 64 (2004): 1171-1176.

19. Patricia Tiaden and Nancy Thoennes, "Extent, Nature, and Gonsequences of the National Violence Against Women Survey," 2006, "http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdf- filesl/nij/210346.pdF' http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdf- filesl/nij/210346.pdf (accessed May 10, 2006) and Genters for Disease Gontrol and Prevention "Intimate Partner Fact Sheet," "http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/fact- sheets/ipvfacts.htm" http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/fact- sheets/ipvfacts.htm (accessed May 10, 2006).

20. We obtained the full interview with Linda Burnham from the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith GoUege, which was conducted by Loretta Ross; what appears in this issue is a significantly edited version. The collec- tion also includes interviews with Barbara Smith, Betty Powell, Geraldine Miller, Loretta Ross, Frances Beal, Byllye Avery, and LaDoris Payne.

21. Kumea Shorter-Gooden, "Multiple Resistance Strate- gies: How African American Women Cope with Racism and Sexism," yourna/ of Black Psychology 30 (2004): 406425.

THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 36, NO. 1 Page 11