Celebrating My Powerful Black Feminist/Womanist Lineage on Mother’s Day
May 23, 2012
The Unbroken Cycle of Radical Black Feminist/Womanist Women In My Family
by Aishah Shahidah Simmons
This article was originally published on May 13, 2012 on The Feminist Wire.
I often celebrate and lift up the names of two women–Audre Lorde and Toni Cade Bambara –who are not related to me by blood but whose metaphorical and literal presence had a profound impact on my life. These two women, one of whom I never met and one who became very, very instrumental in my life, transformed me: Audre Lorde, the self-defined Black feminist, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet; and Toni Cade Bambara, the Black feminist, cultural worker, screenwriter, author, who was my teacher, my mentor, and my Big SistaFriend for five years up until her untimely physical transition in 1995. I believe that we are still in dialogue in the Spirit world. Both of these women, their existence, and their work created a path for me to use the moving image and the written word to bring about radical progressive social change in this country and beyond.
This Mother’s Day, however, I want to pay homage to some of the women whose blood is flowing through my veins and upon whose shoulders I stand. I come from a long line of Black women who didn’t use the words “feminist” or “womanist” to describe themselves. However, these women—Lucy Goldsby, Hattie Goldsby Temple, Rhoda Bell Temple-Robinson-Hudson-Douglas, Alice Bostic Simmons, Mattie Garrett Cranford, Maggie Pagen White, Mattie Simmons Brown, Jessie Neal Hudson, Corinne Simmons Trumpler, Lula Simmons Thompson, Corinne White, Rebecca White Simmons Chapman, Juanita Cranford Robinson Watson, Ollie B. Smith, Elizabeth White Patterson, and Helen White (to name a few)—these fierce women were organizers and leaders in their churches, unions, and community organizations. They were survivors of U.S. institutional racism, sexism, and classism, which prevented them from receiving the full formal education they each strongly desired and deserved. And yet, in spite of this egregious reality in their lives, my maternal and paternal (great-great-great) grandmothers and aunts not only persevered in spite of the odds stacked against them because of their race and their gender, some of them made herstory in their communities. To paraphrase Dr. Maya Angelou, “they still rose” through their never-ending fight and struggle against racism, sexism, and classism throughout their lives. These race women carried themselves with non-negotiable dignity and they demanded respect, most especially from the White supremacist establishment.
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, Ph.D., my mother, was the first self-defined feminist that I ever knew. I firmly believe that my (great-great-great) grandmothers and aunts were Black feminists/womanists, even though they would never have used those terms to describe themselves. I feel extremely fortunate that I grew up in two households (my mother’s and my father’s) where the words “Black” and “feminist” were never viewed as contradictory. This understanding is a very important gift that I inherited from both my mother and my father at a young age. It shaped how I view the world today.
For many years, my mother and I have had our “mother/daughter” challenges. We consistently work, struggle, and love through dialogue and in the profundity of silence to fully understand who we each are and respect the places from which we each stand on our journeys called life.
I’m very clear that I am literally standing upon ground that she broke in the 1960s when she was on the frontlines fighting for racial justice in Amer-i-KKK-a. In 1964, a couple of months shy of her twentieth birthday, my mother became the Director of a Council Of Federated Organizations[1] project in Laurel, Mississippi. To the best of my mother’s knowledge, she was one of only two women project directors during this Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964. She remained Project Director for eighteen months. In response to a violent intra-racial sexual assault attempt, while fighting against some of the most vicious forms of racism with her Black male comrades, she instituted one of the first (if not the only) sexual harassment policies in 1964, on the Laurel Project.
In my feature length film NO! The Rape Documentary, which unveils the reality of rape, other forms of sexual assault, and healing in African-American communities, she says:
“…I made it a point on the Laurel Project to say ‘NO sexual abuse of any kind would be tolerated. And any infringement of that would be grounds for being expelled from the project.’ To my knowledge it was the first project and possibly the only one, certainly during the Mississippi Summer of 1964 that any project had such a rule. Everyone had to go through an orientation that included a segment on sexual abuse and what it was and that when a woman said she didn’t want to go out or certainly didn’t want to have sex that no one better ever try to force her to do that. As a result of that I became known as an Amazon…”
She eloquently writes about her transformative experiences coming of age as an activist in From Little Memphis Girl to Mississippi Amazon, which is the opening chapter of the award-winning anthology, Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC.
My mom is the womanifestation of the continuum of the powerful women who preceded and raised her. I celebrate her and all their Black feminist/womanist activism which has most definitely informed and inspired my Black feminist lesbian activism.
[1] Council of Federated Organizations was made up of four organizations working to achieve racial equality in the United States. The organizations were SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), CORE (Congress on Racial Equality), and NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).
Black Women, Sexual Assault, and the Art of Resistance
April 27, 2012
Aishah Shahidah Simmons and NO! The Rape Documentary featured in FORBESWOMAN article, by Brooke Axtell, on Black Women and Sexual Assault
On April 25, 2012, FORBESWOMAN published Brooke Axtell’s “Black Women, Sexual Assault, and the Art of Resistance” article. Axtell is the creator of SHE: Survivor, Healing & Empowerment, which is “a healing community for survivors of rape, abuse and sex trafficking, as well as their allies.” So, it comes as no surprise that she would write an article exploring the specific challenges facing Black women survivors of rape and sexual assault.
Citing sobering statistics compiled by Black Women’s Blueprint, The Black Women’s Health Imperative, and the US Department on Justice, Axtell delves into the various reasons why so many Black women choose not to report their rape. She references the scholarship and activism of Lori Sasai Robinson, Dr. Gail Elizabeth Wyatt, Dr. Danielle L. McGuire, and Dr. Charlotte Pierce-Baker, who have each spent numerous years researching and writing about Black women and rape. Axtell also places Aishah Shahidah Simmons and her documentary film NO! along a continuum of Black women’s creative resistance against all forms of sexual violence perpetuated against Black women and girls.
Black Women, Sexual Assault, and the Art of Resistance is another powerful intervention in raising awareness about the horrific impact of the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality on many Black women rape and sexual assault survivors. Axtell writes,
[...]Historically, law enforcement has been used to control African-American communities through brutality and racial profiling. It may be difficult for a Black woman to seek help if she feels it could be at the expense of African-American men or her community. The history of racial injustice (particularly the stereotype of the Black male as a sexual predator) and the need to protect her community from further attack might persuade a survivor to remain silent.
We need more research to fully understand the scope of violence against Black women and the barriers they face to receiving support services. This requires both the political will and funding to make their lives a priority. Unfortunately, due to a long history of systemic racism and classism in the United States, the violation of Black women’s bodies is often rendered invisible.
You may read the article in its entirety by clicking here.
As of April 30, 2012, ?Black Women Sexual Assault and the Art of Resistance? has been picked up by several sites including:
http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2012/04/25/black-women-sexual-assault-and-the-art-of-resistance/
http://tbann.com/blog/black-women-sexual-assault-and-the-art-of-resistance/
http://legalnews.findlaw.com/article/05Gt4B5cBggO6
http://www.ncrw.org/news-center/media-roundup
Aishah Shahidah Simmons asks “Who Will Revere Us? (Black LGTBQ People, Straight Women, and Girls)”
April 27, 2012
None of Us are Free until All of Us are Free
From April 23, 2012 through April 26, 2012, The Feminist Wire published Aishah Shahidah Simmons‘ four part series titled “Who Will Revere Us? (Black LGTBQ People, Straight Women, and Girls).” Through a comparison of selected cases, Simmons interrogates why Black/African-American/African descendant communities have tremendous difficulty addressing various forms of violence perpetuated against LGTBQ people, straight women, and girls. Following is the introduction to the series.
Introduction
The title of this four part article is a metaphorical nod to the legendary jazz singer, songwriter, actor, and activist Abbey Lincoln (also known as Aminata Moseka) whose essay, “Who Will Revere The Black Woman?” is featured in the ground-breaking anthology The Black Woman. Edited by Black feminist author, screenwriter, and visionary activist Toni Cade Bambara, this all-Black woman anthology focused on the issues most pertinent to Black women and our communities. Originally published in 1970 and reissued in 2005 with a forward by Dr. Eleanor W. Traylor, The Black Woman was the literary wo/manifestation of the impact of the intersection of the Civil Rights/Black Power movements and the second wave of the Women’s Rights movement on Black women’s lives. In short, Ms. Lincoln’s ageless essay is a demand for justice and protection for Black women. In her concluding paragraph she writes,
[…]Who will revere the Black woman? Who will keep our neighborhoods safe for Black innocent womanhood? Black womanhood is outraged and humiliated. Black womanhood cries for dignity and restitution and salvation. Black womanhood wants and needs protections, and keeping and holding. Who will assuage her indignation? Who will keep her precious and pure? Who will glorify and proclaim her beautiful image? To whom will she cry rape?
In her 1983 prophetic and timeless essay, “There Is No Hierarchy of Oppression,” self-defined Black feminist lesbian mother warrior poet Audre Lorde writes,
I cannot afford the luxury of fighting one form of oppression only. I cannot believe that freedom from intolerance is the right of only one particular group. And I cannot afford to choose between the front upon which I must battle these forces of discrimination, wherever they appear to destroy me. And when they appear to destroy me, it will not be long before they appear to destroy you.[1]
I am struggling to find the right time to discuss inter and intra-racial gender-based violence in the midst of the justified outrage about the rampant and virulent racialized violence perpetrated against straight Black boys and men. Even with this being Sexual Assault Awareness Month, now doesn’t feel like the best time to write about the gender-based and state-sanctioned violence perpetuated against Black straight women, girls, and LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) people both inside of and outside of our racial/cultural communities. I fear that sharing what’s on my heart and mind, might be construed as my taking away from the “real” issue at hand in most Black communities, which seems to be solely white supremacist and/or state-sanctioned racist violence against straight Black men and boys.
Audre Lorde’s writings remind me, however, that discussions on oppression within Black communities should never be taken up within an either/or frame. The diverse herstories/histories and contemporary realities of Black straight women, girls, and LGBTQ people have consistently revealed that the issues that directly impact us often take a back seat, if they even make it into the metaphorical car on the freedom and liberation highway.
There is a collective understanding among many in multi-racial, radical progressive movements, that the white supremacist, patriarchal, heterosexist, imperial, and capitalist power structure is the root of all oppressions in the United States. While I believe that to be true, even in the company of other oppressed people, Black straight women and LGBTQ people are still under attack. Too often we are caught at the intersections of race, gender, and if we identify as LGBTQ, sexuality. In spite of our shared his/herstories of oppression, struggle, and perseverance against the odds, not enough Black people view sexism, patriarchy, misogyny, heterosexism and transphobia with the same kind of activist passion that we view racism, white supremacy, and state-sanctioned violence perpetuated against straight Black men and boys.
The reality is this: when Black straight men and boys are beaten, brutalized, and/or murdered as a result of state-sanctioned and/or white supremacist violence, it becomes (as well it should be) a national issue in the Black community and in a few, definitely not all, instances, the outrage moves beyond the Black community. Yet, when Black straight women, girls, and LGBTQ people are raped, sexually assaulted, beaten, brutalized, and/or murdered as a result of misogynist, patriarchal, state-sanctioned, and/or white supremacist violence, it is too often the victim’s individual issue.
Illustrator: Shepard Fairley
There are so many egregious, known and unknown, cases of racial and gender-based violence perpetuated against all Black people, regardless of their gender, gender identity, and sexuality, that it is literally impossible to write about all of them. I want to highlight a selected few of the far too many, however, to ask Black/African-American/African descended people to consider our responses when any of us have been railroaded into the prison industrial complex, sexually or otherwise assaulted, or murdered. I want us, Black/African-American/African descended people, to consider our responses to issues that affect many as opposed to those issues affecting some of us based on our gender, gender identity, and/or sexuality.
***
Part 1, which was published on April 23, 2012, can be read in its entirety here. On April 24, 2012, Ebony.com aggregated part one. You can read it here.
Part 2, which was published on April 24, 2012, can be read in its entirety here. Part 3, which was published on April 25, 2012, can be read in its entirety here. Part 4, which was published on April 26, 2012, can be read in its entirety here.
Father and Daughter discuss “coming out process,” and eradicating violence against women on Left of Black
April 3, 2012
Michael Simmons and Aishah Shahidah Simmons discuss her “coming out process,” and eradicating violence against women on Mark Anthony Neal’s “Left of Black” series.
http://afrolez.tumblr.com/post/20429587910/aishah-shahidah-simmons-and-michael-simmons-on-left-of-b
Michael Simmons, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, and Mark Anthony Neal on the set of Left of Black. Photograph by Linda Carranza
Award-winning filmmaker and international lecturer Aishah Shahidah Simmons shared the stage with International Human Rights Activist Michael Simmons who is her father/friend/confidante/comrade on the first segment of Season 2, Episode 26 of Left of Black, which is a phenomenal series hosted by Duke University Professor and prolific writer Mark Anthony Neal.
During their segment, Michael and Aishah talk about what it meant for a father to both both nurture and support his daughter’s coming out as a Black feminist lesbian (over 20-years ago). Equally as important they discuss about their individual and collective work to address violence against women both nationally and internationally. Their conversation includes Aishah discussing about the some of the seeds planted over 20-years ago, which WOmanifested into her award-winning, internationally acclaimed film NO! The Rape Documentary.
Their segment is followed by an interview with Meta DuEwa Jones who is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin. discusses the Legacy of Jazz Poetry in her new book The Muse is Music: Jazz Poetry from the Harlem Renaissance.
Michael Simmons is the co-director, with Linda Carranza, of the Raday Salon, an independent human rights oriented program in Budapest, Hungary. The Salon is rooted in both Simmons’ and Carranza’s own individual his/herstories as international human rights activists. For more information about the Salon please visit
http://raday.blogs.com
You can view the entire Left of Black episode featuring Michael Simmons, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, and Meta DuEwa Jones, with Mark Anthony Neal by clicking HERE (http://afrolez.tumblr.com/post/20429587910/aishah-shahidah-simmons-and-michael-simmons-on-left-of-b)
***
Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.
***
Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in HD @iTunes U
Standing at the Intersections of Roland Martin’s Homophobia and GLAAD’s Racism
February 28, 2012
Why Roland Martin’s Homophobic Tweets Shouldn’t be Ignored, Even Now
By Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Darnell L. Moore, & Kenyon Farrow
This article was originally published on The Feminist Wire on February 15, 2012.
Over and over again as racially-conscious, Black feminist lesbian and gay people, we find ourselves being told to be silent when misogyny and homophobia rears its head in order to be accepted as Black by the larger community. The most recent debacle from Roland Martin’s homophobic tweets during the Super Bowl is one of too many examples:
If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl
Who the hell was that New England Patriot they just showed in a head to toe pink suit? Oh, he needs a visit from team #whipdatass
Martin’s comments were reprehensible in any environment, but most especially during the super-macho (and super-hetero) Super Bowl. Using Suzanne Pharr’s analysis that “Homophobia [is] a weapon of sexism,” it’s also apparent that Martin’s issue with Beckham’s bikini briefs, the unmanly sport of soccer, or the fan’s “pink suit,” relies heavily on sexism to reinforce heterosexist definitions of manhood.
We can’t afford to take homophobia lightly.
For so many LGBTQ people, many of whom are Black, this is life and death. When a noted journalist like Martin uses humor to condone violence against men who appear to be gay, it is insensitive, careless, and extremely irresponsible.
Some have even argued that Martin’s fate is a result of the response of misguided people who have given too much power to words. According to Raynard Jackson, writing in response to this debacle for The Washington Post, “words have no intrinsic meaning other than meanings that are internalized by each individual.”
Words are merely words, right? No! They actually shape the climate in which someone’s “ass” may literally be beat and murdered altogether. The next day after Martin’s tweets, a video surfaced of Brandon White, a black gay man who was jumped by multiple men in Atlanta for wearing skinny jeans. Much like Martin’s tweets, this video shows that someone’s choice of clothing, which others may view as contrary to their gender and abnormal, is a reason to be subject to assault. Our thoughts and the words that we use are reflected through actions. As a result, we need not use words that produce harm, but words that seek to ameliorate violence.
So, where are the “words” of condemnation emanating from the Black progressive establishment regarding Martin’s tweets or the numerous physical attacks on Black LGBT people that happen daily?
The deafening silence from Non-LGBTQ Black Civil Rights organizations and public intellectuals taking a stand against homophobia is unacceptable. It’s as if racism is the main/real issue worthy of being addressed, with sexism/misogyny in a very distant second place, and homophobia a practically non-existent third place on our Black civil rights platform. Why do these organizations and “leaders” continue to act as if they are not accountable to Black people who are LGBTQ? Aren’t we Black, too?
Similarly, why does GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) act is if they are not accountable to LGBTQ people who are Black? As Robert Jones, Jr., author of the Son of Baldwin blog stated, ?“I think Roland Martin deserved censure and suspension, just like Don Imus deserved being terminated. But where is GLAAD when [white gay writers like] Andrew Sullivan and Dan Savage make their racist statements? I sense a double standard and it REEKS of racism.”
GLAAD’s swift action to demand that CNN fire Martin gives us pause. Interestingly enough, GLAAD didn’t also demand TVOne, a Black-owned network, where Martin hosts a weekly show, to fire him. Clearly, based on GLAAD’s actions, they’re not very concerned about the impact of Martin’s homophobia on Black networks (if they even know the networks exist). In response to Martin’s comments, GLAAD’s website reiterates, “Our goal is to ensure better coverage that works toward ending anti-LGBT violence.”
If that is GLAAD’s goal, then why aren’t they also holding other outlets where Roland Martin has a platform accountable? Furthermore, Martin recently met with GLAAD; but none of the Black queer people who first called Martin out over Twitter was invited by GLAAD to join in such a meeting. Why is Martin only accountable to GLAAD?
Cleo Manago, CEO and founder of the Black Men’s Xchange (BMX), had this to say about GLAAD’s demand that Martin be fired from CNN: “…we are still in the process of recovering from many challenges that have resulted from being Black in America. Still, lily-White organizations like GLAAD are not in the position to complain about alleged injustice from Blacks. They clearly are not culturally competent enough to accurately interpret the voices of Black people.”
While Manago might be correct to interrogate GLAAD’s “cultural competency,” he too misses a valuable point.
The fact is: it was Black queer men and women, and not some “lily-white organization,” who were the first to call attention to Martin’s heterosexist words. GLAAD’s response, and CNN’s subsequent move to suspend Martin, followed the swift rebuke of Twitter personalities @kenyonfarrow, @Anti_Intellect, @TheFireNextTime.
The fact is: it was Black brothers and sisters who called out a Black brother. Period.
Given the facts, let’s assume that the Black men and women who rightly pointed out Martin’s violent words were indeed “culturally competent enough” to interpret Roland’s words as sexist and homophobic (because they were), where will Manago and others now point their fingers?
Photo source: GayLiberation.Net via Google Images
The claim that somehow we should ignore heterosexist remarks, particularly those spewed by other Black folk, because of the force of racism, is dangerously limited. There are no battles (i.e. calling out and resisting racism OR calling out and resisting homophobia) to choose in this regard. There is but one battle and that is our sustained resistance to oppression when and wherever it rears its head.
The idea that we should forego calling Martin out for his heterosexism because he is Black is just as myopic as thinking that we should not call out GLAAD for the lack of response to racism within and without the queer community. Both are wrong and require our resistance.
We, as individuals and organizations in the Black community, should embrace a vision of our community that doesn’t try to sacrifice any of us for the so-called progress of the majority, whether about gender/sexuality, economic status, or other complexities of Black life. Then we might begin to make some headway with addressing the ways that multiple forms of oppression impact so many of us.
No one is free while others are oppressed.
___________________________________
Photo Credit: Julie Yarbrough
Aishah Shahidah Simmons is an award-winning AfroLez®femcentric cultural worker based in Philadelphia, PA. She blogs at AfroLezProductions.com. You can follow her on twitter @AfroLez.
Photo Credit: Tamara Fleming, FemWorks Signature
Darnell L. Moore is a 2011-12 Visiting Scholar in the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at New York University. He lives and writes in Bedstuy, Brooklyn. You can follow him on twitter @moore_darnell .
Kenyon Farrow
Kenyon Farrow is a writer and activist living in NYC. He blogs at kenyonfarrow.com.
The Spoils and Generational Impact of War
February 11, 2012
Reflecting Upon the Generational Impact of the U.S.’s UNJUST War Against Vietnam
by Aishah Shahidah Simmons
This blog was originally posted on AfroLez®femcentric Perspectives on January 23, 2012.
http://afrolez.tumblr.com/post/16346483145/spoils-and-generational-impact-of-war
My paternal Uncle Reginald G. Simmons did several tours of duty in Vietnam in the 1960s. He, like thousands of US GI’s and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese women, children, and men were sprayed with ‘Agent Orange,’ which “is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971.”
In March 1980*, Uncle Reginald died from a cancer, which ravaged his body in six months. Fast forward to the late 80s, when his daughter, my first cousin Crystal D. Simmons, was first diagnosed with breast cancer. Since that time she gave birth to and was in the process of raising three brilliant and beautiful children while simultaneously battling multiple forms of cancer that appeared to mutate (not metastasize) in various parts of her body. Crystal had at least 40** surgeries for 23-years and multiple bouts with chemotherapy and radiation. In the midst of her own battles, her eldest daughter Christina D. Simmons died from a cancerous brain tumor in June 2007. Crystal died on December 25, 2011, and is survived by her two younger children Reggie and Courtney who are 14 and 16. Very recently, Courtney was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a pediatric bone cancer. While coping with the loss of her mother less than one month ago, Courtney now must AND WILL battle cancer. Decisions made in the 1960s are having a generational impact in 2012.
Unfortunately my family is not unique.
Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth defects. And, tragically this country hasn’t learned any lessons from their egregious, wretched, and inhumane errors in Vietnam. I reflect upon Grenada, Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan to name a few of the countries who, since Vietnam, have been directly invaded and occupied by the US…
Too bad (what has become) the US didn’t take heed to The Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy, which says, “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” Instead they took deliberate actions, which resulted in the genocide of the Iroquois and millions of other Indigenous nations of this land.
No One Is Free While Others Are Oppressed!!!
*In the original posting of this blog, I wrote that my Uncle Reginald died in 1979. Michael Simmons, my father, informed me that his brother’s funeral was in March 1980.
**When my cousin Courtney read this blog, she informed me that her mother, Crystal, had 40 surgeries and not the 15 that I originally listed.
——
For additional information, please read “A Black Man Fights the Draft,” Interview with Michael Simmons by Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors
Aishah Shahidah Simmons is an AfroLez®femcentric Cultural Worker (Black, Feminist, Queer Documentary Filmmaker, International Lecturer, Published Writer, Social Change Agent, Vipassana Meditator, and Global Traveler)
Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth by Aishah Shahidah Simmons
October 26, 2011
Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth
This blog was originally posted on Ms. Magazine’s blog
http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/10/25/alice-walker-beauty-in-truth/
I am the woman: Dark,
repaired, healed
Listening to you. …
—Alice Walker, from her poem “Remember?”
For more than four decades, Alice Walker has used the written word to make visible that which has been made invisible as a result of exploitation and marginalization. Equally as important, she is a humanitarian and social-change agent who has literally put her body on the line for peace and justice. Alice Walker walks her talk. Her living example has inspired and challenged countless individuals around the world to live fully engaged, compassionate lives.
People had a problem with my disinterest in submission. And they had a problem with my intellect, and they had a problem with my choice of lovers … and they had a problem with my choice of everything … so, choose one, choose all, they just had a problem. …
Novelist, essayist, poet, short-story writer, anthologist, teacher, editor, publisher, womanist and activist, Walker is a preeminent American writer–the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, in 1983, for her ground breaking novel The Color Purple. She also received the National Book Award, and The Color Purple was subsequently made into both a successful film and Broadway musical.
On a very personal level, were it not for her groundbreaking art and activism, along with that of other second-wave Black women writers and cultural workers, my documentary film NO! The Rape Documentary—which unveils the reality of rape, other forms of sexual violence and healing in African American communities—would probably not exist. I, along with so many others, literally and metaphorically stand upon Alice Walker’s shoulders.
And if there were ever a time for the world to have a visual record of Alice Walker’s inspiring journey, now is it.
Internationally acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker Pratibha Parmar has joyously and boldly taken on the auspicious responsibility of documenting the life of her longtime friend in the feature-length Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth. The two women first met in 1991, when Parmar’s dear friend, the late poet and activist June Jordan, along with activist and scholar Angela Davis, introduced the two women. At the time Parmar was in production on A Place of Rage, a documentary for British television on African American women and their role in the U.S. civil rights movement. Two years later, Parmar and Walker were working together, on the poignant and powerful documentary Warrior Marks about female genital mutilation (FGM). The idea came from Walker, who at the time was completing her novel Possessing the Secret of Joy, which explored the life of a genitally mutilated African woman. Back then, voices speaking out against such atrocities were barely acknowledged in the global arena, but Warrior Marks played an important part in encouraging international AID organizations to not treat FGM as culture, but as torture. In addition to the film, Walker and Parmar co-authored the book Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women.
I don’t believe there is a filmmaker more suited or committed to make an Alice Walker documentary than Pratibha Parmar.
Since starting the film four years ago, along with her partner and producer Shaheen Haq, Parmar has captured a wide range of voices to give insight on Walker, including Gloria Steinem, Yoko Ono, Steven Spielberg, Angela Davis, the late Howard Zinn, Danny Glover, Brenda Russell, Tony Award-winner LaChanze, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Jewelle Gomez, Evelyn C. White, Allee Willis, Quincy Jones, Jack Kornfield and Arisaka Razak. But as anyone familiar with filmmaking knows, researching and producing a film is one thing; taking it through the expensive land of post-production and into theaters is another.
Parmar and Haq are now in critical need of funding to get this important documentary film across the finish line. They hope to release the film in 2012 to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of The Color Purple. They already have a broadcast deal with PBS’ American Masters, but part of the filmmakers’ agreement with PBS is that, for cinematic integrity’s sake, none of the featured interviewees, including Alice Walker, can contribute any funding towards the project.
That’s where the rest of us can step in. With their credit cards maxed, Parmar and Haq have started a crowd-funding campaign on IndieGoGo to raise a minimum of $50,000. Their ultimate goal is triple that, since they need $150,000 to complete the film.
I was humbled and honored to be asked by Pratibha Parmar to join the fundraising team. Alice Walker’s ongoing contributions to making this world a more humane place is profound. And while I always credit my teacher and mentor, the late Black feminist writer and cultural worker Toni Cade Bambara, with helping me find myself as a Black feminist lesbian cultural worker, Parmar’s films–especially A Place of Rage–played a pivotal role in shifting my gaze and challenging me to use the moving image to make compassionately humane revolution irresistible.
To date more than 20 percent of the $50,000 minimum has been raised. Now the filmmakers have less than two months to raise the rest, so time is of the essence. Donations begin at $10 and go up to $10,000. Pledges are accepted internationally.
With most independent films, especially those made by and about radical women who do not conform to patriarchal and racialized definitions of womanhood (whatever that means!), it takes a global village to transform these womanist/feminist visions into celluloid/digital realities. If there is any doubt about the importance of Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth, I invite and encourage you to view the breathtaking trailer for the film to get a taste of what’s to come with the of the completed film.
As Angela Davis’ so eloquently says in the film,
All of Alice’s writings urge us to think differently and to think critically often about those things we most take for granted. I think that’s what can change the world.
Here’s where you can offer critically needed financial support to Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth.
Photo of (left to right) Pratibha Parmar, Alice Walker and Shaheen Haq, by Trish Govoni
Another Black Feminist Critique of the film “The Help”
October 7, 2011
I’m ‘Help(ed)’ Out And Yet, I Still Have Some Things To Say!
This essay originally appeared at AfroLez®femcentric Perspectives blog on August 19, 2011.
There have been numerous primarily Black feminist critiques of both the book and the film ‘The Help’. Most of the critiques deeply resonate with my feelings about both entities. Since it’s official release on August 10, 2011, I’ve dedicated probably too much time to reading and reposting many of the critiques by both Black and White women. While I’ve shared some of my concerns with some, I haven’t compiled all of them into one note up until now…
I didn’t like the book ‘The Help’ at all, but I believe it is ten times better than the film. If there were a plethora of films about the complexities of Black life, I wouldn’t care at all about the film ‘The Help’. However, since there aren’t that many films out there, combined with the fact that this film will be seen globally and probably go down in cinematic history as a classic, I’m personally very, very clear about my sheer disgust about it.
I saw the movie at a sneak promotional viewing and I was horrified. Now, I thought Viola Davis’ acting was phenomenal and Octavia Spencer’s was superb. They both did incredible work with the roles that they were given. In spite of this, I was and am deeply disturbed by the film’s subtle and not-so subtle racism. Yes, I know the film takes place in 1962 Mississippi, and one could argue that the film was depicting the time. While some of that is true, what’s also true is that, in my opinion, the film is racist, sexist and ahistorical.
I’m the great granddaughter, great-niece, and granddaughter of Black women who worked as domestics for racist and sexist White people both in the Jim Crow South and the (allegedly liberated) North. I am the daughter of a southern Black woman who spent 18-months (1964-1966) in Laurel, Mississippi working for SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee). Hardly any of the stories that I heard, first hand throughout my life (and I’m in my 40s) from any of the aforementioned women or their friends, matched the portrayal of the Black women and their communities in the book or the film ‘The Help.’
There are many wonderful books by Black women authors who through fiction and fact poignantly address the realities of Black women domestic workers during the same time period that ‘The Help’ takes place. Some of those books received critical acclaim. And yet, those books aren’t turned into films. Several of those books have been listed in previous critiques of ‘The Help’ including Jennifer Williams essay and the Association of Black Women Historian’s Open Statement to the Fans of ‘The Help.’
In addition to those books, I reflect upon the very recently released Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women In SNCC, (edited by Faith S. Holsaert, Martha Prescod Norman Noonan, Judy Richardson, Betty Garman Robinson, Jean Smith Young, and Dorothy M. Zellner), which really highlights those unsung, many of whom were not formally educated women who changed the face of Amer-i-KKK-a in the Jim Crow South. I’m not talking about the multiracial SNCC workers themselves (per se); but those Black women (and men) who opened their homes and lives to the SNCC volunteers… Many of who were already doing radical and subversive work in the midst of working for “Miss Ann”… So many of the testimonies captured in this anthology are worthy of film or even their own independent book. In my mind’s eye, Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC tells the stories of ordinary women (and men) doing extraordinary work.
My deep pain about all of the hoopla and fanfare about ‘The Help’ has to do with the fact that we very rarely EVER see a film where the sheer White male and female supremacist terror that Black people lived under (first during enslavement -which lasted for centuries, then throughout the Jim Crow era) is depicted. From DW Griffiths ‘The Birth Of A Nation,’ til present day, Hollywood has been committed to sanitizing and making light of excruciatingly painful, wretched, and inhumane times for millionS of African-Americans. This system has been able to do this through castigating, maligning, stereotyping, marginalizing, and dehumanizing people of African descent. There is something very uncanny and disturbing about this, to say the very least.
While some have critiqued Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and other Black actresses featured in ‘The Help,’ I understand that they are caught between a rock and a hard place. It’s hard out here for Black women (and men) actors in the Hollywood (or Hollyweird, as Toni Cade Bambara used to call it) system. When one turns down a role based on their principles and dignity, another one will gladly accept that role. I’m sad that roles in ‘The Help’ are the options for phenomenal actresses like Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer. In many ways, it appears as if this vicious racist and sexist cycle will never ever get broken.
My questions are how do we stop this powerful system – Hollywood, which influences the world, from its ongoing cinematic racist, sexist, heterosexist/homophobic/ transphobic, and classist assaults not only on communities of African descent, but also on Latina/o, Arab, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific, Islander, Roma (Gypsy), and Southwest Asian communities…? When does ENOUGH become ENOUGH?
I’m concerned about the messages that are conveyed through ‘The Help.’ If you aren’t formally educated, you need a White woman to document and tell your story in order for it to get heard… Then the White woman leaves town to make it big in NYC, and you’re safe(?) in 1960s White Supremacist Terrorist Mississippi after getting fired for breaking your silence…? Or, your battered by your Black husband, and the White woman you taught how to cook, stays up all night to prepare the most delicious meal you’ve ever had. You were so moved by that meal, that you leave your abusive husband.
Foremost, are we really okay with these types of depictions of White women as the sole saviors to Black women’s lives, which are presented as historical fact? Equally as important, is this an accurate HERstory? And if it is, which I doubt, how often did this happen? Was there real Sisterhood based on equality between Black women domestic workers and their White women employers? How does this story foster sisterhood based on equality between Black and White women contemporarily?
To quote Black feminist political scientist Melissa Harris-Perry “’The Help’ reduces systematic, violent racism, sexism & labor exploitation to a cat fight that can be won with cunning spunk.”
Again, if there were a plethora of films about the complexities of Black life, then ‘The Help’ would be another film… But, it’s not another film. For many, painfully similar to how the ahistorical film ‘Mississippi Burning’ became the cinematic representation of the disappearance of civil rights workers ~Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney; ‘The Help’ will be the cinematic representation of life for Black women domestic workers and their White women employers in Mississippi in the1960s.
To add insult to injury, the HSN (Home Shopping Network) has launched its on collection, inspired by ‘The Help.’ This is SO egregious and inhumane. In my opinion, it’s another example of how a painful part of African-American her/history (and what should be an embarrassing part of American her/history) has been sanitized and commodofied. To quote my Sister, Patricia Lesesne, “What are they {HSN} selling? Bullets, rape kits, nooses, tear-stained blouses, men’s dress shirts with blood spattered on them? Exactly which pieces from this time in US history are going to be sold on the HSN? Are they going to bottle up the essence of fear, terror, and humiliation in 6oz bottles and sell them as a fragrance trio gift set. What the hell is going on?” Yes, Patricia, what the HELL is going on in 2011?
One way we can resist this insanity is by supporting (non-Hollywood supported/funded) Independent Cinema. There are many, many filmmakers who are creating powerful narrative and documentary films, which depict the complexities of lives of people who, based on their race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, class and/or religion, are too often marginalized or worse, dehumanized by the Hollywood system.
If you see ‘The Help’, be an engaged spectator. It’s important that there is critical engagement and interrogation, even if, sigh and gasp, you LOVE the film. I think it’s important that all movie goers take time to really reflect upon the inherent messages not only in ‘The Help’ but all movies because there are always overt and covert messages that each one of us absorbs.
*******************
Beah Richards’ (unfortunately) timeless (one-woman) play “A Black Woman Speaks of White Womanhood” is in my opinion, the best response to Kathryn Stockett’s “The Help”. Written in 1951, it is still most appropriate.
http://afrolez.tumblr.com/post/7967989547/a-black-woman-speaks-of-white-womanhood-by-beah
List of Critiques of “The Help” by Black Women, which are listed in alphabetical order. (I know there are more than those that are listed. This list represents the ones that I read).
- Association of Black Women Historians’ Open Statement to Fans of ‘The Help’
http://www.abwh.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2:open-statement-the-help&catid=1:latest-news - ‘The Help’: A Feel Good Movie For White People by Valerie Boyd
http://www.artscriticatl.com/2011/08/film-review-the-help-a-feel-good-movie-for-white-people/ - “The Help” and White Female Identity by Stephanie Crumpton
http://www.urbancusp.com/newspost/the-help-and-white-female-identity/ - Kathryn Stockett Is Not My Sister and I’m Not Her Help by Miriam Harris
http://www.thefeministwire.com/2011/08/12/kathryn-stockett-is-not-my-sister-and-i-am-not-her-help/ - Melissa Harris Perry Breaks Down The Help: ‘Ahistorical And Deeply Troubling’ (by Frances Martel)
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/melissa-harris-perry-breaks-down-the-help-ahistorical-and-deeply-troubling/ - Chocolate Breast Milk: A Review of ‘The’ Help by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
http://phillisremastered.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/chocolate-breast-milk-a-review-of-the-help/ - No thanks Kathryn Stockett, I don’t want to be “The Help” by Joyce Ladner
http://theladnerreportblog.blogspot.com/ - I’m Good Why The Help Isn’t Needed by Tonya Pendleton
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles%2Fentertainment%2Fmovies%2F30500%2F1#.Tio6nUx61YI
- Why I Will Not See ‘The Help’: A Rant by Rosetta Ross
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/4991/ - Second (and Third, and Fourth…) Helpings: A Big Black Woman’s Thoughts on “The Help” by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
http://www.thefeministwire.com/2011/08/19/second-and-third-and-fourth…-helpings-a-big-black-woman’s-thoughts-on-the-help/
- Why I’m Not Looking Forward to ‘The Help’ by Jennifer Williams
http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/08/10/why-im-not-looking-forward-to-the-help/ - Love ‘The Help,’ But Please Stop Asking Me To Do The Same by Rebecca Wanzo
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-wanzo/the-help-movie_b_925550.html
List of Critiques of ‘The Help’ by White Women, which are listed in alphabetical order. (I sincerely hope there are more than those listed here. This list represents the ones that I read)
- Reading The Help by Susannah Bartlow
http://susannahbartlow.blogspot.com/2011/08/reading-help-reposted-from-facebook.html - For Colored Only? Understanding ‘The Help’ Through The Lens of White Womanhood by Claire Potter
http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/tenuredradical/2011/08/for-colored-only-the-role-of-white-women-in-the-help/ - ‘The Help’: Softening Segregation for a Feel-Good Flick by Alyssa Rosenberg
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/08/the-help-softening-segregation-for-a-feel-good-flick/243395/ - On ‘The Help’ And Moral Reckonings by Alyssa Rosenberg
http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2011/08/10/292646/on-the-help-and-moral-reckonings/
“Woman is the ‘N’ of the World?” (at SlutWalk?)
October 7, 2011
Woman is the “N” of the World?
This essay originally appeared at AfroLez®femcentric Perspectives blog, and Ms. Magazine blog.
In 1969, Yoko Ono coined the phrase, and I quote, “Woman is the N****R of the World.” Shortly thereafter, she and her husband, the late John Lennon, wrote and he recorded a song with that same title.
According to Wikipedia (which is ALWAYS questionable), at that time (don’t know where they would stand today) Dick Gregory and Ron Dellums defended the song.
Several Black feminists, including Pearl Cleage, challenged Yoko Ono’s racist (to Black women) statement. “If Woman is the “N” of the World, what does that make Black Women, the “N, N” of the World?”
Fast forward 42-years later from when it was originally coined, and a White woman decides to create and carry a placard of the quote to SlutWalk NYC.
I’ve been informed that one of the (Black) women SlutWalk NYC organizers asked the woman to take her placard down. She did. However, not before there were many photographs taken.
My question is, Why did it take a Black woman organizer to ask her to take it down? What about all of the White women captured in this photograph? They didn’t find this sign offensive? Paraphrasing Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I A Woman (too!)?”
ERADICATING RACISM SHOULD NOT BE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF PEOPLE OF COLOR.
How can so many White feminists be absolutely clear about the responsibility of ALL MEN TO END heterosexual violence perpetrated against women, and yet turn a blind eye to THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO END racism?
Is Sisterhood Global? This picture says NO! very loudly and very clearly.
The fact that this quote originates from a woman of color, Yoko Ono, really underscores the work that we women of color must do to educate each other about our respective herstories. This photograph also underscores the imperative need for hardcore inter-racial dialogues among all of us in these complicated movements to address gender-based violence in all of our non-monolithic communities.
Co-signing with my Sister Andrea Plaid that at the fundamental level this photograph speaks to the very sobering reality that there is a level of acceptable racism going on within (some?) SlutWalkS (not a monolith).
There is something deeply uncanny that, in 2011, this White woman would think it was OK to create and carry a sigh with the “N” word at a SlutWalk. What on earth was she thinking? Who in the United States of Ameri-KKK-a doesn’t know that the “N” word is NOT okay to use, most especially if you’re not Black.
POSTSCRIPT: I have supported and still support the premise of SlutWalks. In August I participated as a speaker at SlutWalk Philly.
I discuss the reasons why I, as a Black feminist lesbian incest and rape survivor, have supported the premise of SlutWalks in fairly great detail in my September 30 interview with Where Is Your Line?
At the same time, I think it’s very important that everyone read and discuss the very important and poignant concerns raised in Black Women’s Blueprint’s “Open Letter from Black Women to the SlutWalk.”
Clearly there is an urgent and non-negotiable need for dialogues to happen in the immediate future.
Here is a short list of selected essays by some Black (American) Feminists who have weighed in on the horrific impact of both the sign and the defense of the sign.
Crunk Feminist Collective “I Saw the Sign but Did We Really Need a Sign?”
http://crunkfeministcollective.wordpress.com/2011…
Akiba Solomon’s “More Thoughts on SlutWalk: No Attention is Better Than Bad Attention” – COLORLINES
http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/10/more_thoug…
LaToya Peterson’s “Which Women Are What Now? Slutwalk NYC and Failures in Solidarity” | RACIALICIOUS
http://www.racialicious.com/2011/10/05/which-wome…
and
“Slutwalk, Slurs, and Why Feminism Still Has Race Issues” | RACIALICIOUS
http://www.racialicious.com/2011/10/06/slutwalk-s…
UPDATE: Kimberlynn Acevedo, one of SlutWalk NYC’s organizers has posted a statement in response to the sign, and has announced plans to continue the dialogue.
Here is an excerpt:
One of our march’s participants last Saturday held up and promulgated a racist, offensive sign. She was asked to take it down by one of our organizers as soon as it came to our attention. This sign symbolizes many of the critiques about SlutWalk not being a safe space for people of color, in particular Black women. We are taking it seriously and we absolutely condemn it and are horrified by it. This sign opposes the mission of SlutWalk NYC and its message is in direct conflict with the beliefs of its organizers. …
We are meeting with many of the groups which have critiqued SlutWalk NYC directly. We are meeting with Black Women’s Blueprint. We are attending an open meeting with Sister Song. We are holding a completely open meeting on October 13 at Walker Stage from 6-8 p.m. in order to discuss how to build a fighting movement. Further, we encourage everyone to take a look at the transcripts and videos of the speeches we have posted on our website and Facebook. We know we need to grow. We have been working on growth from the beginning. There were powerful, diverse and engaging speeches at the rally, many of which directly hit upon critiques of SlutWalk. THESE are the seeds of growth in our organization. We want to start a movement that passionately wants include the voices of all people, of all survivors, of all individuals who see merit in what it is that we are choosing to combat.
We hope you will join us.
Where Is Your Line? Interviews Aishah Shahidah Simmons
October 7, 2011
AISHAH SHAHIDAH SIMMONS FEATURED IN WHERE IS YOUR LINE’S? ‘‘BADASS ACTIVIST FRIDAY PRESENTS”
On Friday, September 30th, Aishah Shahidah Simmons was thrilled to be the interview partner for Where Is Your Line’s “Badass Activist Friday Series.”
In this very extensive interview, Aishah talked about Toni Cade Bambara, Vipassana Meditation, People of Color practicing the teachings of Buddha, Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth (the film), Liberation from Within (the film), NO! The Rape Documentary, Rape, Incest, Consent, Celibacy, Palestine, Troy Anthony Davis, SlutWalk, and Wangari Maathai.
photographed by Calvin Finley
It’s Friday, and we all know what that means! Interviews with your favorite badass feminists and activists. Whether social media queens and kings, creative artists, sex educators, or just kick-ass personalities, these people harness righteous anger, instigate movements and inspire cultural change. We’re here to honor them and their work, but more importantly, to highlight how we can all get up, plug in, and?Just Start Doing.
My interview partner this week is?Aishah Shahidah Simmons, documentary filmmaker, writer, lecturer and activist. She’s the producer, writer and director of?NO! The Rape Documentary, and she screens her work all around the world. You can follow her and her work at?@AfroLez and?@InnerLiberation.
Here’s what we talked about:
You’re a filmmaker, writer, lecturer and activist. That’s a lot of hats to wear. Why don’t you start by telling us what your day-to-day works looks like right now.
Yes, it is a lot of hats to wear, which is why I also use cultural worker. That term was taught to me in 1990 by?Toni Cade Bambara, who was a Black feminist cultural worker extraordinaire, my teacher, and my Big Sista-friend. Every day is literally a new and different day. However, there are some things that rarely change. I’m a practitioner of?vipassana meditation. Part of my practice is to meditatively sit twice a day, every day for an hour at each sitting. I used to be and, at times, I still am very resistant to sitting because I viewed it as a time obstacle to my doing my cultural work. Life experiences, however, consistently show me that sitting is a non-negotiable resource that enables me to do my cultural work. After sitting, I do some form of exercise (walking or swimming are my preferences) and then I’m usually able to begin the external work. I check my email, facebook, and twitter accounts. I also check various blogs and other sites. If I allow it, the aforementioned can very literally consume my entire day and night because it’s non-stop action on the cyber highway…
CLICK HERE TO READ IN ITS ENTIRETY
http://whereisyourline.org/2011/09/badass-activist-friday-presents-aishah-shahidah-simmons/
Subscribe To Our Blog | Get It In Your Reader
-
Translator
-
What AfroLez Is Doing
