(ThyBlackMan.com) “With great power comes great responsibility.” The famous line from Uncle Ben…no not the Uncle Ben on the cover of the famous orange rice box. Uncle Ben from the Spider-Man movies. The Uncle Ben who fathered Peter Parker and gave him the wisest knowledge he would have ever received during his transition into his newfound power.
Similarly, the power of the black presence within anything has been undeniable; from mathematics, technology, ancient civilizations, entertainment and even serving as a helping hand in the most oppressed people on the planet; one of them being the woman and the feminist movement. In the late 1840’s the United States received its first wave, of prominent individuals who vocalized the issues of oppression of women. These women being Abigail Adams and Elizabeth Cady, two white women of British background—as for black women—your place was still wrapped tightly in the shackles of your master. The feminist movement did not begin with you nor did it begin for you.
Not to sing the same song, but lets fast-forward to the 1960’s. Simultaneously the rise to end segregation with the honorable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the rise of the Black Panther party by Huey P. Newton grew heavily. One man who influenced the power of peaceful marching and another who influenced the power of receiving peace through combative aggression. But beside either one of them were many black men and beside them, black women. The image of black men and women standing together spoke volumes—one, the power of the black family unit and two the necessity of both genders not in competition with one another, but sharing of a common goal to get to the same destination of greater freedom.
Fast-forward 40 years later into a new millennia and the tug for black women in the feminist movement has grown fiercely. Not only do other liberated groups piggyback on the struggles of the black population, but they call for your presence to validate their issues.
The dangers of black women in the feminist movement are not only accepting the separation of black men. But has purposefully rejected the black male presence in many forms. Such as the household, another financial support system, even for procreation; famously known as “I don’t need a man” syndrome. In all actuality, YOU DO and outside of pretending you don’t need one…naturally, you want one.
The feminist movement is working against the black woman’s favor, because as they preach the useless presence of the male; white feminist go back to their husbands and their whole homes while yours remain broken.
When was the last time the feminist movement fought for your standards of beauty in the media, for police brutality, for unjust incarceration, for black women’s health and healthcare, for the high rates of black students being criminalized in school but being a minimal fraction of the school’s population?
How does any black person fight for anyone else when every time you yell the words “black lives matter” they have a rebuttal for all lives mattering? And although that is true; the western system and society has always shown you that you didn’t, and have chosen to shame you any time you decide to tell yourself that you do.
What if I told you black woman, you may be a pawn in your own oppression by joining a force that influences you to pull away from black men, as the government helps pull them out of the home, pull them into prisons and caskets too. These black men are your fathers, your brothers, and your future sons.
What if I told you, black woman you have a double-edged sword not only for sexism but racism as well? That it is enormously dangerous to stand with a movement that will not move for YOU.
What if I told you black woman that you include yourself in a movement that is dominated by people who do not look like you, cant understand, cant comprehend or even relate to your oppression?
Although you have been cursed with a double-edged sword throughout history you recognized that racism was a priority. And still black woman, you use your power, influence and strength to benefit the whole and not the fraction. So black woman what if I told you, although you may be the least valued person on the planet…you are and forever will be the most valuable.
Staff Writer; Zanzibar Jones
We as black men need to wonder why they rebel in the first place.
Its due to inadequacy and weakness in a number of things,
the same way as white-women/white men.
Stop making everything a government conspiracy.
There is such thing as “Free Will”
If people were that weak-minded from the 80’s until now
we are beyond doomed. lol
I rarely make a comment but i have to join this discussion.
It seems like the article and the comment by Aim is in agreement. Though the comment by Z. Jones is less positive. In some ways, the Black woman is living without the Black man in the home. However, the Black male will seek/need guidance from some male sometime in his life. The woman can give some guidance but we can’t change completely how God set-up things for the man and woman in the home to raise the family.
We may need to go back and study African society and how the home was set-up. From my recent readings, some African societies had patrilineal systems and some matrilineal. So what does that really mean to us today. Does it carry a negative connotation that means the man controls everything or the woman controls everything? What does most societies around the world do? We can study those societies too.
I personally think that as long as we live apart and as you may say, the Black woman is doing alright. Then why would she want the input of the Black man in the home. It may be harder for her to listen to the advice of a man if she did not grow-up that way. But if our children can see a Black man and Black woman living together and growing together, it will be easier for them to do it themselves. When or if they get married and run into marriage issues, they can call mom and dad who raised them. These days, the daughter can see the mother as a strong Black woman who raised the family without a father. The son will see that too but will not see the father as a strong Black man sticking around to raise his family. So the son may think my family doesn’t need me to stay. The Black woman may think the same thing. I don’t need him to stay and the cycle continues.
In conclusion, it would take both Black men and Black women to see that the home needs both parents and for us to come up with ways to build a healthy home together. Black women may need to give-up some control of the home to her husband. The Black man needs to believe that he belongs in the home as much as the woman to raise a good family.
@Aim Hi, Queen thanks for reading and commenting on the article, i appreciate your thoughts!
When i say a Woman needs a man i say that in regards that Men need women also. in a social construct of duality. for us to both coexist as a whole separately, before we form as a whole united. Imagine a society Period without women, now imagine one without men….doesn’t really function well. Of course women can survive and thrive without men. We are dominating the education system and the workforce. Not only are we being hired more than black men, earning degrees more than black men, owning property, a nice chunk of us earning more money, and of course raising children by ourselves. So who is saying we cant exist independently? because we already are! And I’m only saying we dont have to…although We’ve been doing it for a long time now…but why do anything singlehandedly? especially in regards of the home? Statistically speaking the black woman’s home is far more broken than our white counterparts for many reasons and we are Leading in birth rates but fall far below in marriage rates. When you say “women are pushing for feminism in the first place” are you pushing against the white male patriarchal system because we’ve out done ourselves in regards to the black man. and even then you still have two fights which are racism and sexism, and racism affects you just as hard than the sexism of all the things you claim we cant do or are fighting against in 2017.
Not to mention this patriarch you speak of is a western system rooted from European values. Practically the whole continent of Africa stemmed from matrilineal systems even native Americans prior to European colonization.
i say all of this to say that it appears that we’ve come to a place of competition between not just men and women but black men and black women, we are NOT each other’s enemy. and that we work better together than apart. 🙂
“The dangers of black women in the feminist movement are not only accepting the separation of black men. But has purposefully rejected the black male presence in many forms. Such as the household, another financial support system, even for procreation; famously known as “I don’t need a man” syndrome. In all actuality, YOU DO and outside of pretending you don’t need one…naturally, you want one.
The feminist movement is working against the black woman’s favor, because as they preach the useless presence of the male; white feminist go back to their husbands and their whole homes while yours remain broken.”
This mentality is why women are pushing for feminism in the first place. To say that as a woman, you NEED a man, is to further trap us in a patriarchal society, and not allow us to exist independently from men. Then to assume that a home is “broken” because there is no male presence…is again, reestablishing a dependency that has kept us trapped.
An issue with feminism, or anything associated within that framework, is that women limit each other. We’re trying to establish our positions in relation to men, but there seems to be a blind spot when it comes to relationships with each other and with ourselves.