Minor observation as a historian, activist, and organizer:
I am not one to declare that history repeats itself because I do not believe that is possible. However, what I do observe often are patterns and similarities. There is something interesting happening right now that has happened several times in the past.
As a major push for #BlackPeople in the United States to be recognized as full #HumanBeings emerges, shortly after and running concurrently a push for #Women in th…e United States to be treated as full Human Beings emerges.
Both from my historical knowledge and my contemporary participation I know full well that the struggle for neither, never died. I also know, being a #BlackLivesMatter activist that the struggle against #Patriarchy and #Misogynoir has been active the whole time I have been in the movement.
A fear I have that stems from my historical understanding is a diffusing of the energy to push for change in this moment of our movement for justice to be distributed and diluted among the struggles as if they are distinct. It is my belief that the struggles are not distinct and that they are interlinked in intersectional ways that cannot be completely separated, although, they do have different components. For example, in the struggle for #BlackLiberation Black Womxn, Black Fem, Black Trans, Black Queer deal with very particular dicriminations and oppressions that Black Men do not, and very often Black Men are the progenitors of the harm (I am not innocent). Likewise, among Womxn, and People who identify as LGBTQIA, many of who are Black, Latinx, Native, or POC deal with additional discriminations and oppressions that others do not.
“An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” a quote from Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior, holds the essence of what is on my heart at this moment. Specifically, that these two struggles cannot be torn apart and isolated as they have been in the past.
Thus, as I take notice of a similar pattern emerging, it is my hope that our People recognize this as a pivotal moment for us all to pull together and to unify in a way that our People have not accomplished in the past, with a full understanding that all of our #Liberation is collectively interlinked.
We men have much work to do in guaranteeing the liberation of those who deal with the oppression we are party to being responsible for. Those people who are White and who are suffering discrimination and oppression, have a lot of work to do in guaranteeing the liberation of those who deal with the oppression they are party to being responsible for.
Renaissance Revolutionary 