THERE IS NO HIERARCHY OF OPPRESSION: Born Black & A Woman

Black Women In Conversation

There is No Hierarchy of Oppression: I was Born Black and A Woman. “There is no hierarchy of oppression” these words, poetry and rally cry by the late great Audre Lorde is one of those adages that in the world of social justice we say a lot, but I don’t know that a lot of us always think that, and live that, and work and envision that in a way that is authentic. This radio-show is a report back from the trenches. Our last coming together July 11th, sent out a call to the police reform, anti-brutality, communiy control and police accountability movement to make space for the voices of women, and the voices of women of color in particular. The question we posed was "how much stronger could the movement be if we accounted the experiences and the needs and the demands of all of us?" WE DON'T WANT TO TAKE ANYBODY'S PLACE, WE JUST WANTA SEAT AT THE TABLE. If we meditated more on the words of great activists who came before us, like Audre Lorde, we would realize that some critical, life saving, anti-oppression, community building blueprints have been given to us already. We would realize we cannot afford the luxury of fighting one form of oppression only. We cannot afford to believe that freedom from intolerance is the right of only one particular group. And we cannot afford to choose between the fronts upon which we must battle these forces of discrimination. In lastly in the words of the great Audre Lorde,…”and when they appear to destroy me, it will not be long before they appear to destroy you”. Join Renee Morgan-Saks, Kalima DeSuze and Christina Jaus for a conversation on Thursday, July 14, 2011 – 7PM on Blog Talk Radio with Black Women’s Blueprint, reporting back from the trenches.