I am a Black Feminist. I mean I recognize that my power as well as my primary oppressions come as a result of my blackness as well as my womaness, and therefore my struggles on both of these fronts are inseparable.
Interpretation
The struggles faced by Black women are rooted in both their race and gender, creating an inseparable duality of oppression and empowerment.
In this quote, Audre Lorde articulates the intersectionality of her identity as a Black woman, emphasizing that her experiences of power and oppression are intertwined. She asserts that to understand her struggles, one must recognize how her racial identity and gender intersect, suggesting that the fight for justice is not merely about one aspect of her identity, but about the complex interplay of both her blackness and womanhood.
In practice
During a women's rights conference, one might use this quote to discuss the importance of addressing the unique struggles of marginalized women.
The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.
There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.
I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.
There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.
I believe that what so saddens the reformer is not his sympathy with his fellows in distress, but, though he be the holiest son of God, is his private ail. Let this be righted, let the spring come to him, the morning rise over his couch, and he will forsake his generous companions without apology.
The reader knows the writer better than he knows himself; but the writer's physical presence is light from a star that has moved on.
We must respect the interior laws of creation, of this Earth, to learn these laws and obey them if we want to survive.
I say people who feel they must have a faith or religion in order to face life are showing a kind of cowardice, which in any other sphere would be considered contemptible. But when it is in the religious sphere it is thought admirable, and I cannot admire cowardice whatever sphere it is in.
It is this third consequence that has been elaborated in greatest detail and has formed one of the most significant pillars of historical capitalism, institutional racism.
Logically, harmony must come from the heart... Harmony very much based on trust. As soon as use force, creates fear. Fear and trust cannot go together.
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