Burnham- Beatriz Martinez

The Wellspring of Black Feminist Theory by Linda Burnham was the reading for this week’s blog post. As I read the journal, I kept seeing a repetition of words like: both/and, intersection, race, and gender. These words all surrounded the idea that Black women suffered of several oppressions due to the intersection of their race and gender.

I agree with Burnham’s claim about Black women or women of color in general suffering oppression for several reasons. A lot of women of color suffer because one they are women and two because they are a minority. The intersection of gender and race make it twice as hard for women of color to be able to get respected as human beings. Black feminists are fighting the stereotypes against people of color and also the stereotypes of women of color.

For instance, in my personal life I also suffer of this intersection of gender and race. Like Burnham states in her journal, “Black feminists have been especially attuned to the ways in which stereotyping and cultural iconography vary for women based on their race or ethnicity” (Burnham 3, 2001). I have suffered of stereotypes like these Black feminists for my race. Women in the hispanic culture as seen as a domestic object. I’ve had to fight this stereotype within my culture and in society. Therefore, I’ve realized after reading Burnham’s journal that the intersection of race and gender can cause several oppressions for people of color like myself.

Another example of this intersection of race and gender besides mine is the movement of Say Her Name. In the past year, there has been an emphasis on police brutality on the black race. People have gone out into the streets to march against the government, and for the lives of black men that have died due to police brutality. However, several women suffered of police brutality as well, and their names were not mentioned in these marches. Black women then decided to start screaming out names of the black women that died due to police brutality at these marches meant for the whole black race.

This action was then called, Say Her Name, and since has impacted the lives of black women. In this case, black women were being oppressed by the police because of their race and within their own race. Black men were the focus of these marches when women also died. Their gender made them seem as not important. Say Her Name is not the only example of such intersection of race and gender, which is why it is important to emphasize it so much.

How have or are seeing this intersection of race and gender affect society?