How We Get Free
Today’s book recommendation is a backlist pick from 2017 about the Combahee River Collective, a phenomenal group of radical Black feminists and one of the most important organizations to develop from the antiracist and women’s liberation movements of the 1960s and ’70s. They are perhaps the most well-known for the Combahee River Collective Statement, which was a stark contrast to the popular feminist movement of the time (which was racist) and the popular Civil Rights movement of the time (which was riddled with sexism and homophobia).
How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Black feminism has had a resurgence within the past few years as a framework, and I would argue that it is perhaps the most necessary framework for social justice analysis and social justice movements. To use a Black feminist lens is to look at the oppression of queer Black women (cisgender and transgender) and in a way, focus on justice for those of us in this group. We cannot free Black women without freeing all women along the way as well as Black men. We cannot free queer Black people and trans Black people without freeing all queer and trans people along the way. If we focus on those of us who are at the intersection of all these identities, we uplift everyone.
This book starts with a necessary introduction, especially for those who have never heard of the Combahee River Collective (CRC). Then it has the CRC Statement in its entirety before launching into interviews with founding members of the CRC (Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, and Demita Frazier) as well as contemporary activists Alicia Garza and Barbara Ransby.
This book is next level. I went into it reading one book, I came out of it realizing there are dozens more books it has pointed me toward. Every interview hit me with insightful information that cracked my mind wide open. I was reminded once again that the space between what I think I know and what there is to know is expansive. This small book (it’s under 200 pages) discusses so much with both fire and candor, from socialism to history, Beyoncé to academia, reproductive rights to domestic violence, and so much more.
One part that absolutely made my brain ascend to another level back when I read it was when Demita Frazer talks about how we typically think of affirmative action. That Black people are improved and made competent by affirmative action because of our proximity to white people and white institutions. Instead, it is the institutions that are improved because they are trying to combat the effects of white supremacy and Black people have always been competent, regardless of our proximity to others. I was listening to this on audiobook and I swear when I heard that part I paused it and just stared at a wall for five full minutes.
This is just one of the many books that I recommend when reading and educating yourself about social justice.
That’s it for now, book lovers!
Patricia
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