Was Feminism enough?

Is today's feminism enough? IS SISTERHOOD ENOUGH? Sounds like a title for debate or an article on whether sisterhood can sustain a woman in today’s lonely world. Can it? And what does sisterhood mean to women today? Is it a social club or a clique? What about Feminism? Is it what it once was a political agenda for women to advance themselves and create power bases of freedom and equality? To make it real simple for me to explore--the question for me has to begin with sisterhood. Has sisterhood been enough for me to remain true to my political ambitions, being an Old Skool Black Feminist? Well on the one hand, the answer is no. That is because Feminism has changed how Black Feminists perceive themselves. And American Feminism, although it tends to “look” like it is all inclusive, it has not necessarily made me feel welcome. I haven't seen enough women of color or from my class going on marches. I haven't heard about power hases of professional black women making room for women making low wages, or creating jobs for low wage Black women. I don’t see many of them, as there should be to advance the growth of Black female entrepreneurs with junior and advanced degrees, or supporting their businesses. I've heard of very few mentoring programs aiding women to earning GEDs, or junior and graduate level degrees, who are also women of color. 

So sisterhood is not enough for women who are alone already because they don't get support like other minority groups or our white counterparts. Lone Black women who also are feminists, have no power, and therefore, have to argue with many different types of people from different classes and authorities to point out their mistreatment. I've also found personally and from my former studies that most Black women in high places, elite and middle class positions, feel it is better for other women who are Lone Feminists, to endure injustices rather than be supported. Many of these women claim to have a god they love and serve, but act like disciples of Judas, toward other Black women, who do not practice mainstream religions, such as Buddhism, African-based Indigenous, Muslim faith, Catholicism or Judaism. Yet I am very familiar with women from each of these religions who tend to be gathering on stages across the world, representing FEMINISM. But I have yet to see Black women from America on those stages who represent sisterhood enough for me. I know women who have put their time into teaching women what Feminism truly is for all woman under the sun and the rainbow. Yet I did not seen any of these women on stage with the women who wanted to oust Trump. These were supposed to be the same women I know who made clear distinctions of what Feminism is. So let me state for the record that it's because of Malala Yousafzai, Michelle Crenshaw, A. Julia Cooper, Angela Davis, Bell Hooks, Patricia Collins, Claudia Jones, and Jones and Gooden, that I even know what Feminism is, what it was, and, what it is not. These are not women I can say that I know. They are all women who helped me understand how important Feminism would always be for me. 

Until I see women of today invite any of these key figures to authenticate their movements I am not sure this sisterhood (before they're all dead) is enough for me. The Feminism I know, practice and stand by as those before me has been enough for me mainly because Feminism made me feel like I still had a living family. The Feminism I know doesn't seem to be as important or as meaningful to women in feminism who put it on display and glamourize it. I do think it is still a powerful movement for some. But it does not include or embrace the commitment to ensure liberty and justice for us all. On the whole I still support feminism yet because it has not supported me over the years, I find it to be lackluster. I personally didn't get anything but a hard time by being a feminist. When I needed support there were no Black feminists around, absolutely no white ones in my world. Many times feminism let me down. However, given my history with it, Feminism did help me stand up for myself and others. Was it enough? No. Did it connect me with a sisterhood? Absolutely not. But I could never have a voice or be a brave badass Black woman without it. I needed feminism to help me develop as a woman. She became my family, my personal coach who stood by me. Feminism was the sisterhood I needed to navigate through all the rough periods in my life before and after my recovery from drugs and alcohol. 

I needed feminism as much as I needed recovery for sure, if I was going to continue to be fabulous in a mostly un-fabulous fucking world I was living in. Although I'm not crazy that I never got any recognition for educating, empowering and standing up for people, I had to remember I needed Feminism. I couldn't stand up to people the way I did without it. Feminism made me brave. Because I was a feminist who believed in people who taught me everything I needed to know about it. So no one was going to tell me not to help others or myself out of some bullshit we were expected to accept because we were minorities or poor. So today before I don't have a whole hell of a lot of years left, I want people to know. I was a Feminist. I was a feminist when it wasn't "cool" especially being Black. I was feminist when I went to college, on the bus when I dropped my kids off at school in the morning, and when I worked and created soup kitchens. I was a feminist doing women's empowerment spas at the beach before all these commercialized names came along from bitches who do that shit now. Especially bitches who call themselves coaches and fake assed sisters feigning sisterhood. My empowerment sessions on the beach were meant to connect spiritual women with the ocean and the Earth. Not always opportunities to go places they can order mimosas and get laid. 

I actually organized graduations on the beach for a book club among women who were mainly over 45. Those beach celebrations meant so much to us all. Some of the women hadn't been to a beach since being a child or taking their children. They didn't get to make their own connection. This event made the book club and learning from the readings even more meaningful. The beach event was never promoted widely but the events were geared toward deepening our friendships as well as the spiritual connection women wanted to develop or be introduced to by sending their prayers into the natural environment. Many of us were Buddhist so we chanted and said our prayers aloud facing the ocean. It was a powerful experience for all of us. I organized them for two years. And it meant so much to me to make so many women feel fulfilled.

There are plenty of times I flexed my feminist muscles when I heard off-putting dialogues toward women or young people in public. I remember a math class I took when I was attending a two year college. This janky-assed African lady talked down to the class because she used to be an engineer. Apparently she needed to show some extensive knowledge in her field. But as a teacher you gotta design rubrics to enhance a range of learning capacities. Can't be ruling people out of opportunities when they actually need more opportunities to study a subject. Anyway this camel faced bitch was say all kinds of negative shit. Not cursing at us or anything. Just strange shit. But what I remember her saying most was "well the majority of you are never going to get it..." now that might have been true for me. And I don't remember if I dropped the course. 

But I felt some kind if way being a grown woman of about 40 listening to this ugly uppity ho talk to these kids and me like that. Like really. Fuck that bitch. I used a recorder at the time to record notes for mainly writing classes so I brought it to this class to have a little discussion with this janky-assed bitch. And yeah. I got her on tape talking down to us. And yeah I took it to the dean. And yeah. Bitch lost her damn job. It wasn't cool. Their were Africans in the class who didn't even understand what she was doing at the board. The point is...she didn't give a shit about students. Didn't matter who you were if you were a student. We weren't on her level so she thought she could talk shit to us, probably hoping she could fail almost all the Black Americans and a few of her own. There weren't any white kids in the class either so I might have gotten that bitch outta there before she could call one of us a Nigga. Who knows? But I nailed that bitch because Feminism helped me learn that oppressors come in different forms. It wasn't about her race. Her class made her feel superior as well as her nationality. That shit got her fired that day. Had I said nothing a whole outta kids would have been flunked by this bitch when all they needed was to be supported by some who gave a damn enough to go over some extra material. 

This was a two year college. Not a four year. But I didn't care who you were. The Feminist in me would shut that shit down. That reputation followed me every where I went though. A college colleague of mine at that w/o year, did a paper on feminism. I was so honored to be one of the people featured in her report. And, being Igbo, originally from Nigeria, I guess feminism for her needed an accurate description. And I remember talking about Malala Yousfazi, who at 17 or 18 years old earned a Nobel Peace Prize for fighting for the girl's right to education in Pakistan. And for this reason, every American woman who could obtain Pell Grants should absolutely get their education in America even if they don't finish. And, every Black person who can get Pell Grants should get their education even if they don't finish. Plain and simple. So feminism has done what it was supposed to time and time again with me. Did I gain anything from being feminist: no. Did I take pride in being Feminist: yes. But today it doesn't matter much and it really hasn't since I earned my Masters and went through a Doctoral program. My topic was to test the whole theory of a perceived connection between Black corporate women, a presumed sisterhood there and Feminism, if there was one. So. IS FEMINISM ENOUGH? Is it a social club or a girls trip? Or is it what it once was a political agenda for women to advance themselves and create power bases of freedom and equality? No.

However, I was always on the path toward an Old Skool Black American Feminism. As a you girl and a young woman I had experiences with two different age groups of Black women in my community at two different periods in my life when I truly needed a sisterhood. One group was the Sunbeams, the girls' division of the Eastern Star. I came up the ranks in that organization from tot to a teenager in my aunt's "Circle." The second was a group of teenagers I joined when I became a sophomore in high school. To this day their are some girls who still want to say I was not in this social club of mainly pretty girls. They only feel this way because they looked like shit if we had to compare looks not popularity. And because I knew how to keep my damn legs closed! In any case this teenage girl group was made up of about 30 - 40 high school age girls. From freshman to senior girls. It was bomb. 

That circle of sisters held me up too. A lot of us had abuse in our lives, poverty and lived in family's with incarcerated parents. We needed this sisterhood so those young girls who would normally be pushed to the back got to be up front. Those who could sing and dance could sing and dance together. And we celebrated each other. We celebrated life together. It was bomb. We threw the best talent shows and parties. But in the planning and organizing of our venues came some experience that pointed me toward a feminist movement.  And my weaknesses in life showed me how powerless I was as a Black woman. But Feminism showed me that I was powerful. As I continued to age that I was not alone. That I had a voice worth listening to and that I played meaningful roles because I was a feminist.

Today my role has changed. And Feminism has become lackluster. I hoped to have so much more. I expected Feminism would contribute so much more to my life and it hasn't. I feel far away from home now because I am surrounded by people who are so unlike me who don't know who I was because I people didn't support me. There have even been those from my list above who refused to support me in anyway when I needed sisterhood. Which is why I still write about Feminism, Blackness and the socialization among Black women. I still want to be brave enough to speak on the failures of Black Feminism and the neglect of real sisterhood.

Luv to U & Me😘

Ms. BBB