Blog Post 7- Mentzer

 Hook's piece on black women and feminism works to create an understanding of how black women in America were discriminated against not only for being African American, but also female. However, when speaking on how they were discriminated against, they were conditioned to focus on racism, rather than sexism. A lot of this, Hook explains, is a rooted issue of male dominance. Because black women were accustomed to being treated unfairly because of the color of their skin, they looked beyond the fact that they were also being discriminated against because of their gender. For example, this unequal treatment was presented as voting rights were shifted. As black men became legally able to vote, black women were still forbidden. Black feminists did not know what to in this situation, as the black men that supported their movement to gain equal rights were not willing to give up their vote. Hook describes this cross-roads by stating, "Black women were placed in a double bind; to support women's suffrage would imply that they were allying themselves with white women activists who had publicly revealed their racism, but to support only black male suffrage was to endorse a patriarchal social order that would grant them no political voice" (Hook 3). Black women did not receive the freedom that black men did. And although white feminists were acknowledging this, they did it in the wrong way. When feminists acknowledge in one breath that black women are victimized while also in the same breath emphasize their strength, "they imply that though black women are oppressed they manage to circumvent the damaging impact of oppression by being strong- and that is simply no the case" (Hook 6). This ignores the fact that to be strong in the face of oppression is not the same as overcoming that oppression. 

I found this reading to be quite upsetting. It is really unfortunate as a woman to hear that white women at this time were not in support of black women. Even as "feminists", they did not support other women. Not only did they lack support, they also made unfair statements about strength of black women. I don't find it to be very feminist of these women to not be fighting for their own kind. Women, especially in a feminist movement, should support other women no matter their race, class, culture, etc. I don't think that these women should have called themselves feminist because of their racist actions. 

Hooks, Bell. 1952-2021. Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015.