Black feminist theorist Barbara Smith discusssed current battles of gays and women of color in her Black History Month keynote address Thursday. Wesleyan students, faculty and other guests filled Shanklin 107 to capacity to hear Smith, who also addressed the importance of working in coalition across differences to effect change.
The lecture, entitled “Justice, or Just us? Coalition Building for the 20th Century” is one in a long series of events planned in celebration of Black History Month, themed “Bridging the Black Gap: Embracing our Differences and Striving Towards Solidarity.” Zakia Henderson-Brown ’06, co-chair of the Black Student Union, was responsible for organizing Smith’s lecture, as she worked together with Smith this past summer on David Soares’s successful campaign for the District Attorney’s office in Albany County, NY.
“Smith was the clear choice for the Black History Month keynote speaker because not only is she a formative black feminist thinker and activist, her work has been taught in several classes here, and the fact that she encourages coalition building across gender, sexuality, rage and age lines fit in perfectly with the theme of Black History Month this year,” Henderson-Brown said.
Many students said they were moved by Smith’s consistent role as an activist for over 40 years, in addition to the emphasis she placed on dialogue in the struggle against the “synthesis of oppression” that stems from combinations of race, gender, class, sexual orientation and identity discrimination. Smith said she spoke as someone who has had firsthand experience of homophobic crimes.
“It is really interesting that students chose Barbara Smith to speak for Black History Month because she is a formative figure as a black, lesbian feminist who is visibly out against classism, sexism, as well as racism,” said J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Anthropology. “Smith is a pioneer in dealing with the interconnectedness of issues and you could feel students being inspired as she spoke tonight.”
Smith, a professor, independent scholar, author, activist, editor and publisher also discussed some history of the civil rights movement in America. She noted specifically Bayard Rustin, a known homosexual who was a very close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King’s, as well as the chief organizer and logistics person for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
She also addressed the issue of alienating voters by placing gay marriage on state ballots this past November and what people could do on a grassroots level to increase minoritynority access to representation and political power in America.
“We’ve come a long way since I was in college and interracial marriage was still outlawed in many states,” Smith said. “That was in 1967 and we still have progress to make.”
In the question-answer section of the talk some students brought up the contested issue of mandatory diversity training for all Wesleyan professors. Students asked for Smith’s advice and shared personal experiences of discrimination in the classroom.
Smith is acknowledged as one of the first writers in the United States to claim black feminism for black women in the early 1970s. She has done groundbreaking work in defining black women’s literary tradition and has called for an awareness of the works of black lesbian writers, as well as the political implication that marginalizing black lesbian writers continues to make on all women’s lives.
For many present, she offered a fresh approach to discussing complex social problems, especially racism and other types of bigotry.
“She’s brilliant for not just talking about the theoretical problems,” said Nikolas McConnie-Saad ’05. “She’s actually involved in correcting them.”
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