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TashaylaBordenSecondEssay 5 - 23 Apr 2023 - Main.EbenMoglen
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | | | Which voices go heard in this community? Which historians do we keep note of? One may ask themself, "well, I know of these Black women and it is important to not let that stop you," but the framing of the question is not one to ask Black women to look past. The point is while an individual may know of Black women who influence them, that is not the case within the community. We are powerful creatures, yes, but in explaining these systems we gain clarity. We notice patterns. Black women's work goes unrecognized. Often, Black men get praise for their thoughts of community all while proving to be hypocritical in reality. The common idea of unity in our community works in a main way: to support the men and burden the women. A very gendered idea as well. Much of the work in our communities thrives off the back of women's labor. Looking at my experiences in education (Columbia and Connecticut College), Black women make up most of the boards of leadership, exert most of the work for community engagement, and without them, there would not be organizations for our community members to go to. Lived experiences are a common theme in Black feminist literature. Patricia Hill Collins, Black feminist theorist, voiced so many of my lived experiences in "Black Feminist Thought." Collins told me that Black women would need to eventually revaluate our muling, to which I agree. We must come together and craft our own community that actively deconstructs notions of white supremacy. We must hold others accountable and ultimately go to where we are loved and desired. Reminding ourselves of our value is how we choose peace and find happiness. | |
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Second wave feminism began in consciousness-raising, weekly discussion groups, during which I, deep in my boyhood, was the oldest male allowed in the house. This draft is a work in the genre of consciousness-raising, and it works.
One way to make it better is to leave it in that register and simply remove words. Emotion rolled adjectives like boulders into blockages you can clear. You have repeated what was felt most deeply, as song should and prose mostly shouldn't. The fulcrum for consciousness-raising, as I saw so long ago, should be sharply pointed, and leave no decoration to increase friction or to hide behind.
Another possible route to improvement is to shift forward. You can see acutely, I am sure, how the present draft begins in visceral specifics and ends in hazy generalities. After the initial raising of consciousness, your present draft says, institutions must follow. So you could leave the room where consciousness went up and go out. My friend Marx had that saying about how philosophers have studied the world but the point is to change it. So my mother Helene and Evelyn Keller and Esther Newton made the first undergraduate women's studies curriculum in the US (and therefore, I believe, the world). And various other things got built. I have no idea what would be the institutions appropriate to your consciousness, your place, and your time. But your imagining is where it would happen, and now would be a great time to start.
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