Why should we center the voices of black women? Does “centering” mean ignoring other group’s perspectives? How can we be whole, free people—together? Ebony Janice Moore is a womanist scholar and activist doing community-organizing work, most specifically around black women’s body ownership as a justice issue, and equal access to education and pay for women of color in the U.S. and in several African countries. What is “body ownership” and how is it related to justice, theology, higher education, and mental health in the United States? How can upending the current ways we privilege voices, perspectives, and leadership change our entire civic space. In this episode, we discuss what it means to “decolonize everything,” and how this can be the life-affirming step our society needs to take to fully thrive, together.
Ways to listen to this episode:
Apple Podcasts (iOS/Desktop)
Stitcher (iOS/Android/Desktop)
Spotify (iOS/Android/Desktop)
In this episode, we discuss:
Definitions for decolonization, feminism, womanism, privilege, and “centering”
Why centering one group’s experience benefits everyone
How centering one group’s experience does not mean other groups never get to share/participate
Why systems of oppression are linked in various ways in society
How to begin to dismantle white supremacy
Resources for learning from perspectives that may be missing from current public discourse (on everything from homeschooling to hip hop)
Key questions to easily surface places of privilege that block human flourishing
Transcript
Top 3 takeaways from this week’s episode:
“What if conversation is radical worship?”
Truly hearing others, and letting their world experiences expand your own reality, can be transformative. If we can learn to listen with a posture of openness and seek to understand, the possibilities for learning more about the world are endless. If we surround ourselves with those that have the same perspectives, we miss valuable opportunities to expand our minds, and spirits. What would conversation look like if you sought to hear, instead of insisting on speaking?
What if conversation is radical worship?. Listen now:CLICK TO TWEET
2. “It’s not the nice thing to do, it’s the necessary thing to do.”
Why should we center the voices of those who continue to be marginalized? One idea is that we do it because it’s kind, or to be nice to people we know. But this isn’t the whole story—leaving out some people’s narratives depletes the full experience of everyone. We do not live wholly if only some perspectives are heard. While being inclusive may feel good, don’t just do it because it feels right: do it because robust community is not possible until we decenter the voices of power and start paying attention to those who have not yet been fully heard.
It’s not the nice thing to do, it’s the necessary thing to do.” Listen now:CLICK TO TWEET
3. “If you don’t center someone, they’re just a prop.”
Most Americans are aware that diversity is positive, and most sectors (education, politics, health care) are working to attempt to be “inclusive.” But just adding participants or changing mission statements isn’t enough. To successfully dismantle white supremacy, we must center the voices of people of color, particularly black women. Until we do that, including them in our groups and systems merely continues to use their work, images, labor, and wisdom for our own purposes. Inviting someone to an event is not enough. Including someone in a photograph is not enough. Having one guest speaker for MLK Day is not enough. We must center previously discredited voices in order to inform real change.
If you don’t center someone, they’re just a prop. Listen now:CLICK TO TWEET
Mentioned on the episode:
Black Girl Mixtape: https://www.blackgirlmixtape.com/
“Ain’t I a Woman,” credited to Sojourner Truth: http://sojournertruthmemorial.org/sojourner-truth/her-words/
A contemporary treatment of “Ain’t I a Woman” and its influence: https://qz.com/1291608/sojourner-truth-said-aint-i-a-woman-in-1851-black-women-today-are-asking-the-same-thing/
More resources on Delores Williams: https://www.religion-online.org/author/delores-s-williams/
“Womanist Theology,” by Emilie M. Townes
Alice Walker’s In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_Our_Mothers%27_Gardens
“In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: The Creativity of Black Women in the South (1974),” by Alice Walker: http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2002/walker.asp
More information on voting by women and black women in the 2018 presidential election: https://qz.com/833003/election-2016-all-women-voted-overwhelmingly-for-clinton-except-the-white-one
https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/1/8/16849720/black-voters-women-midterm-2018
https://www.essence.com/news/politics/most-black-women-voted-for-hillary-clinton
More on the “fantastic hegemonic imagination”: http://religiondispatches.org/tag/fantastic-hegemonic-imagination
http://sfonline.barnard.edu/queer-religion/womanist-etho-poetics/
The Life & Times of Elizabeth Keckly, the story of the dressmaker and designer who served Mary Lincoln: https://umc.tv/film/tim-reids-legacy-documentary-series-life-times-elizabeth-keckley/
http://richmondmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/stage-screen/elizabeth-keckly-film/
Definition of “decolonization”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decolonization
More on the idea of the “Christian demonic filter”: https://www.thefreepeopleproject.com/blog/2018/1/10/a-word-on-astrology-and-the-christian-demonic-filter
Toni Morrison’s “The Site of Memory”: https://public.wsu.edu/~hughesc/morrison_memory.htm
How to connect with us:
EbonyJanice of The Free People Project: https://www.thefreepeopleproject.com/
Facebook: @TheFreePeopleProject
Facebook: @BlackGirlMixTape
Instagram: @BlackGirlMixTape
Twitter: @BlkGirlMixtape
