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Com alliberar-nos: El feminisme negre i el Combahee River Collective
'Com alliberar-nos' és un esforç per tornar a connectar les arrels fondes de l’anàlisi i la pràctica del feminisme negre amb els esforços contemporanis d’organització. De la mateixa manera que el marxisme va convertir-se en una eina per a l’anàlisi crítica en els cercles acadèmics dels anys vuitanta i noranta del segle xx, el feminisme ne-gre també va trobar el seu lloc en els cercles acadèmics a mesura que els moviments polítics que n’havien propiciat l’impuls van començar a abandonar el carrer.
La irrupció del feminisme negre va ser determinant per obrir espais a la recerca intel·lectual i a una investigació més profunda de les vides de les persones oprimi-des dins del món acadèmic d’una manera més general. Però el feminisme negre és també una guia cap a l’acció i l’alliberament polítics. Si separem l’anàlisi política de les lluites i els moviments, es torna abstracta i desconnectada del radicalisme que li va donar força a l’inici. Aquest llibre és un retorn a aquest esperit fundacional.
En els darrers anys, el feminisme negre ha tornat a emergir com el marc analític per a la resposta activista a l’opressió de les dones trans de color, la lluita pels drets reproductius i, naturalment, el moviment en contra de la violència i l’abús poli-cial. Les organitzacions i les activistes més visibles connectades amb el moviment Black Lives Matter parlen obertament sobre com el feminisme negre conforma les seves polítiques i estratègies actualment. Les entrevistes que s’apleguen en aquest llibre –a les tres autores de la declaració del Combahee River Collective Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith i Demita Frazier, la cofundadora de #BlackLivesMatter Ali-cia Garza i la historiadora i activista Barbara Ransby– pretenen demostrar com aquestes polítiques continuen sent històricament vitals i rellevants per a les lluites d’avui. Tal com diu Demita Frazier, el fet de parlar de Combahee no vol dir ser nostàlgiques, sinó que en parlem perquè les dones negres encara no són lliures.
La irrupció del feminisme negre va ser determinant per obrir espais a la recerca intel·lectual i a una investigació més profunda de les vides de les persones oprimi-des dins del món acadèmic d’una manera més general. Però el feminisme negre és també una guia cap a l’acció i l’alliberament polítics. Si separem l’anàlisi política de les lluites i els moviments, es torna abstracta i desconnectada del radicalisme que li va donar força a l’inici. Aquest llibre és un retorn a aquest esperit fundacional.
En els darrers anys, el feminisme negre ha tornat a emergir com el marc analític per a la resposta activista a l’opressió de les dones trans de color, la lluita pels drets reproductius i, naturalment, el moviment en contra de la violència i l’abús poli-cial. Les organitzacions i les activistes més visibles connectades amb el moviment Black Lives Matter parlen obertament sobre com el feminisme negre conforma les seves polítiques i estratègies actualment. Les entrevistes que s’apleguen en aquest llibre –a les tres autores de la declaració del Combahee River Collective Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith i Demita Frazier, la cofundadora de #BlackLivesMatter Ali-cia Garza i la historiadora i activista Barbara Ransby– pretenen demostrar com aquestes polítiques continuen sent històricament vitals i rellevants per a les lluites d’avui. Tal com diu Demita Frazier, el fet de parlar de Combahee no vol dir ser nostàlgiques, sinó que en parlem perquè les dones negres encara no són lliures.
163 pages, Paperback
First published December 5, 2017
625 people are currently reading
21654 people want to read
About the author
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
19 books510 followersKeeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes on Black politics, social movements, and racial inequality in the United States. Her articles have been published in Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, Jacobin, New Politics, the Guardian, In These Times, Black Agenda Report, Ms., International Socialist Review, Al Jazeera America, and other publications. Taylor is assistant professor in the department of African American Studies at Princeton University.
(from http://www.haymarketbooks.org/bio/Kee...)
(from http://www.haymarketbooks.org/bio/Kee...)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 600 reviews
March 2, 2018
Brief impression: Loved this collection. LOVED! Why? Back to basics. Back to fundamentals. Back to clear articulations of "what do we believe" and "why?" Sure, blame my displeasure with the ever-present market forces to brand "feminism" and even "black feminism" (a resistant concept from its inception). Maybe I'm a moody bitch, but I'm also tired of hot takes, sound bite, Twitter feminism -conceived in echo chambers, academic social rings, in her head and in isolation. I want a Black feminism that's rooted in HISTORY. A black feminism that walked amongst worlds in which Black women circulate. Or worlds Black women entered or re-shaped to survive. Black feminism that has no time for bullshit, that doesn't confuse naming elders to respect with name dropping, Black feminism not thirsty for approval now, or fixated on future posterity. Black feminism that is real, knows too much work to do to be caught up in those games.
HOW WE GET FREE is what I hungered for without knowing it. Substance. No filters. Depth. Length. Prof. Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor edited her long form interviews with key Black women organizers, women involved. This Princeton professor of African American studies is a brilliant thinker. The gift she gives her reader is to listen in her conversations, rather than assert a stamp or KYT brand in each chapter.
The Demita Frazier and Alicia Garza interviews stuck with me most. Actually, they all did. What I loved is the LENGTH of each chapter. 25-40 pages each of reflections, oral histories. These Black Women leader s and founders of these key organizations Combahee River Collective, or AAWDO, or National Black Feminist Organization or Black Lives Matter, don't just recount how their groups came into existence. Their activist journeys double as histories and lessons of how political organizing occurred - in Chicago, Oakland, Cleveland, Boston, North Hampton, wherever or whenever these interviewees took root. Another delight was to learn how engaged and on top of 2018 Black pop culture were these CRC founders. Beverly Smith and Barbara Smith are writers, educators, organizers, scholars, publishers, mentors, public health educators, atti- domestic violence advocates. They've worked many occupations. Over their years, they've built coalitions, supported in solidarity other groups -- say union striking laborers in trade industries - . These women show up. They've always shown up, living that Audre Lorde saying that if one of us is not free, then none of us can be free.
I'm humbled to read their life experience. To learn how they've put Black feminism into daily practice. Read this book and pass it on, please! Or I'll send you short PDFs of the most lit sections. For example, when Alicia Garza goes in on how social justice groups even other men of color erased. Blackness and co-opted work of Black queer women in the early days of Black Lives matter.
HOW WE GET FREE is what I hungered for without knowing it. Substance. No filters. Depth. Length. Prof. Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor edited her long form interviews with key Black women organizers, women involved. This Princeton professor of African American studies is a brilliant thinker. The gift she gives her reader is to listen in her conversations, rather than assert a stamp or KYT brand in each chapter.
The Demita Frazier and Alicia Garza interviews stuck with me most. Actually, they all did. What I loved is the LENGTH of each chapter. 25-40 pages each of reflections, oral histories. These Black Women leader s and founders of these key organizations Combahee River Collective, or AAWDO, or National Black Feminist Organization or Black Lives Matter, don't just recount how their groups came into existence. Their activist journeys double as histories and lessons of how political organizing occurred - in Chicago, Oakland, Cleveland, Boston, North Hampton, wherever or whenever these interviewees took root. Another delight was to learn how engaged and on top of 2018 Black pop culture were these CRC founders. Beverly Smith and Barbara Smith are writers, educators, organizers, scholars, publishers, mentors, public health educators, atti- domestic violence advocates. They've worked many occupations. Over their years, they've built coalitions, supported in solidarity other groups -- say union striking laborers in trade industries - . These women show up. They've always shown up, living that Audre Lorde saying that if one of us is not free, then none of us can be free.
I'm humbled to read their life experience. To learn how they've put Black feminism into daily practice. Read this book and pass it on, please! Or I'll send you short PDFs of the most lit sections. For example, when Alicia Garza goes in on how social justice groups even other men of color erased. Blackness and co-opted work of Black queer women in the early days of Black Lives matter.
February 8, 2021
It feels good to get back to reading after a two week hiatus. I really, really, really enjoyed this book. So many highlights and tabs, and writing in the margins after just one read. I totally plan on going back and re-reading. I really loved all of the interviews, but especially Barbara Smith's. I think the main things that you take from this book are the context in which Black feminism began, the importance of the Combahee River Collective, and how much their vision was an anti-capitalist/socialist vision. Required reading for non black feminists that claim to be "intersectional." Overall, a phenomenal book, and now one of my favorites.
August 30, 2023
The Combahee River Collective was a Black Feminist Lesbian organization that was active between 1974 and 1980. This intersectional group was created because there was a sense that both the feminist movement or civil rights movement didn’t reflect the particular needs of Black women and lesbians. The collective joined together to develop the Combahee River Collective Statement, which was a key document in developing contemporary Black Feminism.
A hidden gem with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writing the introduction and interviewing the authors of the Combahee River Collective Statement (Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Demita Frazier) which is essentially a black feminist declaration of rights written in the late 1970's. The name originated from Barbara Smith, an author who played a significant role in building and sustaining Black feminism in the United States. Wanting to name the collective after a historical event that was significant to Black women, she drew from an action on the Combahee River that was organized by Harriet Tubman on June 2, 1863. This action freed more than 750 slaves and is the only military campaign planned and led by a woman.
I absolutely loved it! A juxtaposition of their thoughts then and more currentlly (2016). The basic premise?
The statement was both historic and timeless with some very hard truths that we still wrestle with today
This book was a revelation and has stayed with me long after reading it. I got to know women I did not know existed. This book was a "random add", aka it looked interesting when it was on sale. Prior to this book I did not know of the existence of the Combahee River Collective Statement. Sigh. I feel guilty for not being more aware and I am in awe. I just loved the directness, the boldness, the brashness, the humor and the passion of these women, still pushing, ever pushing for progress.
4.5 Stars
Listened on Audible. Lisa Renee Pitts did a great job of narrating this compilation of interviews.
A hidden gem with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writing the introduction and interviewing the authors of the Combahee River Collective Statement (Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Demita Frazier) which is essentially a black feminist declaration of rights written in the late 1970's. The name originated from Barbara Smith, an author who played a significant role in building and sustaining Black feminism in the United States. Wanting to name the collective after a historical event that was significant to Black women, she drew from an action on the Combahee River that was organized by Harriet Tubman on June 2, 1863. This action freed more than 750 slaves and is the only military campaign planned and led by a woman.
I absolutely loved it! A juxtaposition of their thoughts then and more currentlly (2016). The basic premise?
"The first was that oppression on the basis of identity—whether it was racial, gender, class, or sexual orientation identity—was a source of political radicalization."and
"If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression."and
"But “identity politics” was not just about who you were; it was also about what you could do to confront the oppression you were facing."
The statement was both historic and timeless with some very hard truths that we still wrestle with today
"As Black feminists we are made constantly and painfully aware of how little effort white women have made to understand and combat their racism, which requires among other things that they have a more than superficial comprehension of race, color, and Black history and culture."~Combahee River CollectiveSome historical insight from the 70s about Toni Morrison had me laughing.
"And the way that Toni—I mean, people didn’t mess with Toni—you didn’t want Toni Morrison coming for you, because [she] knows how to use her words!"~Demetia FrazierOthers had their eyes on the present,
"for me freedom is getting away from this sick Mammon-driven, nihilistic bullshit we call popular culture. I’m done! I don’t need my nieces to be Beyoncé. These fucking Real Housewives—I’m done. I’m done!"~Demetia Frazierand
"When people start talking about being an elder, I’m like, “Yeah, but you know, don’t be asking about some shit that happened thirty, forty years ago.” I have an eidetic memory, and I remember it exactly. But to me, that’s not—I’m not nostalgic. It’s like not then. What about right now? What about right now?"~Demetia FrazierAlicia Garza was also interviewed in the book to provide some perspective on the impacts of the statement in the present. She too was insightful.
This book was a revelation and has stayed with me long after reading it. I got to know women I did not know existed. This book was a "random add", aka it looked interesting when it was on sale. Prior to this book I did not know of the existence of the Combahee River Collective Statement. Sigh. I feel guilty for not being more aware and I am in awe. I just loved the directness, the boldness, the brashness, the humor and the passion of these women, still pushing, ever pushing for progress.
4.5 Stars
Listened on Audible. Lisa Renee Pitts did a great job of narrating this compilation of interviews.
Read
January 8, 2018"I'm not nostalgic. I'm looking back to mine the past for what it can help us with right now, and for what it can help us pass on and create. And I still feel part of creation. When people start talking about being an elder, I'm like, 'Yeah, but you know, don't be asking about some shit that happened thirty, forty years ago.' I have an eidetic memory, and I remember it exactly. But to me, that's not--I'm not nostalgic. It's like not then. What about right now? What about right now? That's me." - Demita Frazier
It's been forty years since the Combahee River Collective Statement was published. This book, How We Get Free includes an introduction by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, a reprint of the Statement, four interviews conducted by Taylor (one with BLM co-founder Alicia Garza and three with founding members of the Combahee River Collective: Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, and Demita Frazier), and text of a speech that Barbara Ransby gave at Socialism 2017.
The interviews take up the majority of the book and they are so filling. It's not the cleaned up prose of a statement, speech, or auto/biography. It's pretty raw oral history. Ideas and history told and expressed with personality. These histories are personal and collective. Black women with radical politics will find the book to be both comforting (yes, that experience of isolation in your work is real) and energizing (how else does one keep going but to have sincere conversations with community).
If we read the title of the book as a question, the interviewees offer answers: economic analyses, anti-capitalist or socialist politics, building actions based on analyses, solidarity and coalition building, naming things (the history behind the phrase "identity politics" is included here), etc.
Read this.
-- also, since Taylor asked Smith about it, here's a podcast that features the correct pronunciation of Combahee (and a story of the raid: http://uncivil.show/episode-the-raid.... h/t Akwugo Emejulu) --
It's been forty years since the Combahee River Collective Statement was published. This book, How We Get Free includes an introduction by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, a reprint of the Statement, four interviews conducted by Taylor (one with BLM co-founder Alicia Garza and three with founding members of the Combahee River Collective: Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, and Demita Frazier), and text of a speech that Barbara Ransby gave at Socialism 2017.
The interviews take up the majority of the book and they are so filling. It's not the cleaned up prose of a statement, speech, or auto/biography. It's pretty raw oral history. Ideas and history told and expressed with personality. These histories are personal and collective. Black women with radical politics will find the book to be both comforting (yes, that experience of isolation in your work is real) and energizing (how else does one keep going but to have sincere conversations with community).
If we read the title of the book as a question, the interviewees offer answers: economic analyses, anti-capitalist or socialist politics, building actions based on analyses, solidarity and coalition building, naming things (the history behind the phrase "identity politics" is included here), etc.
Read this.
-- also, since Taylor asked Smith about it, here's a podcast that features the correct pronunciation of Combahee (and a story of the raid: http://uncivil.show/episode-the-raid.... h/t Akwugo Emejulu) --
April 13, 2023
“If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” -The Combahee River Collective Statement, 1977
The Combahee River Collective was a feminist organization that incorporated feminism, socialism, and LGBTQ activism. Active from 1974 to 1980, the Collective maintained that both the Civil Rights Movement and the Feminist Movement failed to address the needs of Black women, especially LGBTQ Black women.
The founders of CRC argued that mainstream feminism was fraught with racist ideologies and the Civil Rights Movement had a heavily sexist and homophobic slant. Black women needed an inclusive, representative voice; a platform from which ALL Black women could be heard.
How We Get Free begins with the ‘The Combahee River Collective Statement.’ Written half a century ago, the CRCS is a manifesto of the highest order. It identifies and clarifies the roots of Black feminism. It states the goals and objectives of Black feminism. It recognizes the potential pitfalls of setting Black feminism apart from other activist constructs. And finally it defines the projects necessary to achieve the aforementioned goals and objectives. The CRCS stands today both as a testament to progressive acumen and as a sobering reminder of unfulfilled promise. The fact that the Statement is still relevant means that we’re not yet where we need to be. Not. Even. Close.
The most enlightening parts of How We Get Free are the interviews of Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Demita Frazier, and Alicia Garza. Four women I was shamefully unaware of but now thankfully will never forget. These are passionate activists on the right side of history. Anyone who fails to take these women seriously does so at his/her own peril.
“Always ally yourself with those on the bottom, on the margins, and at the periphery of the centers of power …in doing so you will land yourself at the very center of some of the most important struggles of our society and our history.”
NOTE: Thank you Monica for putting this book on my radar!
The Combahee River Collective was a feminist organization that incorporated feminism, socialism, and LGBTQ activism. Active from 1974 to 1980, the Collective maintained that both the Civil Rights Movement and the Feminist Movement failed to address the needs of Black women, especially LGBTQ Black women.
The founders of CRC argued that mainstream feminism was fraught with racist ideologies and the Civil Rights Movement had a heavily sexist and homophobic slant. Black women needed an inclusive, representative voice; a platform from which ALL Black women could be heard.
How We Get Free begins with the ‘The Combahee River Collective Statement.’ Written half a century ago, the CRCS is a manifesto of the highest order. It identifies and clarifies the roots of Black feminism. It states the goals and objectives of Black feminism. It recognizes the potential pitfalls of setting Black feminism apart from other activist constructs. And finally it defines the projects necessary to achieve the aforementioned goals and objectives. The CRCS stands today both as a testament to progressive acumen and as a sobering reminder of unfulfilled promise. The fact that the Statement is still relevant means that we’re not yet where we need to be. Not. Even. Close.
The most enlightening parts of How We Get Free are the interviews of Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Demita Frazier, and Alicia Garza. Four women I was shamefully unaware of but now thankfully will never forget. These are passionate activists on the right side of history. Anyone who fails to take these women seriously does so at his/her own peril.
“Always ally yourself with those on the bottom, on the margins, and at the periphery of the centers of power …in doing so you will land yourself at the very center of some of the most important struggles of our society and our history.”
NOTE: Thank you Monica for putting this book on my radar!
August 4, 2018
Educational. Reaffirming and life-affirming. Reading OG Black Feminists discuss the struggle for liberation and the demand to be heard was what I needed right now. It's what I needed today. It's what I need everyday. It reminds me to keep pushing in my own work, at my own job and in my own communities. Every little bit matters. Every challenge matters.
These women challenged the sexism and racism present in various movements and started to fight their way through the exclusion and homophobia rampant in both white feminist movements and black male-centered movements. The CRC created their own shit and to this day stays centring black feminism as the political movement to fuck up the systems of oppression that all women of colour face. It was sometimes disheartening to read about how some of the women interviewed see Black Feminism today, I do think it's somewhat generational, but it does remind me to keep challenging fucked up non-inclusive, non-intersectional ways of thinking in society. It's important to make our own way.
Kenanga-Yamahtta Taylor is a brilliant writer and this is essential reading.
These women challenged the sexism and racism present in various movements and started to fight their way through the exclusion and homophobia rampant in both white feminist movements and black male-centered movements. The CRC created their own shit and to this day stays centring black feminism as the political movement to fuck up the systems of oppression that all women of colour face. It was sometimes disheartening to read about how some of the women interviewed see Black Feminism today, I do think it's somewhat generational, but it does remind me to keep challenging fucked up non-inclusive, non-intersectional ways of thinking in society. It's important to make our own way.
Kenanga-Yamahtta Taylor is a brilliant writer and this is essential reading.
December 27, 2020
This book is like reading conversations with five fortune tellers, OMG. It brings me back to my central point in life (courtesy of my friend Ambar): "everything I aspire to do, my ancestors have done already." Everything I aspire to in political theory and action can, in some way, be found in this statement and the work that lies behind it.
I'm currently reading with book club, but I will be sure to post a full review once we've finished talking this through together! :)
I'm currently reading with book club, but I will be sure to post a full review once we've finished talking this through together! :)
August 13, 2020
Black feminism ! socialism ! anti-imperialism ! history and the now ! intersectionality ! the true meaning of identity politics !
March 17, 2025
"I love me some Solange—but we don't just want a seat at the table. We want the table. And we want to decide who is sitting at the table . . . And then maybe we want to get rid of the table." — Alicia Garza
Love this. Did you know identity politics emerged out of intersectional feminism, and that it was a signifier of solidarity across identities, rather than a one of sectarianism? We've really forgotten so much working class history, haven't we? The erasure of black women by both Marxists and liberals, who deradicalise identity politics in their separate ways, is fucking tragic.
Identity politics was an extension of socialist critique, before it became a caricature for reactionaries, left and right. Against the radical feminists, who inscribed sexual violence onto the male body (hence their easy descent into TERFdom), socialist and intersectional feminists saw sexual violence as emerging from our social conditions, in the intersecting oppressions of gender, race, and class. The coloniser and the colonised. The husband and the wife. The capitalist and the proletariat. These hierarchies maintain and legitimate violence through the control of bodies, productive, reproductive, and unproductive. Those in the Combahee River Collective saw this so much clearer because many of them were queer, as well as black and working class. They were beneath the concerns of white women and black men radicals, who treated them like servants, sex objects, troublemakers, and killjoys.
Identity politics arose, not as a rejection of other identities less oppressed, but an affirmation that—no matter your oppression—you had something to contribute to the struggle for liberation. It was a tool for coalition building, for healing both those blinded by privilege and those marginalised by it. A praxis for uniting the workers of the world, because if you weren't important to the revolution, then why the hell would you join it?
It's been forty years since identity politics was coined and we have so much work to do.
Love this. Did you know identity politics emerged out of intersectional feminism, and that it was a signifier of solidarity across identities, rather than a one of sectarianism? We've really forgotten so much working class history, haven't we? The erasure of black women by both Marxists and liberals, who deradicalise identity politics in their separate ways, is fucking tragic.
Identity politics was an extension of socialist critique, before it became a caricature for reactionaries, left and right. Against the radical feminists, who inscribed sexual violence onto the male body (hence their easy descent into TERFdom), socialist and intersectional feminists saw sexual violence as emerging from our social conditions, in the intersecting oppressions of gender, race, and class. The coloniser and the colonised. The husband and the wife. The capitalist and the proletariat. These hierarchies maintain and legitimate violence through the control of bodies, productive, reproductive, and unproductive. Those in the Combahee River Collective saw this so much clearer because many of them were queer, as well as black and working class. They were beneath the concerns of white women and black men radicals, who treated them like servants, sex objects, troublemakers, and killjoys.
Identity politics arose, not as a rejection of other identities less oppressed, but an affirmation that—no matter your oppression—you had something to contribute to the struggle for liberation. It was a tool for coalition building, for healing both those blinded by privilege and those marginalised by it. A praxis for uniting the workers of the world, because if you weren't important to the revolution, then why the hell would you join it?
It's been forty years since identity politics was coined and we have so much work to do.
February 3, 2018
I went into How We Get Free expecting a more historical approach, using the oral histories of Combahee's founders to weave a brief narrative about what the collective did and how it came to be. Instead we have a reprinting of the Combahee River Collective Statement and transcriptions of interviews with its members (as well as BLM cofounder Alicia Garza). It isn't bad, but it makes me feel like this book was rushed to print. There are a lot of "I'm not sure"s and "I can't remember"s in the interviews, and they get in the way of the book's messaging. A deeper dive into the politics and history of Combahee would have resonated more strongly and for longer. This book feels very much of the moment. It's fine, but I hope it will be surpassed by much more comprehensive work in the near future.
How We Get Free's purpose is not so much to tell the story of Combahee as it is to connect it to activism today. To galvanize, invigorate the movement in a certain direction. That, I think, explains the feeling of it being rushed--because it really wants to speak to a very specific time and to a very specific audience. Which again I understand, cranking up the volume on Combahee's politics (which encompassed intersectionality before it was called that as well as anticapitalism and anti-imperialism) is crucial so that modern day activists can hear. But I don't think, or rather don't hope, that this will become the quintessential Combahee River Collection history source, because it's just not that in depth.
How We Get Free's purpose is not so much to tell the story of Combahee as it is to connect it to activism today. To galvanize, invigorate the movement in a certain direction. That, I think, explains the feeling of it being rushed--because it really wants to speak to a very specific time and to a very specific audience. Which again I understand, cranking up the volume on Combahee's politics (which encompassed intersectionality before it was called that as well as anticapitalism and anti-imperialism) is crucial so that modern day activists can hear. But I don't think, or rather don't hope, that this will become the quintessential Combahee River Collection history source, because it's just not that in depth.
August 2, 2024
4.5 stars. This book is a collection of interviews, along with the original Combahee River Collective statement. The interview format did make it a bit of a slower read, but I added the audiobook which helped- I definitely still needed the physical book since I highlighted so much. Really amazing resource and well worth your time as the collective's statement continues to be relevant and important to social justice organizing today.
January 14, 2018
Yep, loved everything about this. Required reading for white feminists.
April 9, 2018
This wasn't what I was expecting. This weaves the history in with the current political climate seamlessly.
December 20, 2024
I can see why there's people who decide to never rate non-fiction books, this was difficult to rate. I've settled on a 3.75 (rounded up to 4 for GR) & this rating is mainly based on the directly transcripted interview format, rather than on the overall content of the book itself. The book was indeed educational/informative for me as a white woman & I learned many things, I just wish the format was, not necessarily different, but perhaps edited in a better way?
April 4, 2020
How We Get Free by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Citation (APA): Taylor, K. (2020). How We Get Free [Kindle iOS version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com
This book gave me the opportunity to think and learn about my role in the world. The book was comprised of six important sections: The Combahee River Collective Statement; interviews with Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Demita Frazier, and Alicia Garza; and Comments by Barbara Ransby. The Combahee River Collective Statement should be required reading – with discussion sessions afterward. It lays out the principles of how we should treat one another and what it means to stand for and fight for justice. The interviews with the Smith sisters and Demita Frazier allow the reader the opportunity to examine the Civil Rights Era and post-Civil Rights Era with insights from people who lived through the experiences. The interview with Alicia Garza helped the reader get insight into the development of the Black Lives Matter movement. This interview was an important supplement to a book I read last year: “When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir” by Patrisse Khan-Cullors. Finally, the comments by Barbara Ransby put the rest of the book in perspective.
In the Introduction to the book I began to see revealed what I referred to above as “my role in the world” because it put my privilege in perspective. Dr. Taylor explained the concept of intersectionality: “CRC [Combahee River Collective] did articulate the analysis that animates the meaning of intersectionality, the idea that multiple oppressions reinforce each other to create new categories of suffering.” (location 79 of 2488 Kindle version) “In other words, Black women could not quantify their oppression only in terms of sexism or racism, or of homophobia experienced by Black lesbians. They were not ever a single category, but it was the merging or enmeshment of those identities that compounded how Black women experienced oppression.” (location 87)
To build on these ideas, I had not gotten much further when I came across a sentiment that I strongly adhered to, “The Combahee River Collective built on those observations by continuing to analyze the roots of Black women’s oppression under capitalism and arguing for the reorganization of society based on the collective needs of the most oppressed. That is to say, if you could free the most oppressed people in society, then you would have to free everyone.” (Location 95) I was reminded of a quote from Angela Y. Davis, “When Black women win victories, it is a boost for virtually every sector of society.” So as I read I was thinking about my position in all of this. Eventually Dr. Taylor made the point that, “identity politics was not just about who you were; it was also about what you could do to confront the oppression you were facing.” Or as Bob Marley says in his song, “So Much Things to Say”:
“So don't you forget (no way) your youth
Who you are and where you stand in the struggle”
So I applied each of these conditions to myself: I am among the most privileged in society and I believe that it is my duty to confront oppression at all levels. I must do so because I am in a position to do so and I face virtually no consequences for doing so. I am required to work on myself and others to ensure we work toward a world that is anti-racist, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and anti-hetero-patriarchy, anti-sexism, anti-homophobia. In other words, my role is to be an ally in any way that I can. Because when others are oppressed my freedom is a mere illusion.
In what context is this possible? How do I do this? I think it has to do with how we live our lives and so I came back to one of my favorite bell hooks quotes, “. . . . the whole idea of a heroic journey, its rarely a journey that’s about love, it’s about deeds that have to do with conquering, domination – what have you – and so part of what I wanted to say to people was that living as we do in a culture of domination to truly choose to love is heroic, to work at love, to really let yourself understand the art of loving.” (Speaking Freely – Show #235 YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2bmn...) This too is a main theme that reoccurs in the venerable James Baldwin’s writing. The Combahee River Collective, as explained by Dr. Taylor in her introduction, speaks to me and is a revival and a testimonial as to where I should be standing in “all of this.” An ally, who works to end all oppression, using the tools I have available, with love in my heart.
Dr. Taylor explained how this worked in the context of being an ally, “Solidarity did not mean subsuming your struggles to help someone else; it was intended to strengthen the political commitments from other groups by getting them to recognize how the different struggles were related to each other and connected under capitalism.” (location 173) Shortly before this she wrote, “The ability to distinguish between the ideology of the American Dream and the experience of the American nightmare requires political analysis, history and often struggle.” (location 164). So this is why I read books with difficult subject matter that challenges me and most importantly challenges the brainwashing I received at the hands of the American education system. To reiterate, “If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” (location 180)
So from the Combahee River Collective Statement itself I underlined this section of their beliefs: “We believe that the most profound an potentially the most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else’s oppression.” (location 281) I apologize for being redundant, but I want to share the note I made contemporaneously with my reading of that quote. I wrote at the time, “Thus if one is not oppressed but on the contrary privileged then that person can fight to end the oppression of others. And to truly be free that person has an interest in the freeing of others by working toward ending their oppression.”
In the interview between Dr. Taylor and Dr. Barbara Smith they discussed some of the areas of activism undertaken by women in the Collective. She spoke at length about ending forced sterilization: “Sterilization abuse was happening to women of color all over the country and in Puerto Rico. It was so common in Puerto Rico that they just called it “the operation.” In Spanish. “La operación,” or however you would say it. So many women had been sterilized in Puerto Rico. Native American women were disproportionately sterilized against their will or without their consent. Black women, particularly Black women who were receiving government entitlements, were sterilized. There were two sisters—the Relf sisters in Alabama. The Relf sisters, Mary Alice, who was twelve years old and Minnie Lee, fourteen, had developmental disabilities. They were sterilized as teenagers. So it was pandemic, you know? And we were trying to deal with that.” (location 725) Imagining forced sterilization just blows the mind. Who does that? Well, we know the answer.
On the concept of intersectionality, Dr. Smith said, “What we were saying is that we have a right as people who are not just female, who are not solely Black, who are not just lesbians, who are not just working class, or workers—that we are people who embody all of these identities, and we have a right to build and define political theory and practice based upon that reality. That was all we were trying to say. That’s what we meant by identity politics. We didn’t mean that if you’re not the same as us you’re nothing. We were not saying that we didn’t care about anybody who wasn’t exactly like us.” (location 847) Two things about this struck me. One is that this seemed to make a lot of sense – to base theory and practice on the lived reality. Two, is the irony of the position which is in parallel with democratic ideals yet is in counter-point to the white-supremacist, capitalist, heteronormative, patriarchy which excludes everyone who isn't exactly like them. (bell hooks’ phrase).. She goes on to say, “There’s far too much of the perspective of: “You’re not like me. I’m not like you. I’m not a transgender person. I don’t give a damn whether you can go to a bathroom or not. And the fact that you’re being murdered summarily, and that your income levels keep you in poverty far more likely than somebody who is cisgender—that’s not my problem!” Those are bad politics. Really, really bad politics. And the reason it’s important, as I said, is because that’s how we win, and that’s how we survive in the meantime.” (location 888)
Later, as Dr. Taylor interviewed Demita Frazier, Ms. Frazier explained where things stand today with some of the activism: “When you think about the institutions in this country, like the Black Women’s Health Network, that’s a successful organization because it saves Black women’s lives, and yet Black mortality amongst mothers is as high as it has ever been. So we have impact, but it’s limited. It’s limited by our status. It’s limited by the reality of white supremacy and then misogyny.” (location 1827) I felt a strong affinity to Ms. Frazier’s perspective and she really captivated me with the following quote, because I believe it is central to the overall problem of consumerism and the corpratocracy: “I’m like, all this aspirational crap . . . that people are supposed to want and believe in because it’s going to make you—what? I don’t know what. So you know, supporting the beauty industry by fifty million ways—okay, fine. The shoes, the clothes, the houses, the this, the that—okay, fine, whatever. But seriously, I’m not feeling any of it. And I think that one of the things that’s happened is that between organized pro-capitalist Black religion . . . not the Reverend Barbers of this world, but others who . . . are perpetuating and creating new little kingdoms for the kings, primarily, and a handful of queens. . . .You know, it’s really—I feel like we’ve been—we’ve tricked ourselves into thinking because we moved to the suburbs and we’re living in these McMansions—a handful of us, a handful of us who are associated with a certain level of class privilege in this country—that’s become the dominant image.” (location 1832)
Ms. Frazier makes a transition into one of the main ideas that came out in Dr. Taylor's interview of Alicia Garza, "Characterization is indeed everything—power lies with us wrenching the narrative out of the hands that are dedicated to maintaining that illusion." (location 1862) Alicia Garza is one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter and in her interview with Dr. Taylor she addressed the challenges to modern-day activism. Similar to Ms. Frazier, Ms. Garza says, “I think what we’re trying to offer is that when you attempt to dismantle a global system and a global organizing principle; there are all kinds of ways in which the state tries to discourage that.” (location 2225) To illustrate she spoke about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Even Martin [King], you know, as Martin was starting to become more explicitly anticapitalist, though I would say he was probably anti-interventionist–anti-imperialist before he was anticapitalist, but that’s when he was assassinated.” (location 2229) Right now the propaganda machine is in the fists of the wealthy that have co-opted the corpratocracy. So sadly, Ms. Garza’s assessment is correct. Expecting change is a challenge, but the fight must continue, and who can the fight depend on? She says, “Well, I really hope your strategy wasn’t predicated on white people because they just cannot be depended on yet, not in that way.” (location 2246)
Later on, comments by Barbara Ransby reinforced what Ms. Garza was saying. Citing one of America’s biggest corporate propaganda machines, the New York Times, she says, “The writer, Bari Weiss, in the op-ed page of the New York Times, said intersectionality is the problem with the left today. That is an odd assertion to say the least. What does that assertion even mean? It means all of the lame coalitions that are saying, “Put all of your differences on the back burner. Don’t talk about race. Don’t talk about gender. Don’t talk about sexuality. Just talk about class.” (location 2366) But she makes it clear, this is not at all what the Combahee River Collective Statement is about, “If we take to heart the spirit and politics of the Combahee River Collective Statement, what we go away with is this: (1) never be afraid to speak truth to power, and (2) in the face of racist, misogynist threats of violence and attacks, when you have the impulse to either fight or flight, what do you do? Fight! And, (3) always ally yourself with those on the bottom, on the margins, and at the periphery of the centers of power. And in doing so, you will land yourself at the very center of some of the most important struggles of our society and our history.” (location 2374)
I encourage everyone to read this book and familiarize yourself with the Combahee River Collective Statement. I only hope that I can live up to the standards they have set.
Citation (APA): Taylor, K. (2020). How We Get Free [Kindle iOS version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com
This book gave me the opportunity to think and learn about my role in the world. The book was comprised of six important sections: The Combahee River Collective Statement; interviews with Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Demita Frazier, and Alicia Garza; and Comments by Barbara Ransby. The Combahee River Collective Statement should be required reading – with discussion sessions afterward. It lays out the principles of how we should treat one another and what it means to stand for and fight for justice. The interviews with the Smith sisters and Demita Frazier allow the reader the opportunity to examine the Civil Rights Era and post-Civil Rights Era with insights from people who lived through the experiences. The interview with Alicia Garza helped the reader get insight into the development of the Black Lives Matter movement. This interview was an important supplement to a book I read last year: “When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir” by Patrisse Khan-Cullors. Finally, the comments by Barbara Ransby put the rest of the book in perspective.
In the Introduction to the book I began to see revealed what I referred to above as “my role in the world” because it put my privilege in perspective. Dr. Taylor explained the concept of intersectionality: “CRC [Combahee River Collective] did articulate the analysis that animates the meaning of intersectionality, the idea that multiple oppressions reinforce each other to create new categories of suffering.” (location 79 of 2488 Kindle version) “In other words, Black women could not quantify their oppression only in terms of sexism or racism, or of homophobia experienced by Black lesbians. They were not ever a single category, but it was the merging or enmeshment of those identities that compounded how Black women experienced oppression.” (location 87)
To build on these ideas, I had not gotten much further when I came across a sentiment that I strongly adhered to, “The Combahee River Collective built on those observations by continuing to analyze the roots of Black women’s oppression under capitalism and arguing for the reorganization of society based on the collective needs of the most oppressed. That is to say, if you could free the most oppressed people in society, then you would have to free everyone.” (Location 95) I was reminded of a quote from Angela Y. Davis, “When Black women win victories, it is a boost for virtually every sector of society.” So as I read I was thinking about my position in all of this. Eventually Dr. Taylor made the point that, “identity politics was not just about who you were; it was also about what you could do to confront the oppression you were facing.” Or as Bob Marley says in his song, “So Much Things to Say”:
“So don't you forget (no way) your youth
Who you are and where you stand in the struggle”
So I applied each of these conditions to myself: I am among the most privileged in society and I believe that it is my duty to confront oppression at all levels. I must do so because I am in a position to do so and I face virtually no consequences for doing so. I am required to work on myself and others to ensure we work toward a world that is anti-racist, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and anti-hetero-patriarchy, anti-sexism, anti-homophobia. In other words, my role is to be an ally in any way that I can. Because when others are oppressed my freedom is a mere illusion.
In what context is this possible? How do I do this? I think it has to do with how we live our lives and so I came back to one of my favorite bell hooks quotes, “. . . . the whole idea of a heroic journey, its rarely a journey that’s about love, it’s about deeds that have to do with conquering, domination – what have you – and so part of what I wanted to say to people was that living as we do in a culture of domination to truly choose to love is heroic, to work at love, to really let yourself understand the art of loving.” (Speaking Freely – Show #235 YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2bmn...) This too is a main theme that reoccurs in the venerable James Baldwin’s writing. The Combahee River Collective, as explained by Dr. Taylor in her introduction, speaks to me and is a revival and a testimonial as to where I should be standing in “all of this.” An ally, who works to end all oppression, using the tools I have available, with love in my heart.
Dr. Taylor explained how this worked in the context of being an ally, “Solidarity did not mean subsuming your struggles to help someone else; it was intended to strengthen the political commitments from other groups by getting them to recognize how the different struggles were related to each other and connected under capitalism.” (location 173) Shortly before this she wrote, “The ability to distinguish between the ideology of the American Dream and the experience of the American nightmare requires political analysis, history and often struggle.” (location 164). So this is why I read books with difficult subject matter that challenges me and most importantly challenges the brainwashing I received at the hands of the American education system. To reiterate, “If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” (location 180)
So from the Combahee River Collective Statement itself I underlined this section of their beliefs: “We believe that the most profound an potentially the most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else’s oppression.” (location 281) I apologize for being redundant, but I want to share the note I made contemporaneously with my reading of that quote. I wrote at the time, “Thus if one is not oppressed but on the contrary privileged then that person can fight to end the oppression of others. And to truly be free that person has an interest in the freeing of others by working toward ending their oppression.”
In the interview between Dr. Taylor and Dr. Barbara Smith they discussed some of the areas of activism undertaken by women in the Collective. She spoke at length about ending forced sterilization: “Sterilization abuse was happening to women of color all over the country and in Puerto Rico. It was so common in Puerto Rico that they just called it “the operation.” In Spanish. “La operación,” or however you would say it. So many women had been sterilized in Puerto Rico. Native American women were disproportionately sterilized against their will or without their consent. Black women, particularly Black women who were receiving government entitlements, were sterilized. There were two sisters—the Relf sisters in Alabama. The Relf sisters, Mary Alice, who was twelve years old and Minnie Lee, fourteen, had developmental disabilities. They were sterilized as teenagers. So it was pandemic, you know? And we were trying to deal with that.” (location 725) Imagining forced sterilization just blows the mind. Who does that? Well, we know the answer.
On the concept of intersectionality, Dr. Smith said, “What we were saying is that we have a right as people who are not just female, who are not solely Black, who are not just lesbians, who are not just working class, or workers—that we are people who embody all of these identities, and we have a right to build and define political theory and practice based upon that reality. That was all we were trying to say. That’s what we meant by identity politics. We didn’t mean that if you’re not the same as us you’re nothing. We were not saying that we didn’t care about anybody who wasn’t exactly like us.” (location 847) Two things about this struck me. One is that this seemed to make a lot of sense – to base theory and practice on the lived reality. Two, is the irony of the position which is in parallel with democratic ideals yet is in counter-point to the white-supremacist, capitalist, heteronormative, patriarchy which excludes everyone who isn't exactly like them. (bell hooks’ phrase).. She goes on to say, “There’s far too much of the perspective of: “You’re not like me. I’m not like you. I’m not a transgender person. I don’t give a damn whether you can go to a bathroom or not. And the fact that you’re being murdered summarily, and that your income levels keep you in poverty far more likely than somebody who is cisgender—that’s not my problem!” Those are bad politics. Really, really bad politics. And the reason it’s important, as I said, is because that’s how we win, and that’s how we survive in the meantime.” (location 888)
Later, as Dr. Taylor interviewed Demita Frazier, Ms. Frazier explained where things stand today with some of the activism: “When you think about the institutions in this country, like the Black Women’s Health Network, that’s a successful organization because it saves Black women’s lives, and yet Black mortality amongst mothers is as high as it has ever been. So we have impact, but it’s limited. It’s limited by our status. It’s limited by the reality of white supremacy and then misogyny.” (location 1827) I felt a strong affinity to Ms. Frazier’s perspective and she really captivated me with the following quote, because I believe it is central to the overall problem of consumerism and the corpratocracy: “I’m like, all this aspirational crap . . . that people are supposed to want and believe in because it’s going to make you—what? I don’t know what. So you know, supporting the beauty industry by fifty million ways—okay, fine. The shoes, the clothes, the houses, the this, the that—okay, fine, whatever. But seriously, I’m not feeling any of it. And I think that one of the things that’s happened is that between organized pro-capitalist Black religion . . . not the Reverend Barbers of this world, but others who . . . are perpetuating and creating new little kingdoms for the kings, primarily, and a handful of queens. . . .You know, it’s really—I feel like we’ve been—we’ve tricked ourselves into thinking because we moved to the suburbs and we’re living in these McMansions—a handful of us, a handful of us who are associated with a certain level of class privilege in this country—that’s become the dominant image.” (location 1832)
Ms. Frazier makes a transition into one of the main ideas that came out in Dr. Taylor's interview of Alicia Garza, "Characterization is indeed everything—power lies with us wrenching the narrative out of the hands that are dedicated to maintaining that illusion." (location 1862) Alicia Garza is one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter and in her interview with Dr. Taylor she addressed the challenges to modern-day activism. Similar to Ms. Frazier, Ms. Garza says, “I think what we’re trying to offer is that when you attempt to dismantle a global system and a global organizing principle; there are all kinds of ways in which the state tries to discourage that.” (location 2225) To illustrate she spoke about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Even Martin [King], you know, as Martin was starting to become more explicitly anticapitalist, though I would say he was probably anti-interventionist–anti-imperialist before he was anticapitalist, but that’s when he was assassinated.” (location 2229) Right now the propaganda machine is in the fists of the wealthy that have co-opted the corpratocracy. So sadly, Ms. Garza’s assessment is correct. Expecting change is a challenge, but the fight must continue, and who can the fight depend on? She says, “Well, I really hope your strategy wasn’t predicated on white people because they just cannot be depended on yet, not in that way.” (location 2246)
Later on, comments by Barbara Ransby reinforced what Ms. Garza was saying. Citing one of America’s biggest corporate propaganda machines, the New York Times, she says, “The writer, Bari Weiss, in the op-ed page of the New York Times, said intersectionality is the problem with the left today. That is an odd assertion to say the least. What does that assertion even mean? It means all of the lame coalitions that are saying, “Put all of your differences on the back burner. Don’t talk about race. Don’t talk about gender. Don’t talk about sexuality. Just talk about class.” (location 2366) But she makes it clear, this is not at all what the Combahee River Collective Statement is about, “If we take to heart the spirit and politics of the Combahee River Collective Statement, what we go away with is this: (1) never be afraid to speak truth to power, and (2) in the face of racist, misogynist threats of violence and attacks, when you have the impulse to either fight or flight, what do you do? Fight! And, (3) always ally yourself with those on the bottom, on the margins, and at the periphery of the centers of power. And in doing so, you will land yourself at the very center of some of the most important struggles of our society and our history.” (location 2374)
I encourage everyone to read this book and familiarize yourself with the Combahee River Collective Statement. I only hope that I can live up to the standards they have set.
February 5, 2018
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is a brilliant writer with a gift for in-depth analysis. That's evident in her prior work and in her introduction to this book. To that point, I wish she had used the interviews in this book as the foundation of a more expansive exploration of the history and tactics of such a critically important movement. I understand the intent to showcase the interviewees, but I think Taylor took too much of a backseat here in not fleshing out these ideas more in-depth, and the book feels lesser for her not contributing a bigger role to its overall message. Simply presenting the interviews (which could seriously use some editing for brevity) as is just left me wanting and expecting more. I look forward to her next book.
June 23, 2020
Learned a lot about the history of Combahee River Collective, who's 1977 statement remains a touchstone of black and intersectional feminism and trans inclusive feminist politics. Some of the members of the collective who are interviewed in this book also connect their work to current feminism around the world. Very important book!
P.S. the wrong Barbara Smith and Beverly Smith are tagged by Good Reads
P.S. the wrong Barbara Smith and Beverly Smith are tagged by Good Reads
July 30, 2020
i want to live in a community and spaces that the Combahee river collective envisions. the statement that was written 1974 still stands and continues to serve as a guide of principles that society should be put into both political and intellectual practice.
the standout interview was Demita Fraizer! she does not miss.
"to look at [our] material conditions, to analyze it, interrogate it, and come away with an analysis that's about empowerment" - Demita Frazier
the standout interview was Demita Fraizer! she does not miss.
"to look at [our] material conditions, to analyze it, interrogate it, and come away with an analysis that's about empowerment" - Demita Frazier
October 23, 2018
I bought this book as a gift for my sister at her request and in doing so acquired the ebook for free - to my delight as the topic sounded highly interesting. I didn't realize that the bulk of the book was a series of interviews, but I learned a great deal from them. I'm not sure about how to rate this book because I too rarely read non-fiction, but I found it extremely well put together, informative, and motivating.
March 16, 2021
I really enjoyed this!! I had a little trouble following some of the threads in the interviews, because of a lack of historical knowledge I think and also because I think it’s hard sometimes to understand spoken stuff when it’s transcribed to written. Overall thought it was a really good discussion of what black feminism is/is meant to be and how it looks in action
May 16, 2023
(Read in 2020 -- for some reason this is marked as 2022 by GR. When I refer to the "radical anarchist in the White House" I am not talking about Joe Biden.)
Americans are loathe to place things into historical context, to reflect on past experience, to learn, and to move forward. Rather we burn things down and start from zero all the time. It is frustrating and infuriating, and as much as I would like to lay this behavior at the feet of the radical anarchist in the White House and his merry band of self-dealing lackeys it is something that is routinely done by the right, the left, the center, and by those at every point in between those spots on the spectrum. One movement that has been most guilty of this is feminism. Third wave feminists reject second-wave feminism out of hand as just a bunch of bitter women who want to stop them from getting laid and wearing cute shorts. This book, a collection of interviews by and between current black feminist socialist activists and the founders of the Combahee River Collective, the royalty of second-wave feminism, contextualizes current definitions of feminism, gender and sexuality, and to a lesser extent the modern American spin on socialism. This is where intersectionality comes from, and the discussion is really satisfying.
I am an old feminist, most definitely placed squarely within the later part of the second wave. I was a Women's Studies minor in the 80's. and read some about the statements of the Combahee Collective at the time, but honestly not a ton so much of this was revelatory. The interviews with the three founders were genius. Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, and Demita Frazier are endlessly wise. I learned so much from listening to their interviews. Though I support BLM, I am not a fan of Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and my opinion of her after reading this book has not really improved much. She is sloppy as an academic, and to the extent she has a philosophy guiding her actions it is a philosophy that favors toppling over building. Tear that shit down is not reasoned or productive political discourse. Her anti-semitic rant at the end did not help. (You can support the interests of the Palestinian people without being an anti-semite, I am a person who does that -- Taylor does not.) For the most part this was amazing, and I tore through the audiobook. I recommend it absolutely,.
Americans are loathe to place things into historical context, to reflect on past experience, to learn, and to move forward. Rather we burn things down and start from zero all the time. It is frustrating and infuriating, and as much as I would like to lay this behavior at the feet of the radical anarchist in the White House and his merry band of self-dealing lackeys it is something that is routinely done by the right, the left, the center, and by those at every point in between those spots on the spectrum. One movement that has been most guilty of this is feminism. Third wave feminists reject second-wave feminism out of hand as just a bunch of bitter women who want to stop them from getting laid and wearing cute shorts. This book, a collection of interviews by and between current black feminist socialist activists and the founders of the Combahee River Collective, the royalty of second-wave feminism, contextualizes current definitions of feminism, gender and sexuality, and to a lesser extent the modern American spin on socialism. This is where intersectionality comes from, and the discussion is really satisfying.
I am an old feminist, most definitely placed squarely within the later part of the second wave. I was a Women's Studies minor in the 80's. and read some about the statements of the Combahee Collective at the time, but honestly not a ton so much of this was revelatory. The interviews with the three founders were genius. Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, and Demita Frazier are endlessly wise. I learned so much from listening to their interviews. Though I support BLM, I am not a fan of Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and my opinion of her after reading this book has not really improved much. She is sloppy as an academic, and to the extent she has a philosophy guiding her actions it is a philosophy that favors toppling over building. Tear that shit down is not reasoned or productive political discourse. Her anti-semitic rant at the end did not help. (You can support the interests of the Palestinian people without being an anti-semite, I am a person who does that -- Taylor does not.) For the most part this was amazing, and I tore through the audiobook. I recommend it absolutely,.
March 2, 2020
a book I will undoubtedly revisit. what a text, what an unapologetic book of praxis, history, and call to action in a specific Black feminist lens.
“The authors of the Combahee River Collective Statement have reminded us over and over again that this was a left document. It was a socialist document. It offered a platform that had enormous depth and breadth. And so this offers us a window into understanding the role of Black feminism, which is really a roadmap for liberation...
The statement and the practice that surrounded it debunks the notion that so-called identity politics represents a narrowing rather than a broadening of our collective political vision. The document is anti-racist, anti capitalist, anti-imperialist, and anti hetero patriarchy. That is CRC’s Black feminist agenda” - Barbara Ransby
“The authors of the Combahee River Collective Statement have reminded us over and over again that this was a left document. It was a socialist document. It offered a platform that had enormous depth and breadth. And so this offers us a window into understanding the role of Black feminism, which is really a roadmap for liberation...
The statement and the practice that surrounded it debunks the notion that so-called identity politics represents a narrowing rather than a broadening of our collective political vision. The document is anti-racist, anti capitalist, anti-imperialist, and anti hetero patriarchy. That is CRC’s Black feminist agenda” - Barbara Ransby
Read
September 23, 2023Glad to have read HOW WE GET FREE, primarily an oral history of the Combahee River Collective — though I admit oral history isn't my favorite. I felt like Taylor's interviews of Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, and Demita Frazier had a little too much redundancy; hearing Alicia Garza was a breath of fresh air. I appreciated Taylor's commitment to recovering and highlighting the socialist/anti-capitalist revolutionary history of Black feminism in order to help cement those politics in the present and future.
April 26, 2020
This was very interesting - however I felt like the format let it down a bit. I loved hearing from the women of the Combahee River Collective through the interviews, but I felt really lost on the timeline of their work as their thoughts were often scattered around time. I feel that even a short bibliography of the woman and their role in the Collective before the interviews would've really helped.
August 14, 2018
This was so great! I learned so much and my brain was fizzing!L
While it's about black queer women coming together in the 1970s it's also about the work we have to do today.
Loved it.
While it's about black queer women coming together in the 1970s it's also about the work we have to do today.
Loved it.
July 3, 2023
I loved this book. My favorite interviews were with Barbara Smith, Demita Frazier, and Alicia Garza. Definitely something I will have to reread and annotate. I borrowed my copy from the public library, but I want this book in my personal library as well as the LGBTQ Iowa Archives and Library.
The interview with Barbara Smith highlighted the importance of intersectionality, identity politics (and the origin of the phrase!), and coalitions which seemed to be a theme throughout the series of interviews. Working together is essential to making each organizations' fights easier because one would have so many more people on one's side.
The perspective of pre-Roe v. Wade was also necessary because obviously we now live in a post Roe v. Wade country--the differences from now and then are minimalized and it accentuates the similarities. The fights that are still going on for bodily autonomy and reproductive freedoms, as well as fights against sterilization, genocide, and colonialism.
On the future of organizing and rebellion: We need to be able to not only organize, but show we can govern. Not gentle capitalism, nor neoliberalism. But something else. I say anarchism, some say socialism and communism or Marxism. Something needs to change and we need to be willing to be that change.
I found it incredibly inspiring reading this book. Activism is a job, it's work that needs to be continually done. It needs to be recognized and supported. I want to do this work for queer and trans people, but that work cannot ONLY be done for QT people, it also needs to recognize the intersection of oppression. Working alongside other organizations is how we can do that.
I think being too broad as an organization can potentially be detrimental. Many organizations, working as committees almost, who focus on their specific field and show up for each other is an ideal I think. I want to show up with all of LIAL for Black Lives Matter protests, for disability rights protests, for climate activism protests. And I want those people to come to our own events.
This book inspires me to be better and to keep fighting. Hearing their stories helps me write my own.
The interview with Barbara Smith highlighted the importance of intersectionality, identity politics (and the origin of the phrase!), and coalitions which seemed to be a theme throughout the series of interviews. Working together is essential to making each organizations' fights easier because one would have so many more people on one's side.
The perspective of pre-Roe v. Wade was also necessary because obviously we now live in a post Roe v. Wade country--the differences from now and then are minimalized and it accentuates the similarities. The fights that are still going on for bodily autonomy and reproductive freedoms, as well as fights against sterilization, genocide, and colonialism.
On the future of organizing and rebellion: We need to be able to not only organize, but show we can govern. Not gentle capitalism, nor neoliberalism. But something else. I say anarchism, some say socialism and communism or Marxism. Something needs to change and we need to be willing to be that change.
I found it incredibly inspiring reading this book. Activism is a job, it's work that needs to be continually done. It needs to be recognized and supported. I want to do this work for queer and trans people, but that work cannot ONLY be done for QT people, it also needs to recognize the intersection of oppression. Working alongside other organizations is how we can do that.
I think being too broad as an organization can potentially be detrimental. Many organizations, working as committees almost, who focus on their specific field and show up for each other is an ideal I think. I want to show up with all of LIAL for Black Lives Matter protests, for disability rights protests, for climate activism protests. And I want those people to come to our own events.
This book inspires me to be better and to keep fighting. Hearing their stories helps me write my own.
August 9, 2024
Introduced, Edited and interviewed by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, the book is about Black Feminism from the point of view of Black feminists. Reading it, you can learn about some of the ideas and thoughts of Black feminist activists. The book includes an excellent introduction by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, the Combahee River Collective Statement and Interviews with Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Demita Frazier and Alicia Garza. The women’s voices perspectives are so important to read. This book is invaluable.
January 29, 2025
It is hard to overstate the importance of the Combahee River Collective Statement and its impacts on political organizing and, in particular, the trajectories of intersectionality and Black feminism; I really enjoyed reading the Collective participants’ own words looking back on and contextualizing their work. Definitely recommend.
Content warnings: discussions of sexism, sexual assault, racism, heterosexism, homophobia, police brutality, capitalist oppression
Content warnings: discussions of sexism, sexual assault, racism, heterosexism, homophobia, police brutality, capitalist oppression
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January 16, 2021very important and essential read that clarified the true meaning of identity politics and how its been misconstrued
what struck me in particular was learning about how necessary Black feminism is dismantling systems of oppression and when we rally around the struggles of poor Black women, that is when we can all become free
what struck me in particular was learning about how necessary Black feminism is dismantling systems of oppression and when we rally around the struggles of poor Black women, that is when we can all become free
March 29, 2023
This little book is a gift to us all!! Not only does Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor republish the Combahee River Collective statement (which is probably the most succinct, accessible introduction to intersectional Black feminism I’ve come across) but she interviews its authors 40 years later and draws out the stories of their politicization. I loved reading about the forces that shaped these women into such revolutionary thinkers, and their analysis is just as salient and radical in 2023. Over the course of these interviews, they get into topics like critique of Black capitalism, mainstream versions of “feminism” with no class analysis, and the initial meaning behind the term “identity politics,” a term they coined in the statement to describe a person’s right to organize and build an analysis based on their own personal experience with “interlocking oppressions” (clearly a precursor to Kimberle Crenshaw’s “intersectionality”). Closing with an interview of Alicia Garza was a particularly poignant and powerful choice. Highly recommended!
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