Dr. Julianne Malveaux on a variety of issues.

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"Despite the prominence of Oprah Winfrey, the profound wisdom of poet Maya Angelou, the gentle grace of businesswoman Susan Taylor and the small, but powerful influence ofAfrican-American women in an array of occupations, we are virtually invisible in the policy context and demeaned and distorted in popular culture..." - Dr. Julianne Malveaux



Dear friends,

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is a distinguished scholar and now Bennett College president emeritus who never seems to shy away from providing thought-provoking analysis and biting critique, regarding any number of social issues. Moreover, at least to me, she reminds, especially many men, that things that women see as in their best interests are not always what men seem to think as being in the interests of all. Recall clueless Steve Harvey's moronic notion, Act like a lady - think like a man"?

At any rate, on the link below, is a page from her Website that shows a host of short interviews and the like. Enjoy!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.juliannemalveaux.com/latest_columns.html Read full post

A Women's History Month note

Dear friends,

During Women's History Month, all should take notice that, as the great Audre Lorde insisted, "The Black woman in America was never meant to survive anyway." Still, in spite of her detractors, generally-speaking, the African American woman has maintained a unique strength and wisdom that is accompanied by an infectious kindness, politeness and sincerity, which has influenced the total North American social environment, for centuries. She has long been and continues to be a comforter and nurturer of children, from all cultural groups. The guardian of Our past and future. To be sure, for many men, the African American woman is the "mother" of Our eyes - and dreams.

G. Djata Bumpus
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Women's History - When Black suffrage and Women's suffrage Collided in the 19th Century

Dear friends,

Historically, woman suffragettes were usually abolitionists first. One such person who began as an abolitionist and later became a renowned speaker for women's rights was Susan B. Anthony. Yet, Anthony seemed to have questionable qualities regarding her feelings about human liberation. You see, suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were, in fact, vigorously opposed to Lincoln's version of the Emancipation Proclamation and the succeeding Constitutional amendments, because they would give only African American men - and no women - the right to vote. Even worse, much of her public life, at least at one point, was financed by a man, George Francis Train, a white supremacist ideologue and spokesman.

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had responded to what they considered to be a Republican "betrayal" by agreeing to share the lecture platform with a flamboyant Democrat, George Francis Train. An effective if eccentric speaker, Train scandalized abolitionists and suffragists alike by his frequent recourse to racial slurs and by his advocacy of woman suffrage as an alternative to Black suffrage. Despite mounting pressure from their fellow reformers, Anthony and Stanton refused to dissociate themselves from Train, the only man willing to provide them with consistent strategic and financial support. He not only took it upon himself to pay the two women's expenses when funds ran low, but also offered to bankroll Anthony's dream of a pro-suffrage journal in exchange for their continued presence on his return lecture tour to the East. In what seems like an obvious victory of expediency over principle, both women accepted the offer, insisting on their 'right to accept proffered aid without looking behind it for the motive.' It was not the last time they would have to engage in such a defense - (The Isabella Beecher Hooker Project, edited by Anne Throne Margolis)

G. Djata Bumpus
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Dr. Barbara J. Love on Sexism and Equality

Dear friends,

Just the other day, I emailed a dear friend,  Dr. Barbara J. Love, Professor Emeritus at the Department of Social Justice (U-Mass, Amherst), about some ideas from Facebook posts that I had shared recently on my Timeline. The two-parts question was

Djatajabs.org: Barbara, what do you think about my assertion that equality and sameness are NOT the same thing!...That is, all men are not the same, yet, far too many men brag about what women can't do (for example, jump as high as men or run as fast or think as smart), as if the aforementioned men's sorry butts can do anything themselves other than hide among the herd of other men and talk trash...Moreover, does any of that have anything to do with men and boys insulting other males by asking, "Come on man, why are you acting like a bitch?"

Her response appears below.
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Dear Djata:

Not sure what you are asking me to comment on.

As you have noted, sexism and male domination serves purposes of oppression, domination and subordination, all of which are rooted in greed, the desire for power and control of resources.

Equality is not the same as equity. Most liberation workers are seeking equity, not equality. (if we both get a size 10 shoe, that would serve the purposes of equality, but might not serve our individual needs very well. The purposes of equity would be served if someone found out what size shoe would work best for each of us, and then provided that size shoe that fits each of us.)

While the biology of men and women is different, there is nothing about the current construction of gender roles that is actually justified by that difference in biology. Biology has been used as an excuse to legitimize oppression and systems of domination and subordination, power and control.

Both men and women are hurt by sexism and male domination. Violence and the threat of violence is used to maintain systems of oppression.

Your statement: " Come on man, why are you acting like a bitch?" is a very good example of the psychological violence enacted toward men to keep them "in their place", that is to keep them playing the roles of domination required of men to maintain the patriarchal society.

That statement represents the devaluing of women, clarifying that the status of women is pretty much equal to that of a dog, and sends a clear signal that a man would not want to be identified with that lower status.

All the Best,

Barbara

http://www.barbarajlove.com/#%21about-us/cjg9 Read full post