A large focus of this piece is aimed at black woman to confirm their right to anger from a lifetime of oppression coming at them not only from the institutionalized racism and sexism, but also from white women who they are supposed to be working in conjunction with. Lorde’s voice is directed individually to Black women, white women, and other women of color, while also speaking to women as a whole. Lorde is confirming Black women’s right to anger, while guiding them to not let it tear them apart. She wants Black women to harness their anger to fuel their fight for personal success and change. White women come into play because she is pointing out to them how their guilt and fear of Black women’s anger only continues the oppression of all women. Micro aggressions by white women towards Black women when they are all working towards change and equality not only adds to the burden of anger Black women are saddled with, but also stifles real change in how women in general are thought of and treated. White women’s historic exclusion of race, sex, age, religion, sexuality, or class as all conjoining forces of oppression makes real systemic and societal change impossible. I believe Lorde is trying to validate Black women while also helping them not let the anger they carry keep them from using it to propel them, not hold them back. I also think Lorde’s other main message is that women do not have to have experienced every type of suffering and oppression to support and lift each other because this will simultaneously lift all women’s shackles. A quote that I think really exemplifies Lorde’s over all message is, “Any discussion among women about racism must include the recognition and the use of anger”(128). Racism creates anger from the suffering it causes and to ignore it is choosing to still turn a blind eye to main faucets of racism. How can women talk about racism if they are not willing to talk about all the components that it is made up of and the consequences it causes?
Overall I loved this piece. I think especially as a white woman I need to read these types of texts to better understand how my privilege can be used and the ways in which I need to recognize it. I also think when working with others to end suffering it’s crucial to try and get an understanding of the pain and anger that both creates and compounds suffering.
There was one quote that I both loved and was confused by: “Everything can be used/ except what is wasteful/ (you will need to remember this when you are accused of destruction” (127). In context of the piece I believed this meant that anger and suffering fall under the “everything can be used” umbrella unless they result in negative reactions, like feelings of guilt or self-destruction, because those fall under being “wasteful”. I thought the last sentence was especially important because all women who demand and work for change will be accused of destruction and the first two lines will help women be able to see more clearly who is actually to blame for the destruction and suffering from the status quo. Did others read it this way or am I just not understanding it correctly?