This chapter featured an interview with Alexis Pauline Gumbs, a member of the organization UBUNTU. This organization focuses on the communal support and safety of their counterparts. It was mentioned a few times that they utilize the community accountability method that we read about last week. I thought that it was beneficial to be able to take the reading that was assigned and discussed last week, and then be able to see the real world application of it through the case studies that were mentioned. Not only was it empowering to hear the stories of specific instances where communities of women came together in order to ensure their protections, but it was also informative, in allowing us a chance to see it being enacted.
UBUNTU is a coalition of women of color, that focuses on the voices and needs of survivors of sexual assault. In one instance, when a member was threatened by her then-husband, who was a police officer. They helped her in offering places to stay where he could not find her, watching her children while she worked or attended meetings with her lawyer, and other services that would take all of the weight of her situation off of her shoulders. Within this organization, their priority was each other’s well-being, no questions asked. This unity is important to community accountability and empowering for the women within the coalition.
One thing that was brought up a few times in our discussion last week, was that these concepts of community organizing are very interesting and important to read on paper, but it doesn’t seem feasible for them to be enacted in reality. We were skeptical of the current “systems” of society and if this sort of organization would be possible with such extreme stratification between groups. However, through this reading, we are provided with a specific and successful example of this.