Everything your mother didn't have time to tell you because she was too busy struggling!
Beyond Black and White has a deep history with the Black Women’s Empowerment Movement. It’s been … complicated. This post is not a history lesson. We are now in a confusing indeterminate state. BB&W is officially not a BWE blog, yet in practice and intent, BB&W is very much a BWE blog. You might want to read that sentence again.
Nor is this post an explanation of what BWE is. The ideas of BWE are rather complex. I am not qualified to explain those ideas. The BWE blogs are the seminal sources for that.
Rather, my purpose is to direct the attention of the leadership of BB&W to an uncomfortable set of questions, culminating in an appeal to take on responsibility for promoting the ideas of BWE to the those who could benefit from them, regardless of the level of support coming from the traditional BWE bloggers.
1. What ideas inspired the creation of BB&W and NWNW?
2. Where (proximately) is the source of most of these ideas?
3. Who owns these ideas?
4. Who needs these ideas?
5. Who has the greatest ability to deliver these ideas to those who need to hear them?
6. Is there any obligation on those who can do so, to present these ideas?
7. Is presenting these ideas as other than originating from BWE helpful, or merely petty?
8. Whom does BB&W serve?
I am confident the leadership of BB&W knows the answers to these questions.
It was suggested to me recently– in a spirit of misapplied reciprocity I suppose — that two primary BWE blogs not be allowed to be mentioned on or linked to from BB&W. That is exactly wrong. It is a misunderstanding of where the paramount relationship lies. Not between BB&W bloggers and BWE bloggers, but between BB&W writers and their readers.
It is important to keep in mind that we are winning!
BB&W is growing, becoming secure, finding it’s voice, and above all, securing a seat at the public table discussing BW’s issues and BWE ideas, even if those ideas happened to originate elsewhere, and those originators don’t consider us worthy.
Do the right thing.
“Author of Swirling. Advocate for black women finding love across color lines. Creator of The Pink Pill.”
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